Sailing Cat Ba

Ha Long Bay is famous for the limestone cliffs surrounded by calm green sea water.  Hence, it gets a lot of tourist.  We picked the less touristy (it didn't always feel like it) neighbor Lan Ha Bay and Cat Ba Island.  From Hanoi the island is a short boat/bus ride away.

No idea what the point of this is.

Squid fishing.

We met a local photographer while having an egg-coffee and he took a photo of us.

Rice Terraces

In northern Vietnam near the borders with Laos and China there is a popular hiking destination called Sapa.  We took a bus from Hanoi to Sapa and did a 3 day trek through the valley.  We went with a company called Sapa Sisters.  They have only female guides and pay a fair salary with sick days and maternity leave.  We had an excellent guide named Sam.  Sapa is not a park, hiking there is through the communities that live there.  They have been building and maintaining rice terraces in the mountains for a long time.  The people who live there are primarily ethnically Hmong and have a distinct culture and language different from the majority Vietnamese.  

A crazy sleeper bus.

High above Sapa.

Brian in teacher mode.

Our first homestay family.

The City of Lanterns

Central Vietnam's most beautiful city is Hoi An.  The old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  We stayed about a week here and Hue.

Staying the night on the Cham Islands.

Breakfast squid.

Being conscripted into stevedoring.

The Bale Well feast in Hoi An.

One satisfied Madl.

Making the motorbike trip from Hoi An to Hue.

A little T8 typhoon to make the roads tricky.

The citadel at Hue.