Life Experiences: May 27, 2013 HA LONG BAY

Long bus ride from Hanoi to Ha Long. Nice bus but packed so hot. Ha Long is a World Heritage Site.

I LOVE this boat. We are on a small cruise. Very old dark wood boat. Four levels. Looks like and old paddle wheeler. Larraine and I are on the bottom floor with the staff. I wasn't even expecting a private bath but I love our room. The second floor is cabins. The third is the dining room and the top is the deck. There are 35 passengers including 6 kids. Most are from Malaysia. A family of three from Russia and two Canadians

We visited a floating village where we took a kayak out to explore some caves and the village. The caves open into a lagoon with only one way out-the same cave entrance we went in. Unfortunately the lagoons we full of litter and waste. The whole village just dumps their sewage and trash into the ocean. Disgusting. We showered as soon as we got back to our boat just in case we were covered with e-coli.

Then we had a "sunset party", two hours before sunset, free wine and fruit, then we all loaded back into the small boat for a visit to Titop Island. Titop was named for a Russian government official that Ho Chi Minh was was very fond of. 400 steps to the gazebo at the top of Titop seemed easy after the Great Wall 10 days ago. Back to the boat for Happy Hour (3 drinks for the price if two) with karaoke but only two Canadians showed up. Us. Dinner was amazing. Ten dishes again. We can't make a dent in the food. Then a couple hours on deck trying to get wifi.

Sunset party with Vietnsmese wine