This is by far one of the most mysterious and awe inspiring places I have been to on this great planet earth. Just a few hours outside of Ha Noi Vietnam is this eerie archepellago of limestone islands in a bay that goes on forever it seemed. We only did a day tour with our private guide and I am kicking myself that we didn’t do an overnite or two stay on the boat!

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The bay was filled with rustic fishing villages in houseboats all long the island chain. The chef prepared us meals fit for a king with only a wok and the fresh catch from the bay….I swear the fish you see in the album was a piranna!! It was delicious!

The boat accomodated about 8 people plus the chef, his wok, a fishing pole and a boat pilot. We met folks from the UK and Australia on this surreal boat journey.  The crazy thing is….these photos are in COLOR believe it or not which added to the “otherworldly” feel of the day!

A big part of the money made on this bay is in pearl farming. I got a string of pearls from a local on the boat as big as garbanzo beans each!!! Under 70.00 for a 1000.00 usd strand!!!

AND THE LAST ALBUM OF PHOTOS TAKEN AROUND HANOI!!
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What a magical place Vietnam was and still on the top of my list of places I want to return to asap!!!

This day was during the Vietnamese holiday of TET or New Years which fall close to the same time as Chinese New Year early in the year. We had no idea where our private guide was bringing us but wow are we glad we went!!

We drove for a couple of hours and ended up at this remote location on a very shallow river full of brilliant green new rice shoots………….and TONS of other locals wanting to do the same thing on their holiday as we were….taking a rowboat through the caves and limestone cliffs to a popular shrine.

It was drizzling and warm and just a magical and surreal day for both Steve and I. We were SO out of our element you have no idea yet still tried to fit in and join the fun. The locals seemed to get a kick out of the two of us filling a boat with the one driver while entire Vietnamese families of 8 could fit in the same size boat!!!!

We will return soon. It took me a few years to work on these photos because they were so special and “personal” in my experiences I was hesitant to work on them for some reason…now seems the time as I was looking at them again for inspiration and it seemed a shame to not have the albums up.   I hope you can get the general “feel” of what this beautiful country is about through the images I am posting this week

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