Ha Long Bay

I decided that since we were so far up north, we had to go see Ha Long Bay. After shopping around a bit, we decided that a day cruise would be best as opposed to a two or three day cruise. Apparently it takes that long to see most of the some 2000 islands. Only one island is inhabited by humans, while the other islands have their own unique plants and wildlife (monkeys, lizards, birds, and so forth). We woke up early Sunday morning and took the four hour bus ride over bumpy and muddy roads to the harbor. It had been raining all morning and visibility had been low, so I was worried about being able to enjoy Ha Long Bay. But as luck would have it, the front that we had seen inland had already passed through Ha Long and the bay was very clear, with the mist sitting on top of the islands, giving the illusion of all those pirate movies.

We boarded the wooden cruise ship and enjoyed a little bit of heat indoors and some lunch of shrimp, chicken, fish, squid, French fries, and heaps of vegetables. We then shimmied our way up the ladder to the viewing deck and took as many pictures of the same view as possible.We also managed to escape the women who would row up to the ship, open the window, and try to sell us fruit (though they did try to call out to us).

Our first stop was kayaking. Matt begged and pleaded for me to go, so I went. I got soaked and realized that I am really terrible at rowing, but it was well worth it. I can now say that I kayaked in Vietnam, through caves and between floating houses. Thankfully the wind was blowing enough to allow me to dry off fairly quickly, making me freeze for only a few minutes.

Our second stop was at the caves. We hiked up the mountain to two huge, beautiful caves. Legend has some thing to do with a dragon in the caves, so the Vietnamese government helped this image along by installing colored lights. It is beautiful, but I think regular lights would have been enough, as the cave is beautiful on its own.

Once back in Hanoi, we got dropped off the night market, which resembled the street of Ramkhamhaeng in Bangkok. We walked along enjoying the market atmosphere and stopped at a street restaurant run by boys who looked to be  between the ages of 12 and 17, while their very pregnant mother had either her husband, father, or brother (hard to tell) try on pants she had just purchased at the market. This man managed to still look menacing as he set down his cigarette and tried on the pants right in the middle of the restaurant.