November 11, 2008

 

This morning we visited the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.  The collection
 here consists of some 25,000 objects, as well as many photos, texts,
 films and music to explain the traditions, culture and history of the
 Vietnamese people.  

 

We then walked to B52 Lake in Ngoc ha Village and took some pictures of
 the B52 that has been in the lake since crashing during the Vietnam War.

 

After eating lunch at a local restaurant, we travel through the
 countryside dotted with rice paddies and small villages to Halong Bay,
 where our hotel the Halong Bay Hotel was located right on the shore of
 the bay. 

 

November 12, 2008

 

We started out the day with a visit to the Halong market.  We tasted a
 few different fruits along the way.  Then we departed for a private
 cruise on a traditional wooden sail boat.  We were on the water for
 about 4 hours seeing many beautiful mountains, fishing boats and small
 boat villages along the way.  We stopped once to go into a cave which
 is said to be 20 million years ago.  We had lunch on board and had a
 very pleasant and relaxing day; so very different from the hustle and
 bustle of Hanoi!!!  Halong Bay is only 4 hours from China….

 

As we headed back to the dock, we noticed a bridge in the distance which
 looked very much like the San Francisco Bay Bridge only smaller.  As the
 dock grew nearer, we were told that there are about 500 boats and about
 300 sleeper boats in this area to service the tourist trade.

 

Before dinner, we went for drinks just down the street from our hotel and
 enjoyed a beautiful view of the bay.

 

November 13, 2008

 

After breakfast, we departed for Hanoi.  Along the way we saw a couple of
 motor scooters with huge pigs lying across the backs and sometimes in
 front of the drivers.  We also saw a crate filled with piglets on the
 back of a motor scooter.  We stopped at a cemetery that was in the middle
 of a rice field.  Tuan told us that many cemeteries are found in the rice
 fields so the people can be close to their loved ones.  We also noticed
 that there weren’t as many Buddha temples as Thailand.  Vietnam is about
 25% Catholic. We even stopped at a new Catholic church that was built in
 October last year.  It was huge and beautiful.  The caretaker came to
 greet us and invited us into his house.  We met a man who was in training
 to become the priest of this parish.  In one mile long section of road we
 saw many women selling their fresh baked breads.  This is where most of
 the bread is made.

 

We heard some sad news today; someone bombed a market in Bangkok and 15
 people died. 

 

When we arrived in Hanoi we had lunch at Al Fresco’s and bought some
 delicious coffee.  Then we went back to the Bro & Sis Hotel and had our
 farewell dinner at the Viet Kitchen restaurant.