The
Bhaya Cruise is a new boat with
an ancient history. A true traveler
of his time, the Vietnamese Emperor
Khai Dinh (1885-1925) defied the
custom of taking thousands of
courtiers on a royal trip, and took
just twelve of his most trusted
followers on a very exceptional trip
to Halong Bay. His ship was one of
the best of the wonderful wooden
junks that sailed the waters of
Halong. Inspired by the romantic
landscape of the limestone karst
islands rising in the middle of the
waters, Khai Dinh commissioned a
poem in praised of the bay’s beauty
to be carved on the cliff of Dau Go
Cave.
The tale of the king’s trip and the
hardy ship he had chosen as his
water home circulated among the ship
builders of Halong. Each succeeding
generation of shipbuilders dreamed
of duplicating Khai Dinh’s wonderful
boat, but nearly 100 years passed
before an 80-year-old master
shipbuilder, Nguyen Van Hoa, turned
the dream into reality.
Master Hoa was born into a highly
respected family of ship builders in
Quang Ninh Province. From early
childhood, his father had filled his
mind with stories of this magical
kingly junk that no one could
replicate. At the same time, under
the expert tutelage of his father,
Hoa developed into one of the most
gifted ship designers of his
generation. Night after sleepless
night, he studied ancient drawings
and scripts describing Vietnamese
wooden junks. During the day he
devised blueprints for all types of
junks that could sail across all
sorts of ocean waters.
Still, Hoa’s life seemed incomplete.
He was always searching for a dream
junk – the boat that would set his
work apart from those of the other
shipbuilders of his time. One day,
among the thousands of ancient
sketches and drawings, he discovered
a fragment of the lost drawing of
Khai Dinh’s matchless junk. Working
slowly and carefully, he managed to
restore the drawing to its original
state. At last, the incomparable
boat that had transported Khai Dinh
and his courtiers lived again on
paper. Now, all that was left was to
find the support to build the vessel
and, once again, bring the ship to
life in reality.
In January of 2005, a chance meeting
took place in Halong among Antoine
Bertrand, a gifted young French
architect from Montpellier, his
colleague, Anne Drousie, who wanted
to build a luxury boat in the style
of the ancient Vietnamese junks, and
Master Hoa. At last, more than 125
years after Khai Dinh had set sail,
all of the ingredients were in place
to finally recreate this magnificent
boat.
Fiercely determined, French
architects and Vietnamese master
shipbuilders toiled for two long
years in the heat of the shipyard.
Finally, in July of 2007, the Bhaya
was launched – a perfect blend of
the experience and talent of the
ancient master and the youthful
creativity of the Frenchman and his
friend.
