~Not All Who Wander Are Lost~: The "Descending Dragon"

We left Hanoi early Friday for a two day/one night boat cruise on Ha Long Bay which is a famous bay to the northeast of Hanoi that has 1,009 limestone kursts that jut out of the water. Ha Long literally means "Descending Dragon" in Vietnamese because the limestone kursts look like a dragon's back submerged in the water.

The mini-bus ride to the bay took about 3 hours so we got a further glimpse at life in the country. As we were driving I was completely struck by how covered the Vietnamese country women are when they are outside (especially riding their bikes). In Asia, the beauty ideal is fair skin for women because tanned skin indicates that you work in the fields. Men can be tan but they show that they are not poor farmers by growing their pinky nails or other nails long (to indicate they do not do manual labor). SO to get around being tan, almost all women (city and country) cover themselves in ridiculous ways (usually a combination of conical hat, long sleeves and long pants, shoes or stockings with sandals, gloves, and face masks or bandanas over the lower portion of the face that the hat does not cover). In China, the women definitely covered up but it was not quite as intense as I have seen here. [Sidenote: Vietnam is REALLY HOT. I can't imagine wearing as much as they do!]

Once we got to the bay, it was gorgeous! We really lucked out with weather as the week before a few cruises were cancelled because of the typhoon rains. The terminology for the specific boats everyone goes on are "junks" and ours was named the "Imperial Junk." Irony of ironies was that we had spent the morning before wandering to different booking offices trying to avoid getting on the "Imperial Junk" because all the booking offices only had a picture of this boat (so we assumed they were the knock-off cafes with the same brochures circulating around). But, it ended up being a reputable one (and we found out there are a few versions of it) albeit slightly rustic (we did have AC as promised, but were only given the AC remotes before bedtime) but great for our price range. Not only did we cruise around, but we also saw a huge cave that had spectacular views from the exit, went kayaking off the boat, and caught a gorgeous sunset (sunrise was rained out, unfortunately). And since photos are worth many many words, they are also easier than describing the views...