Today was one of the highlights of our trip. The topography of this area, with its emerald waters and sculpted outcrops of limestone is simply amazing. I could sit in the deck chair on the boat for days, just watching the ever-changing landscape flow by. We were in the lobby at the appointed hour and I watched the awakening town slowly come to life in the harbour across the street. A young fellow arrived on a scooter and wandered around the entrance. Shortly after a taxi arrived. They hung around for a good fifteen minutes before the young guy came in and inquired my name. A little problem of mis-communication. I has written in the cruise confirmation to Blue Swimmers the night before that we would be waiting in the lobby. We boarded the taxi and ... read more

Our guide for today’s tour was a bit late. It was a big group today. Like last week, we were hustled onto a small shuttle and driven a few blocks to a full sized tour bus. The driver was practically pushing me aboard with worried words about police. What else is new in this city of six million. All aboard, we inched our way through traffic to the edge of town to pick up the autoroute south. Once across the river, we passed miles and miles of rice paddies on this vast plain. Our first stop was in Hoag Lu, the first capital of Vietnam, circa 1010. All that remains is a temple. The other buildings, including the palace, had been floated down the river to Ha Noi. This temple was restored in the 18th century ... read more

We were prisoners in our room. We couldn’t unlock the door. There was no phone in the room to call for help. The system here is upon entering the room, you put the key tag in a slot above the light switch. This turns on the electricity. When you remove the tag, it cuts the current, so we were struggling with the lock in the dark. I remembered that I had a crank generated flashlight in my pack. It did not work like a magic wand to open the door but at least we could see what we were dealing with. It finally released and we went back across the street for breakfast. More of the same soup and vegetables. Back on the road again for another long drive. We were supposed to go check out ... read more

Our local guide came by while we were having breakfast with a few clarifications about our itinerary. He asked what we had paid. It seems that La Beauty de Hanoi makes a good commission. Today we have a 12 kilometre trek ahead of us, down into the valley to a couple of Black Hmung villages. We sleep in a “homestay”. I am not quite sure what this is as I have read that it illegal for locals to have foreigners sleep in there homes. The trek was 95% downhill. Some places we had to catwalk down an especially deep step. Other times it was skipping over rocks. This entailed a delicate dance and the quick decision of what foot should go forward first and plan a few steps ahead. Other times it was a leisurely walk ... read more

Sometime during the night I was awakened byClaudette’s purring (a polite way of putting it) and I reached out to give her a nudge. Icoudn't reach her. I tried again, this time with my foot. Nothing. Igads this bed is big! Today’s number one project was to plan the next asix Day’s itinerary. We had mostly decided where we wanted to go so we asked the folks here at the hotel to put a trip together a trip for us. We thought that on our way to the ethnology museum we would stop at a travel agency to get another price. That never happened so for the price of a weeks all inclusive in the Caribbean, we have 8 days of the same in northern Vietnam. The museum was a wonderful introduction to the various cultures ... read more