Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

If you go to Vietnam you must see Halong Bay. After being in Laos we had seen many limestone karst formations, but there is really nothing like Halong Bay, where the karst formations protrude from the sea.

We set out into the bay on a "junk," like the one in the photo below.

We cruised around the bay for a day on the junk...

...of course, eating seafood.

We spent one night anchored on the boat, and the next day we went kayaking around the bay with a guide, and with the other 8 people from our boat.

The kayaking was fantastic...

...and we paddeled in and out of little tunnels through the limestone...

...exploring small, interior lagoons.

The weather, as was to be expected...

...was cool and damp, but we didn't mind too much.

There are lots of floating villages in the bay, and the people make money by harvesting and growing seafood.

After our second day on the bay we cruised to Cat Ba Island, the largest island in the bay.

We stayed in a luxuruy hotel right on the beach (view from our room above). This was the nicest room we had in all of Asia. So close to the end of our trip we began to forget about our budget.

We rented a motorcycle and cruised around the beautiful island, stopping to take a hike in the National Park,

and enjoy the rural scenery.

At the end of the day it was back to the harbor, to catch a boat to the mainland. This was our last true excursion of the trip, as now we were on our way to Hanoi, Saigon, Hong Kong, and San Francisco.