Ha Long Bay

Our last night in Hanoi, Bia Hoi corner.  This picture doesn’t really do it justice, but you get the general idea of how close the traffic is.

The Sunny Hotel from across the street.

We were picked up by “German” (apparently westerners murder his real name, and he won’t tell us what it is), and hauled off in a mini bus for the 3 hour drive to Ha Long Bay.  The bay is crowded with boats like this (I saw at least 6 different boats with the same name).

We had to climb over three other boats to get out to our boat.  Luckily I had spent a lot of time while working on Water Rats doing this sort of crazy stuff while carrying a lot of heavy gear, so I wasn’t phased by it as I might have been before the water rats experience.

Our boat.

Our cabin.  We paid $110 US for a three day tour.  Similar tours were going for about $235 per person, so I have to wonder what we are missing out on.  We’re pretty happy so far, and the vegetarian food has been much better than anything we had in Hanoi.  There are a couple of other freaks on board, and we get herded together for meals.  Last night they gave us fake prawns which were much better than the ones we get in Sydney, but still pretty horrible. 

We stopped at a floating fish shop, and I was greatly saddened to see these magnificent creatures patiently waiting to die.  One of them was scooped up in a net, and then dumped down again, his body started pulsating rapidly, and his companions all matched the rhythms.  Obviously social animals, with advanced communication skills.  But tasty, so the brains don’t matter.

We sailed past a lot of rocks.  This is a place of such majestic beauty, everywhere you look is another postcard picture.

We were in excellent “hands” as we cruised to our first stop, an island with amazing caves.

The view down to the bay from the top.

Another knitter.  Actually she was crocheting, but I was happy to see her anyway.

This was another amazing day.  The day trippers went for a night kayak paddle last night, and apparently we’ll get to go today.  Mark and I are having a much better time than we thought possible with all the stresses of the past few months, and though it is sad to see the passing of each day, we look forward so much to the next adventure.