DAY 70---HALONG BAY (PORT FOR HANOI), VIETNAM

                                                    "GOOD MORNING VIETNAM"

We are docked in Halong today and tomorrow.  It is overcast and hazy this morning but a pleasant 72 degrees early.  The red line shows where we will be going on this segment.  After tour temp was nice.

Historical/Background Info:

        We were here in 2010 and 2013.  It was a tendering port back then but now there is a dock.  Ha Long Bay is incredibly beautiful to sail into and anchor.  Ha Long Bay is located in northeastern Vietnam (50 miles from Haiphong and 100 miles from Hanoi both to the west).  It is known for its emerald waters and thousands of towering limestone islands of various shapes and sizes topped by rainforests.  Ha Long means “descending dragon”.  The bay has an area of 600 sq miles including approximately 2000 of the limestone small islands, of which only about 40 are inhabited.  A community of around 1600 people live on floating houses on Ha Long Bay in four fishing villages.

        In 2010 we rode 2 ½ hours to tour Hanoi.  Last time I was there was at 30,000 feet above it in my B-52 on December 18^th & 20^th, 1972, dropping bombs.  From Dec 18^th to 29^th, 741 B-52 sorties dropped over 20,000 tons of bombs on Hanoi and Haiphong.  Fifteen B-52’s and 12 fighter bombers were shot down by SAM’s (surface to air missiles).  They were launching hundreds of missiles per night at us.  These December raids brought the North Vietnamese back to the peace tables and forced them to sign a peace treaty in January.

LAST EVENING

Murphy presenting this Rombauer chardonnay that was sent to our table by our friend, Pat.  She had asked us if we had ever tried it earlier at the bar in Mariner Lounge.  We loved this wine.  It is on the "pay extra" list.

                                 We enjoyed the panko coated shrimp for our appetizer.

                                 Sorry I got this out of order.  This is my apple tart for dessert.

We both had this Szechuan beef stir fry with broccoli, basil, oyster sauce, red peppers, and cashews.  Instead of the jasmine rice I had fried vegetable rice.

       I went to Terry's show.  I left a little early but stayed for most of it.  Rebecca did not go.

TODAY

Long pier but the tour buses could drive out to our ship.

In addition to the  bridge over the bay there are cable cars running.

                           They call the ferris wheel the "Sun Wheel".  Not operating however.

        We were scheduled to go on an afternoon tour tomorrow but I got to moved up to today at 12:55.  So we did our treadmill time, had some lunch, then at 12:30 we headed to the tour to meet our tour.  We are docked way out at the end of the pier but I was able to hook up to the port wifi.

                                     This cart seating 9 took us down the long pier to our boat.

                         This was our "junk" but not like the previous ones as they were wooden.

                                                                    Name of our tour.

This is carrying wood chips to a place where they will be made into paper and carpet according to our guide.

 Ok, many photos of the limestone islets we are seeing on this tour.  Wish the sun had been out to improve my photo qualities.

                                                     She called this "Man's Face Rock".

       Our guide said this was called "Two Chickens Fighting Rock".  Personally I don't see it.

                                                         She said this was "Fish Rock".

          Earthquakes millions of years ago caused these to rise straight up out of the sea.

                                           Not sure how anything could grow on these rocks.

                                                                         "Thumb Rock"

                                                                       "Saddle Back"

                                                            "Incense Rock"  I don't get it!

                                                                   Fishing Village

This stop was made so people could go with our guide to walk through the Thien Cung Cave.  There were 100 steps to climb when touring the tunnel so we just stayed on the boat.  Don't need to see a tunnel!!!  We dropped those who did off and moved here to pick them up 40 minutes later.

                                                      Other boats were crammed in.

                          For $2 I had to try the local beer.  I'm not a beer guy but was ok.

                                                                    Our boat Captain

                              Our guide.  She spoke pretty good English but had an accent.

                                                            Heading back to the ship

I plan on crossing this bridge tomorrow when I take the shuttle bus across it to Halong downtown mall.

                                                               Home Sweet Home!!

        We did not get back to the pier until about 5pm.  Luckily, I hooked up to the port's internet while making the long walk back to our ship.  I uploaded all of today's photos in less than 5 minutes with their wifi.  Not sure why in the hell I can't upload them with ship's wifi.

        So when we got to our suite I called room service and ordered some vegetable spring rolls as we were going to do our cocktail hours while getting ready.  After showering and getting dressed I have been working on putting captions on the photos for over an hour.  It is 6:30pm here now and 6:30am in Dallas to give you an idea of the time difference.

        We are having dinner in Compass Rose as have made a special order for veal piccata and polenta for tonight.  The show is featuring  Shelly White a piano vocalist from Australia.  Would like to see her but will make that decision after dinner.

        We are overnighting here.  Dinner time!