Once we figured out the tsunami from Chile probably wouldn't reach Vietnam, we headed to Ha Long Bay on Saturday. We had a pleasant surprise as we got to our boat. A fancy "junkboat" for 30 people was all ours with 10 crew members to attend to our every need (Ok, there were three other tourists, but it was pretty much all ours :). They served us four fabulous meals during our 24 hour stay, and we have barely needed to eat since.
Ha Long Bay is filled with almost 2000 limestone karsts, eerily haunting the mist for miles in every direction. It was really an awe-inspiring experience to wind our through the seemingly endless sprawl of islands.
This is us in AMAZING cave. The tour guide kept saying it so loudly and enthusiastically, it was pretty funny. Especially since he said it about 100 times.
Verifying there is no tsunami before jumping into the kayaks to explore.
We also got to watch life on the Bay in one of the floating villiages. This is one of the homes we saw plus some kids hanging out at the school waiting for their teachers.
The ride back from Ha Long Bay was filled with rice paddies. Our guide explaned to us that they are planting the rice during this time of year. They initially grow the seedlings close together in one field, and then transfer them one at a time into their paddy at 25 cm intervals. Looked like tough work.
Our last day in Vietnam we spent walking the city and going to see a few sights. We went to the masoleum of Ho Chi Minh, the national hero for his role in gaining independence from France. He looked pretty good for his age. The complex devoted to him was huge, with a palace, two old residences, and a musuem of his life.
In addition to the palace, there were many other examples of French architecture in the French Quarter of the city.
We also visited the Temple of Literature, which was a place of confucian learning founded in the eleventh century. The names of the distinguished graduating doctors were engraved on these stone steles mounted on turtle rocks. Too bad they stopped this tradition, otherwise Noah could have been included. Fortunately he was still able to rub the turtle's head for good luck.
As we walked back to the hotel, we saw the usual dinner scene in Vietnam out on the street.
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