Halong Bay

Halong Bay is a 3 hour drive east of Hanoi. Tinh drove along with us to give us thorough background of Vietnam. We stopped by a center where disadvantaged kids make beautiful works of art. We left with three silk weavings and a few purses. I really wanted a gorgeous lacquer painting, but it would be too hard to travel with.

What an incredible place! Some would say magical. Not us, that's pretty dorky. From our giant 12 person boat to eight course seafood works of art, we were treated like kings. Halong Bay consists of over 1700 islands with giant limestone cliffs on all sides. It is impossible for our pictures to do it justice. Through our journey, we explored 5 of the over 900 caves, kayaked, swam and relaxed. The weather was cool and dreary, but it didn't stop us, we just drank more coffee to stay warm. The five crew members had a difficult time attending to our every need. Actually, they probably loved having just the four of us so they could relax as well.