Ha Long Bay tour

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Dear Readers - today we went on a tour boat to see HaLong Bay. The boat is a typical junk style but with all the standing rigging just there for show. We had the boat to ourselves which was nice. HaLong bay is a very large area and fairly shallow. There are many caves on the islands of which there are over 2000. Any where from the size of a car to many, many acres. Our boat stopped a two locations, one was a very interesting cave with many extremely steep steps to get into it. Once inside the cave which was lite by large honda generators, the winding stairways continued and we probably walked about 1/2 mile inside the cave taking pictures as we went. There were many people inside the cave from other boats as well. With so many boats plying for the few moorages, tying along side was pretty much the plan of the day. Walking from one boat to the next to get on and off was a good lesson in balance and flexibility. We had scheduled a 7 hour trip but by the end of the day we were happy to get back. It was a very warm day and these boats went so slow they hardly created any air movement about the boat. We didn't exceed 5 knots on the whole trip.. These boats have a habit of crashing into each other during landings and departures as well as being underway. These collisions, however light, would certainly cause the wrath of the USCG and the insurance carriers. These boats do not have licensed skippers or crew and no safety training with life preservers etc., etc.

One of the things interesting to us is the French Colonial archetecture in some of the homes here. We are adding some pictures to show this style.

Be sure to check our video of a musician playing a traditional Vietnamese string/percusion instrument.

More later,

Jim and Ann

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Photos

French Home
The house on the left is Jim's favorite.

Bum Boat
During the Vietnam war we checked many of these crafts for counterban

Comments

[Cuz]

Way to Much Fun
You guy's sound like you are having a wonderful experience. I am loving the pictures and all the great information you send. It's a great education for all of us at your expense! And Knowing that the pictures are within days old. Is the water dirty or is it clean? I am in Arizon today and off to Reno tomorrow. Helping Gloria close up and move back for the summer. And celebrating our Birthday's Again. Really needed to get warmed up as it has not really been warm enough for me in the Pondo.Have a wonderful day. Reida

[UNDERWAY]

Way too much fun
Hi Reida and Gloria - yes you are right we are having a great experience and actually learning some things we were not aware of. We are difinately getting an education. A lot of the pictures we are sending are just hours old in some cases as in yesterday's post from Halong Bay. The tap water here is not recommended for drinking but bottle water is provided by the hotels and is available everywhere. This is prodominately true troughout all asian countries. As to the saltwater or rivers, they tend to look murky close to the coast and upstream. The islands however, being off shore, have very clean saltwater unless it has been stirred up by the weather. Wishing you and Gloria a happy birthday and understand your need to get warmed up. Wish we could send you some of our heat, less the humidity. Have a drink on us, Jim and Ann

[Peter]

Ha Long Bay Tour
Did you book the cruise before getting to Ha long or did you pick up the cruise when you were there. We are coming over in 3 months. What cost was the cruise ? Peter

[UNDERWAY]

Halong Bay tour
Peter - we booked our tour through the hotel - Halong Plaza Hotel - We did the deluxe boat seven hour trip. Not sure if other hotels have the exact itinerary or not but there are probably many possibilities. The cost was $280 for us to have the whole boat to ourselves. There are overnight cruises available for 2-3 days or more. I would not book until you get here because if you want an overnight cruise, you do not want to have booked a hotel room for the same period of time. Write if you need more information. There are probably over 500 boats available so no issue of everything being booked. You should look up Halong Bay tours on the internet to get some idea of availability. We did see some high end boat cruises advertized in magazines throughout Vietnam as well as on Vietnam Airways.

[the soul cultivator]

I didnt know the crew were illegal (in our eyes) and had no safety training! A perfect example of a same same but different trip to mine, what a great place! Ill be seeing you guys later Claire x

[UNDERWAY]

Hanoi
Hi Chaire - the message was taken incorrectly at our hotel. We tried to get a hold of you and the hotel did not have room 203 or know your name. Please contact us again 84 4 845 2270 and leave a new message for room 1419. Jim and Ann Blanchard

[Generators]

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