Traveling day twenty - Halong Bay

We journeyed four hours by van this morning to meet our boat that was taking us out into Halong Bay overnight.





Halong Bay looks like God shook his fingers after making the Himalayas and bits of mountains flew off and landed in all of the bay. There are about 1962 islands in this bay and an unknown number of caves. Lots of fishermen, seven floating villages and several tourist junks like the one we are on.




Our boat is beautiful and the staff are very attentive. We had a nine course local seafood lunch and a ten course dinner! Chris and I pigged out on prawns, crabs, local fish, and clams.

We took the option to go kayaking this afternoon all around one of the islands. I had Gabby in my kayak, and when we went through a cave into a lake I managed to do a fantastic kayak three point turn. Kayaking through one of the world's most amazing national parks is something I will never forget. We also jumped into the water and had a swim at one of the beaches at the end of the day. Which was needed - we were a bit sweaty and hot after kayaking about ten kilometers.

I feel so blessed to visit such an amazing place. Sunset over the sheer mountains in Halong Bay was wonderful and an excellent end to a superb day. Chris and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary here.





We are also fortunate because there is a typhoon coming into the South China Sea, and the tour boats are not coming out tomorrow. So I think we had the calm sun before the storm.





Things I am glad I packed for our trip:
- Bandaids and paw paw cream - solved a variety of small injuries for poor poor children
- My sarong - mat to sit on, skirt, puppet theatre, scarf, towel, storytelling prop
- the iPad - it has returned on cost tenfold in long airport waits and train trips as an all in one games, video, blogging, music, last resort device
- the upside down show on the iPad - thanks Shane and Dave for making one of the best shows ever for kids
- hand sanitizer - no-one has got sick yet!
- 'good bacteria' pills recommended by the chemist - any funny tummy signs I have had one of these and the tummy funniness has disappeared
- travel towels, good shoes and my fishing hat with a string
- our camera!!

Chris' Cultural Tip: Scooters - much more than a person mover.
There are an increasing number of cars in Vietnam, but the roads are still dominated by motor scooters. And the Vietnamese have perfected the art of balancing huge amounts of cargo on a simple scooter. Travelling to Ha Long Bay for 3 hours gave us a chance to see some of the extraordinary things being carted around. Here are some examples:
- thousands of flowers bound for market
- about 20 large paintings
- a bunch of building supplies
- up to 5 people (including infants) - many without helmets
- about 20 metal watering cans
- 3 polystyrene crates plus luggage for two

Here are some crappy iPad photos as examples (until we get home and can post good ones)








All of this makes it obvious that scooters are much more than a person mover.

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