Hanoi Day 3 - Halong Bay on a Junk

Halong Bay is located on the coast west of Hanoi, and is supposedly one of the not-to-be-missed sights in Vietnam.  Most people stay overnight on a boat out on the bay, but since Kim and I really didn't need the romantic sunset and sunrise, we decided on the half-day tour.  It's just over 100 miles from Hanoi, but the drive took us almost four hours - the traffic.  Our guide for the day was nice, but a bit of a... close talker.  She would stand really near you and stare, taking about 10 seconds too long to respond to a question.  This did not bode well for the day.

Our boat!  We had it all to ourselves...

First on the schedule was lunch, and it started out with what David likes to call "snot soup."  A thick, gelatinous seafood thing.  I'm a good eater and I don't even like it.  To be followed by fried squid cakes, grilled prawns and steamed crab.  Did I mention yet that Kim did not like seafood?  Not even a little bit.  They added to the fun by bringing the food to us on huge platters, standing in the doorway and peering around the corner and watching us (not) eat.  "Don't like?"  We sort of tried to fake it by taking small bites and moving things around on the plate, but I'm pretty sure we weren't fooling anyone.

We had a second local guide, who drew us into conversation by asking why we weren't eating more.  His English was great, much better that our first close-talker guide.  "Where did you learn to speak English?" we asked.  "School?"  "No," he scoffed, "HBO!  I love American movies!"  He was completely charming, feeding us movie lines, even Kim had to eat the crab he was personally shelling for us.  I mentally dubbed him 'Hollywood'.

The main course was - not seafood!  But it was really fatty lamb, which I hope nobody likes.  "But there's rice!  I can eat the rice!" said Kim excitedly.

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The meal finally over, the first rock formation we passed were the Kissing Chickens.

They let me jump off the boat and go for a swim!

My favorite part was getting off the boat and exploring Dau Go cave.  Spectacular.

This was the original entrance to the caves.  The story has something to do with people hunting monkeys, wondering where they disappeared to and then finding this awesome cave.

The Mothers Milking Breast.  Say that without giggling.

And the Old Wise Turtle.

The view from outside the cave.

We didn't quite stay long enough that day to see the sun set, but this was close enough...

Thanks Halong Bay, and goodbye to Hollywood!

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Next up?  Ho Chi Minh's resting place, and "How Much Crap Can You Fit On a Motorbike?"