When it comes to day tours, it's quite the norm to embark on shopping with some commission given to the tour guide and this day tour to Halong Bay was no different when we stopped over at this Legend Pearl, supposed for a toilet break.
The picturesque Halong Bay was so near yet so far. I am impatient and to spend time on such commissioned shopping when I am overseas meant my precious time wasn't well used. Thankfully, I am aware there's nothing I could do; so I might as well enjoy it.
Frankly, the tour guide didn't just leave us there to be slaughtered. Using a large map of Halong Bay, he explained what we would be doing later, including the key attractions we would be visiting shortly.
Of course, our attention was also drawn to the pictures of the three key oysters from the seas, where pearls came from; namely, the tahiti, the south seas and the akoya.
It's always nice to package such shopping with knowledge and here at Legend Pearl, the staff assigned to us would patiently introduce pearls to us, including the sources, how they cultivate and extract the pearls etc.
Live samples would be a must!
And I must admit it was an eye-opener.
There were different stations and this lady here was focused on introducing membrane and put it into the reproductive organ of the oysters to cultivate pearls. It's literally like going through a live experiment!
Here's the extraction station. Guess the average number of pearls you can extract from a typical oyster? It usually ranged from 20 to 40 pearls although it may take a few years for the pearls to form. Even then, only about 5% would be perfectly round; the optimal shape to make into jewelry.
Video for viewing pleasure. So any difference in pearls for the three types of oysters! Have; the south seas has mainly white and gold colored pearls whereas the akoya is mainly white pearls. Tahiti has apparently the nicer colors that are dark colored or even iridescent!
Last station would obviously be the humongous showroom with displays of jewelry made from pearls, mother of pearls etc. Well, since the target audience is the fairer sex; the men, without accompany of any women, would usually be left alone.
I did peer over to see the pricing.
About S$100 to S$200 each for the necklaces with quite a sizeable pearl. Would that be considered as an okay pricing? I wouldn't know since I don't really wear jewelry, knowing how careless I am.
Bracelets made from mother of pearl.
Price? 625,000 dong (about S$34).
Facial cream made from pearls! I know my mom ever bought something similar from China before but pity; she didn't pick up my WhatsApp call. Its price tag of 600,000 dong was reasonable actually.
Personally, I was way more excited to see a small cafe as I was craving for coffee! If you see a crowd, don't bother as there was only one coffee machine and ordering was chaotic!
By the time we secured our coffee, the coach was waiting for us.
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Address
Đại Yên, Thành Phố Hạ Long,
Quảng Ninh, Vietnam
Map
As above.
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