* Originally published on Nov 4th but edited to keep the trip experience in chronological order.

A dear friend just inquired why we don’t have photos up on Halong Bay.  We don’t?  I thought I had written something about it…but I hadn’t!  And he’s right, its worth the time to tell you about it, albeit briefly, and share the photos – the good ones are Andy’s.

We spent three days and two nights on Halong Bay.  It is as impressive as the photos posted all over the walls of the Vietnamese Consulate in New York.

Like all well-touristed places you follow a fairly set path through the bay.  Most of the tourists opt for a one nighter but we wanted to bike and kayak and swim so we opted for a longer “voyage.”  Day 1, floating fishing village, kayaking, spring roll making; Day 2 tai chi, bike ride on Cat Ba Island, kayaking, swimming; Day 3 tai chi, Jules Verne cave (not its real name) and return.  We were pleased with the experience and it was a welcome break from Hanoi and its motorcycle madness!  Best perhaps were the people we met.  Jill and Geoffrey, from Australia, Ian, Jane, Claire and Graham from England.  We spent day 2 biking and night 2 socializing and making jokes about the snake wine – the manly man potion.  Such fun!  After the cruise we returned to Hanoi for a night and then it was on to Luang Prabang.

p.s.

I guess its a good thing that we’re not fanatical about our Word Press Blog effort.  It means we’re busy living in the “outernet”