Post by Dom:
I mentioned in the last post, that Hanoi served as a home base for venturing out to Sapa & Halong Bay. Well, let me start with Sapa. It's way up north near the Vietnam/China border. So, we took an overnight sleeper train for the 9 hour journey. We shared a car with a retired married couple from Australia. They own acres of land and plant trees, and then sell them at markets. We learned a lot about the proper way to re-pot plants. Hopefully, it will help my not-so-green thumb. We chatted with them for awhile until we couldn't stay awake any longer.


We took a hiking tour one day and walked from the town out to some of the villages, with terraced rice fields as far as the eye can see. The views were spectacular. Our guide, Lily, is from one of the hill-tribe villages and move to Sapa town to earn money. She learned to speak English in just a few years, and speaks really well, albeit with an Australian accent. She has never been to Australia, but she has picked up the accent from listening to other travelers. She is 20yrs old, but said in the village she is seen as "too old" and nobody will marry her. So, now she has to look for a city man. A couple of Hmong tribe women accompanied us on the hike. One had a baby strapped to her back, but she was light on her feet and zoomed down the steep roads way ahead of us at times. The other woman was much older, and made a point of making sure I made it down the mountain safely by leading me by the hand. She looked about 60-ish years old, and has 12 children. Five are still living at home. I guess that's why they have to marry young...to get started on the baby making!

After Sapa, we took the night train back to Hanoi. The next day was Tony's birthday, and we spent it on Halong Bay...or, Bay of the Descending Dragon. We did an overnight boat trip, and spent the night on the bay. It was a bit pricey, but the boat was gorgeous...dark wood & really nice furnishings throughout. We somehow ended up with the biggest cabin on the boat. It was almost the size of a hotel room, with a king size bed. The beauty of the bay is difficult to describe, and pictures just can't capture it. It is mystical & magnificent...an incredible feat of nature. Around 3,000 limestone islands rise from emerald waters. They were created over millions of years, when the movement of the earth's crust forced the limestone above the water line. Caverns & tunnel caves formed in some of the giant rocks.


We got a chance to kayak through one of these formations on the tour. It was comical at first because neither Tony or I had ever kayaked before. We looked clumsy in the water as we tried to figure out how to steer. After awhile it started to get frustrating trying to get coordinated and not flip they kayak over, but we powered through it. But, it was still fun cruising through floating fishing villages. The people who live in these villages live on the water year round. Even though their houses are surrounded by water, they still manage to have dogs. They spend their days lounging in front of their houses, while fish are being caught in nets that are set up underneath the houses. The second day of the tour we explored some amazing caves. There were 3 caves all connected, and they all had really interesting stalactite formations. The caves were really huge. You could easily fit several large houses inside of them. They were lit up with soft colorful mood lighting, making it a great date spot.


The food on the boat was wonderful, fresh seafood. I had the best calamari ever. It was perfectly cooked & tender. It seemed to melt away in my mouth. The crew surprised Tony (and me) with a birthday cake & bouquet of roses. They even had candles on the cake, and everyone sang happy birthday. It was a very nice touch. There were only 5 other people on the boat, so we had a very nice intimate group. Not surprisingly, the other 5 were all Australian. They were all very nice to spend time with. After Halong Bay we headed back to Hanoi, where we have to catch our bus to Hue.

But, I'll end this for now because it's time to pack up for the next town.
SAPA PICS
HALONG BAY PICS