It
was a brilliant day today, though it started with light drizzle in the
morning, so no sunrise could be seen, but the mood in the bay was
pretty mystical.
It is really great to have a breakfast cruse, meaning your are enjoying your breakfast and the limestone formations pass bye.
After
the breakfast the visit of an oyster pearl farm was in the program.
Clearly set up for tourist in the bay and hence commercial, but still
interesting.
The
process of producing an artificial pearl goes like this. First you
bread some normal oysters in the bay for 18 month and you get them out
of the bay and now the real stuff starts. If I have understood the
Vietnamese English right, you take out part of an oyster, the part which
produces the pearl layer aground the nucleus.
So
this is extracted and then together with an artificial pearl, made
from the inside of the shell, introduced into a living oyster. This
oyster is opened by a plastic shaft and then the pearl wrapped with the
part of the other oyster is introduced into it.
The
so prepared oyster goes back to the sea for another 18 month and then,
if your are lucky you will find a pearl inside – as we did!!v
The
job is tough though, since 70 % of the Oysters die, because of being
so week after the surgery and of the rest only 10% produce proper
pearls.
That
is probably the reason why the shop prices where that high – also it
was made clear that you will regret if it if you do not buy here –
smile.
The remaining day we spend by cursing through the bay and even swimming before we arrive at our little paradise. Monkey Island,
in principle a few huts which made a perfect base for Robison Crusoe,
though he probably had no cold beer on the island where he stranded.
Anyhow,
a great place to be and after an hour of relaxation my new friend 2 a
Spanish and a German girl went out for a Canoe trip through the bay –
best experience ever. It was the best choice ever not only to visit
Halong bay but also go to cat ba island, since the bay is much much
quieter here and you still get a more original feeling.
Tomorrow I will continue to Mingh Bin – being picked up from my island at 8 – sad to leave this paradise that soo….
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