Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Yesterday found us docking in the port of Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.  We are about a 3 hour bus ride from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and there was a tour there today which we decided not to take - 3 hours each way plus a few hours to see a few sights just seemed exhausting - even a few months ago when we decided which tours to take!
Incidentally, the weather changed when we got to Hue; it is now cooler (60 degrees) and when we reached the Gulf of Tonkin yesterday it turned cloudy.  Still we have been blessed with no rain when out and about.
We did a junk cruise of the Bay in the afternoon.  Words cannot begin to describe how beautiful this spot is; one writer describes it as a geographic work of art.  Bill did the climb up to Sung Sot (Surprise) Cave....I'll let his pictures of the Bay and Cave speak for themselves.

(frustrating technical difficulties prevented me from downloading more pictures of the Bay)

Last night we went to something uniquely Vietnamese, a water puppet show.  We weren't allowed to take pictures and I don't know how to download photos from Google Image yet, so I'll do my best to describe it in words.  During the performance, the puppeteers hide behind a long screen and stand chest deep in water.  They manipulate the wooden puppets around the water and overhead with bamboo rods and strings.  The puppets weigh from 2 to 10 pounds and are 12 to 40 inches high; it sometimes takes 2 people to manipulate 1 puppet.  There is traditional Vietnamese music in the background, while the puppets demonstrate short stories  about the rice farmers' lives and from Vietnamese mythology.

Today Bill & I were to take a tour into the countryside and visit  a Buddhist monastery and local village.  We both have colds and decided to skip the tour and be lazy on the ship.  The rest is definately helping me (Bill is napping as I write).  Tomorrow we have the day at sea as we sail towards Hong Kong.