Halong Bay

Eden and I just got back from a three day tour of Halong Bay in Northern Vietnam. Yesterday we paddled kayaks for six or eight hours and are a little worn out. Good exercise and a lot of fun. It would be nice to do up in the Queen Charlottes or Powell River, but is probably horribly expensive. On the other hand, you could probably see orcas and sea otters so that would make it quite worth it. So the first night we spent on the boat and last night we spent in a hut on a small beach on a small island with eleven other travelers. Surprisingly, another traveler is a JET in Kagoshima (near Kumamoto), another girl works in Osaka, and another man lived in Tokyo about ten years ago. So in our group of thirteen, eleven of us had a connection to Japan.

Tonight we're boarding an overnight train (not my favourite) and will spend one day in Hue, before moving on to Hoi An were we'll stay for Christmas and maybe get some clothes made.
So far things are working out fairly well, things are a lot less hassle than they are in some other countries, and the weather is nice, around 22 C. Hanoi has a fantastic feel to it, and I think that a lot of people end up spending more time here than they plan on. Hope everyone is doing well, send us an email if you have time, we'd love to hear from you.