It is Helen’s birthday today – and we started things off on
the right track by attempting to do Tai Chi on the sun deck. All went really
well with arm movements and nominal leg movements, then the instructor stepped
things up and we had all four limbs going at once. It was very relaxing and we
enjoyed a different way to start the day.
After another sumptuous breakfast (including
beef Pho of course) we transferred to our day boat and headed off to see a
local fishing village. Again we elected to take the bamboo boat instead of the
kayaks and our local guide expertly weaved us around the small houses lashed
together. What a way to live. Very minimal and no doubt very difficult as well.
There were several dogs around, and we got a bit close to the edge of one of
the places and we soon knew about it.
One of the people in our group of four
offered to “row” the boat which produced a lot of laughs. Even the guy who was
meant to be steering us around took a picture on his cell phone and no doubt
sent it off to friends.
Back on the day boat, we cruised to our next location – near
a pearl farm and had lunch. Four courses is really a bit much in this weather. Helly had a
local coffee which comes out brewing in a little device and drips into the cup
below. After about 5 minutes you get a cup of ice, which you mix into the
brewed coffee with condensed milk at the bottom – and voila – iced coffee!
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| Harvesting the small oysters |
I’m a bit sceptical about the visits to
factory type places that you invariably get when you travel in a tour group.
However, the pearl farm was actually very interesting. We were taken through a
bit of history of how cultured pearls came about, then learned about the
different types, saw them at various growing stages, watched them being harvested
and then how they are inserted with a membrane and a piece of pearl shell from
the oyster. Basically only 10% of the pearls that are cultured actually survive
and produce pearls – so you can appreciate the difficulty and hence the value
of cultured pearls.
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| Critiquing the pour |
There was some scheduled relaxing time this afternoon, which was
actually appreciated. Then on to the cocktails at happy hour to celebrate Helly’s
birthday in style. We topped it off with some lovely Moet that we had brought
from NZ and shared with people we had come to know on the boat. Another cooking
demonstration was a heap of fun – this time we had a go at making deep fried
spring rolls. Everyone got graded on what they produced – but I don’t think
anyone got 100% I managed 99.999% - so I suppose that is good enough!
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| Cooking demonstration in action |
A five course dinner finished off a lovely birthday evening.
Everyone sung Helly happy birthday and the staff even treated her with a free
cocktail! They don’t tend to give away anything on the boat – so it was a
really nice surprise. The staff have done an excellent job preparing delicious
meals – in what I suspect is an extremely cramped space.
Back on the day boat, we cruised to our next location – near
a pearl farm and had lunch. Four courses is really a bit much in this weather. Helly had a
local coffee which comes out brewing in a little device and drips into the cup
below. After about 5 minutes you get a cup of ice, which you mix into the
brewed coffee with condensed milk at the bottom – and voila – iced coffee!
Happy birthday for yesterday Helen. Obviously it was a happy day- plenty of food and drink and others serving it. Pity about the tourist numbers at the sights.You need a guide like the one we had in Greece who got us away early to miss the crowds. However the photos are not full of people and give a good idea of the scenery.
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