Sunday, May 28, 2017 aka the day we took 10 million pictures….
I woke up feeling fit as a fiddle this morning. What a blessed relief. We ate breakfast and then hauled ourselves downstairs for the pickup at 8 am. Our bus arrived promptly at 8am. And we were off. Before long, the boys all fell asleep. Clara and I got to hang out. Logan ended up sleeping almost the entire way there.
It was awesome driving through the countryside and through other cities that were a little less touristy. The countryside was amazing. Honestly, it reminded us a lot of the central valley, except there were fewer Oleander bushes and more tropical-ish plants.
But, the rolling fields and all that felt very familiar. All the buildings here are super tall and skinny. Each dwelling is basically one room wide (And not a very large room at that). And most are at least 3 stories tall. There is a lot of French/ European influence. Which is fun.
At about the halfway point, we stopped for a quick bathroom break. And of course, they told us to feel free to do some shopping. : ). They had all these people sitting in the front area, embroidering. I cannot even imagine how long it must to complete a single piece. And they were intricate. Each person had a small picture of what they were working to create. And then the rough design was drawn on the piece of linen. And that’s about it. And there were a bunch of these women all sitting in the main area, just embroidering away. I bought a couple of pieces. They were only $15!! For hours and hours of work. It almost felt like robbery!
After dropping by that shop, we continued to make our way to Ha Long Bay. Can I just say, that the way people drive around here is crazy!?! There are no rules. It’s just ‘You see an opening, you take it.’ Even if it’s on the wrong side of the road.
And it can be like that in Manila too, but in Manila there’s so much traffic, that you are doing all of this in slow motion. (And I would add that people generally stay on the correct side of the street.) In Vietnam, they weave, and swerve and break at 65 miles an hour. It was kinda crazy. The kids enjoyed it immensely. Especially since we sat in the back of the bus where it was particularly bumpy and swerve-y.
We arrived, waited for everything to get settled and then tendered our way to the boat, the Oriental Sails. Once aboard, we had lunch. And wow, what a lunch that was. The kids were brave and tried octopus. Man, there was so much food. And it was all very good.
We headed out into Ha Long bay as we ate our lunch. Wow. What an amazing place. These pictures don’t even capture how amazing it was in person. I can see why it was named a Unesco heritage site, and a wonder of the natural world. It really was gorgeous.
In our group, we had 2 girls from Australia, 2 from France, and one from Germany (who currently lives in Hong Kong). And then our family. So, the Uries were literally half of the tour group. Also, Jonathan was the only man (besides our guide). #sorryhestaken #notsorry
Our guide’s name is Tuyen, but he tells everybody to call him Jackie Chan because so many people have difficulty remembering and pronouncing his name. And he was the nicest guy on the planet, but he was so difficult to understand sometimes. Even for the native English-speakers among us. He just had a really thick accent. We felt bad for the poor French girls, they spoke some English, but I’m guessing they aren’t familiar with that particular accent. We had to tell them what he said a couple times.
After lunch, we were given keys to our cabins and we went to get settled. We had two rooms. Jonathan and Juju were in a room with two twin beds. Clara, Logan, and I shared a queen sized bed. After all the excitement, Logan was starting to get a little cranky.
Jonathan opted to stay with him while he took a nap. So, I guess you could say it was Baby-Daddy nap-time. Juju and I went up on the top deck and sat in some of the lounge chairs and just looked out at the bay and the stunning views.
He pointed out the various features of the bay, including ‘Juju island’ and ‘Mommy island’. After Juju island was out of sight, he would occasionally remark “Mommy, I really miss my island.”
This was one of my favorite times of this entire trip. Just sitting up on the top deck of a boat in Ha Long bay, holding hands with my little guy, and him just jabbering away in that way that is so uniquely Juju. #thisiswhatitsallabout. As we were walking down the stairs to get Clara, the breeze really picked up and blew my dress around #marilynmonroe. It attacked Juju. He loved that.
Clara came up on the deck with us, and we all just had a great time, looking around. The kids burned off some energy by climbing on the deck chairs, etc. (And probably driving everyone crazy)
This whole time we had been making our way to the first ‘excursion’ of our ‘cruise’, which was a visit to a floating fishing village.
The people in these villages pretty much spend their entire lives on these little floating islands. Although more and more people are starting to drift to the mainland, for education and work.
A couple of the locals rowed us around and we got to see various parts of the village. And may I just say, our boat rower was A BOSS. Seriously, his pace didn’t slack for a moment. Even though he was rowing our entire family, himself, and the German gal.)
The village itself is simply a bunch of small buildings, all nestled in a cove of islands. Their little cove is protected from the wind, and so the water looks like glass. It was beautiful.
It was quite fascinating to see. And of course, it was very educational for the children, who were delighted to learn about a different culture and about people who live so differently from themselves.
Ok… Let’s be real. Really, they just liked putting their hands in the water.
Along the way, we saw a traditional Chinese Junk Boat. No doubt moored there for the benefit of tourists. We ate it up 🙂 I mean, look how cute it is!
The locals also have a pearl farm. That was pretty cool to see. And at the end of the rowboat tour, there was (of course) a gift shop where you could purchase pearls. Can you believe this place is real!?!?! It honestly looks like a fairy tale.
While we waited at the floating gift shop, we took a little family photo. And nearly died of the cuteness. I promise I didn’t coordinate our outfits one bit. Our outfits were serendipitously coordinated. #meanttobe #christmascardphoto
PS. I think that picture of Jonathan (below, upper left) needs to be on the cover of GQ. Brooding/scruffy/handsome man wearing pink with amazing scenery? Check. Cover photo.
After the floating village, we hopped back on the little excursion boat and went back to the boat, and had a little more free time as we cruised to the place where we would overnight.
Then the rest of the fam went back to our rooms, and I went to the cooking class. (Jonathan is the best). Ever.
Our tour guide taught us how to make Vietnamese spring rolls, with the most amazing dipping sauce. And man, they were good. I’ll be making those bad boys a lot. That was a really fun thing. I just kind of pinched myself the whole time. I am on a boat, at sunset, in Ha Long Bay, learning how to make Vietnamese spring rolls. #thisiswhatdreamsaremadeof.
Jonathan and the kids came up and partook of the spring rolls after we finished making them. And then we just watched the sunset until dinner time. And again, the menu was fantastic. So much deliciousness!
I think one of my favorite moments was when Jonathan ordered a ‘Woman mocktail’. (They also had a ‘Man mocktail’ and a ‘Child mocktail’. I’m pretty sure that if he hadn’t been there with his wife and three children, the bartender may have questioned his masculinity.
After dinner, it was fishing time. The other option was karaoke. And, as good as I am at karaoke, fishing is what the kids wanted to do. And so, Clara, Juju and Jonathan went fishing with ‘Jackie Chan’. Clara caught a squid!!! Our guide said that it was the biggest sea creature he had ever seen caught on one of these cruises. It was about 8 inches long. Clara, of course, was delighted. She couldn’t talk about anything else for the rest of the evening. (And I don’t blame her). It was pretty cute.
Unfortunately, these are the worst pictures ever taken….my camera was on the wrong setting. And the lighting was terrible. And I was so busy snapping away, I didn’t notice how terrible the pictures were turning out. So many sad tears. But, that really is a squid. And when it was released back into the ocean, it inked.
After all that excitement, we hit the sack. And after this marathon of a blog post, I am ready to hit the sack. And you probably are too.
