Vietnam Cambodia Thailand 2024: Nov 23-24

So the WiFi is very spotty here on our Paradise Sails cruise. Yesterday we boarded at 1230 after a 3 hr drive from Hanoi. We stopped at a pearl farm where they implant tissue and a little stone into each oyster, then wait several years for a pearl to form. The process was cool. At the pearl gift shop I found a little pair of owl pearl earrings which almost made me cry so guess who know owns some cultured pearls. The weird part was the owls earrings were the ONLY animal earrings besides plain pearls. 😇😇 After settling in on the ship we took a small tender boat to a beautiful beach. We could either climb 500 stairs to the top of the rock formation or swim. We all decided swimming it is. lol About an hour of lounging on the beach, we reboarded our ship and then ventured out again to visit a cave. Once on the little boat, we toured through a cave into the middle of a bay with huge rock formations on all sides. It was absolutely stunning. Many boats cruise around the bay with small local boats mixed in trying to sell their goods. As the afternoon ended we boarded our ship again and enjoyed happy hour until 6:30pm. On the beds in our cabins we found colorful Vietnamese attire that we were to wear at dinner. With some encouragement we all dressed and headed down to dinner. The food in Vietnam mostly requires an acquired taste. I try most things but usually go back to the standard chicken and rice or noodles with bread and dessert. After dinner, Garnet Brenda and Jerald tried some squid fishing but Bev and I retired to our rooms! I was a little worried that the food was getting to me as I didn’t feel great but today I’m all good again.

Today we were up early and watched as the local people tried to sell me beads and almost anything she could sell to my balcony. After breakfast we boarded the tender boat again and visited 2 caves. One with many stairs and small spaces to walk through to larger caves. It was amazing. Then…. We went to a place where we had to kayak around the bay to an opening into rocks to large caves inside. It was very cool once my heart calmed from worrying about the kayaking thing. Watching me get out of the kayak was I’m sure a sight. lol Garnet was a great partner, as Brenda stayed on the boat. Bev and Jerald went kayaking too but in different kayaks. Bev’s guide was fairly useless. She says she would have been better on her own. When we were back to our cruise boat, the Paradise Sails, we enjoyed a cocktail on the upper deck and waited for supper. After supper Brenda , Garnet, Jerald and I tried out some squid fishing. About half hour later luck struck and I pulled up a squid. Apparently one of the biggest that has been caught on our boat. Brenda got officially inked by it as I held it up for pics. Lol Our guide took it home and cooked it with noodles for breakfast this morning. It was quite the experience! Our cruise aboard the Paradise Sails was incredible.