The day in Halong Bay

4:30 am-We woke up to dogs barking throughout the city..... John suggested “barking dog soup”--lips and tongue in broth...

We had a private Boat in Halong Bay, a World Natural Heritage site. It covers an area of over 1,500 km and is dotted with thousands of rocky islands - filled with caves and grottoes.

We took a small boat through what we called, "Bob’s Cave" -with an charge extra for a camera.

When we returned to our boat,we were met by a woman in small boat with 2 children selling coral to the tourists. We bought a small piece of coral for $1.00-- She said, “Now I can feed my family for another day”.

According to our guide, Hanoi is known for 5 things- Lakes, Beautiful women, illegal wine, autumn and pho noodles