Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Oct.3-10 Good Morning Vietnam!

We are broadcasting to you live, from the shore of Cat Ba Island in famous Halong Bay.
At first glance, Hanoi (capital of Vietnam, 6.5M ppl) is even more crazy any place we've been. On the roads scooters and motor bikes are everywhere darting around the larger vehicles which constantly honk their approach. However, outside of the city it is a serene country of rice paddies and small villages going about their day. Overall, it's exactly what's portrayed in the movies.
Vietnamese are known for their work ethic and we found evidence of that while shopping in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Julie and I have both ordered custom-tailored clothing: a suit & shirt for me and a dress & shorts for her. Not sure if we got fantastic deals on them, but we'll see when we pick them up in a couple days when we get back to Hanoi.
We've escaped the city to the sea to see the limestone islands of Halong Bay. We spent one day hiking through Cat Ba National Park which was a lot of work (up and down 5 mountains!) but rewarded at the end with a fantastic home-cooked meal in a scenic valley, and then a boat ride through the islands with a quick dip in the sea on a secluded beach. Absolutely brilliant!
We look forward to another tour through this UNESCO heritage site tomorrow, until it's back to Hanoi and *hopefully* to Bangkok on Friday (given Julie can work her magic again finding us some good flights).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Guy's..looks like one heck of a trip! I'll keep on watching and reading!
Oh! did I say the Canada Geese are flying south #$%@&@
Have fun on your trip....
Jim Forcand