Vietnam, part K

Vietnam has stealthily pulled into the lead of favorites on this trip (unfairly besting Laos, where we had only 6 nights). But it's been a great mix of big cities full of great food and fun shopping, natural wonders like Halong Bay, and lots and lots of relaxation and beach time. This is Cua Dai beach, near Hoi An, which was one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen (ranking up with Ipanema, but less crowded). Clear, clear water, thatch huts, and what appeared to be virtually no jellyfish. Not the case for the rest of the trip...


Vietnam also adheres better to some semblance of traffic laws, and moto drivers and passengers wear helmets (one driver in Saigon offered me one and insisted I wear it, out of fear of a ticket). This makes crossing the road less anxiety-ridden and renting motorbikes a less-terrifying proposition as well. (Nick and I rented them for the second time this trip in Hoi An. I did not fall off this time.)

While it is true that we could post an entire entry on "Things People Carry on Motos," I'm including only my favorite highlight -- there are two pigs (alive) in this mesh bin on the back of this man's bike. (We have also seen moto drivers carrying bicycles, blocks of ice, huge sacks of rice and salt, and, another favorite, a passenger carrying a computer monitor on each leg.) Nick hypothesized that Vietnamese tourists in the U.S. might take pictures of hundreds of pigs in a transport truck, thinking to themselves, "Oh my goodness! Look, they carry their pigs in a truck!"

I'll try to steal only a fraction of what Nick intends to post about Halong Bay, but our final few days in Vietnam have been spent in this natural wonderland. The bay contains 3,000 limestone kearst islands jutting abruptly from the ocean, which is the most beautiful shade of jade green (you can't tell that in this picture). We were delivered from Hanoi to our boat, on which we ate lunch, dinner, and slept our first night. The second day we switched boats and went kayaking around the kearsts themselves.

We kayaked through both Halong Bay and Cat Ba protected areas (Cat Ba is a national park; the two abut one another but belong to different provinces). The kayaking included a few neat trips through tunnels in the kearsts.

We ended up on Cat Ba island for the night (the only inhabited island in the bay, home to about 17,000 people). We're staying at a beautiful resort right on the beach. It's definitely relaxing (though our night of karaoke last night was less so).

And so begins the end of our trip. We're quite pleased to finish our trip in Halong Bay -- it's been a marvelous experience, in terms of what we've seen and what we've been able to do (kayaking through holes in kearsts, jumping off the roof of the boat, relaxing on a beach in beautiful surrounds). I even feel a little bit cleaner, having worn my brand-new, custom-made dress last night to dinner! Nick and I fly to Bangkok tomorrow from Hanoi, and we'll fly back to the U.S. Saturday (Nick via some five flights). But the views and the relaxing vibe of Halong Bay have set us up well for the return trip.