ha long bay

edit: second set of pictures added below.

Haskell and I have just arrived in central Viet Nam in the old city of Hue after our three day boat trip through Ha Long Bay. Simply put, Ha Long Bay was one of the most stunning things either of us has ever seen. Though it was raining when we arrived on the boat on Wednesday, the sun was shining bright Thursday and Friday, resulting in incredible sunsets and some serious sun burns. After the first of many copious meals, we took a walk through a very large cave in one of the limestone formations and then went kayaking for an hour or so nearby. Since it wasn't raining too hard, this was actually quite fun and when we returned everyone went for a swim around the boat. Eventually, after diving off the boat for a solid hour, we reluctantly came back on board to be fed once again. We spent the night drinking Tiger Beer (our now undisputed favorite south-east Asian beer), learning about German Techno and playing cards with a German couple. We awoke Thursday to bright sunshine and while most of the passengers on our boat were headed back to the mainland (they were doing a 2-day cruise), Haskell and I were joined by a Dutch couple and a German family for a full day of kayaking and boating (on a smaller boat). Though we had wavered between the 2-day and 3-day cruise, by the end of the day, everyone agreed that the extra day was very worthwhile. After a 2-hour kayak journey through the bay, we reached a quiet part of the bay away from the crowds. There we swam in and out of caves, kayaked through bat filled tunnels - into enclosed lagoons and explored some very dark caves on foot. Eventually, we slowly cruised back towards the big boat, charring our skin to a lobster like color in the process. All in all, an amazing day! The third and final day was simply a cruise on the bigger boat through the bay and one last meal on before hopping back on a bus for Ha Noi. So anyway, onto the pictures - mine are maily from day 1 and 3 as we only took Haskell's camera on the kayak trip on day 2. His are the second set of pictures below (apparently, mostly of me :P).