We drove about 3 hours from HaNoi to the ocean. Along the way there were many international factories built in the midst of miles of rice fields being farmed by water buffalo with farmers planting rice seedlings one at a time. We went through a red clay area with brick factories, then a coal mining section with coal fired electric plants. All the way the pollution was as bad as in LA.

When we arrived at the dock in HaLong City there were a dozen or more tour buses and hundreds of tourists milling about. We have learned to stand back and let it happen. Our tour guide was negotiating with several people, someone came and collected our passports, we were told to follow another fellow onto a boat and within 5 minutes we were away from the dock. There is no way you could do this on your own, it is not at all apparent how things work.

We were on a boat with a capacity of 12 and there were 7 of us. A couple from Germany near Kohn, a Swiss couple and an English lady who is traveling around the world alone. They were a great bunch and we enjoyed visiting with them. The Swiss couple took a bit to warm up.

We cruised for 2 days out in the bay which is about 1000 square kilometers and has 1969 islands both big and small. They are limestone and jut straight out of the bay with very few areas to beach the boat so all the excursions were by a bamboo boat with a sort of raft built on top of it and the boy stood up and ran the oars. Of course no life jackets in sight but we didn't go out of swimming distance from shore. We went into one large cavern similar to Lewis & Clark and then stopped at an island named Titop. It was where Tito and HoChiMinh had a meeting. There were stairs to the top which we climbed for a beautiful view, although my calves paid for it that night. There was a beautiful sunset after which we droopped anchor for the night in a secluded cove. The next day was misty in the am and high clouds all day and we cruised around and looked at more caves. We saw monkeys on the hill side. It was such a quiet and relaxing place and a respite we needed after the noise and crowds.

When we pulled into a fishing village all the kids came out is boats trying to sell us seashells. One little 5 year old was being rowed by his Grandma, Kate gave him a dollar which he wasn't too sure of, then Len gave hime 20000 dong which equals a dollar and he broke into a huge grin, stuffed the dong in his pocket and handed the dollar to Grandma.

Our driver and guide were at the dock to meet us and we stopped at a handicapped workshop on the way back to lighted our wallet.

We are in HaNoi now at an internet cafe waiting to take the night train to SaPa. Will write more from there.