We had a chance to kayak around Halong bay and in one area we came across a floating village.
It was very quiet as it was the middle of the day and very hot out.
- Tag Archives halongbay
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Amazing Cave
If you can’t tell this is not just an amazing cave it was The Amazing Cave.
It was one of the stops during our cruise of Hanalong Bay.
The ceiling was very smooth because this used to be flooded and filled with water and the waves erroded the limestone into these patterns.
There were folded patterns of growth everywhere.
Some formations looked a bit strange.
There weren’t many long single ones, probably due to damage from visitors.
It did look like quite a few did grow at some point.
There were also some foolish residents who were less than thrilled to have all the tourists ruining their sleep.
We were amazed to see how they can hold onto what seems like a fairly flat surface.
This was really sparkly but the camera didn’t really pick it up that much.
There were some very large columns growing and overall it was a very good cave.
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Making Spring Rolls
After sunset on the boat we had a quick cooking lesson to learn how to make spring rolls.
First we took a plate covered in a damp towel and put the rice paper on it to soften it.
Then we added filling: steamed pork, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, noodles, cucumber and lettuce.
Make sure not to overfill.
Then starting at the end with the filling, roll halfway, then tuck in the sides and roll the rest of the way.
The sauce is made of 3 parts water to 1 part fish sauce with lemon, sugar, garlic, chilli, carrot and pineapple.
This is the end result.
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Pearl Farm
It wouldn’t be a proper tour without a stop at some place to buy jewellery.
In this instance it was pearls.
Some oysters take so long to grow and produce a pearl that sponges decide that it is a great place to settle down as well.
The smaller ones are grown in buckets until they are seeded.
After seeding they are moved to these mesh cages.
Here one is being gently opened to seed a pearl.
It is a very delicate job that can be done pretty quick after lots of practice.
Here’s one that is done and he is searching for the pearl.
There it is.
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Halong Bay
The major reason for us to visit Hanoi was to eventually get over to Halong bay.
The bay is filled with hundreds of these small limestone islands jutting out of the water.
Just as we were pulling away from the shore we saw this bird of prey fishing. It was successful.
From a distance it looks like it is a wall of mountains.
Up close they take on a few different shapes like the snail.
Some have eroded to where only sheer cliff faces are left.
Others have overhanging spires.
They all looked really neat as we sailed through.
We did stop sometimes, and not just for tourist things. Sometimes it was to cool off and relax in the very warm water.
You can see the tide levels as it goes down. And sometimes this reveals caves you can go into.
We stayed overnight and the boats are only allowed to park where there are parking signs.
Sunset was nice but there was an island in the way. Although if we could see the horizon it would have been much rockier.
We set an alarm to wake us before sunrise.
Kerri actually got out of bed to get the pictures.
Matt just stayed in bed and watched a bit from the window as our cabin faced the sunrise.
Many of the rocks are very eroded at the bottom.
They looked like they would fall over and crush the boat.
