Sunday - Another Day Another City

Hanoi, Vietnam - where we landed late Saturday night. Sunday morning off early to Ha long Bay for a cultural event. The bus trip from Hanoi to Ha long Bay was 4 hours, but worth every minute. Once in Ha long Bay, we were treated to a four hour cruise aboard a junk ship - just our group on the boat - a fantastic lunch, followed by a tour through a cave that was discovered by e fisherman in 1996. These caves had it all - stalagmites, stalactites, full columns of limestone and deep caves within the cave. The tour of Ha long bay included the viewing of almost 2000 rock formations that rise up out of the water. In fact, many have names that resemble the shape of the formation. Lauren named one "ski boot island" (see photo in the album). This was a great way to start the week in Vietnam, as we had been travelling almost all the day before. The four hour bus trip went through the countryside where we saw many rice paddies, villages and roadside tent markets. We had a lot of sun (and a lot of wine).