Vietnam - Halong Bay

Halong Bay - The reason to go to north Vietnam for a lot of people

Recently completed bridge linking the 2 areas of Halong, making everyone's life a lot easier - except perhaps the old ferry's captain

We stayed overnight in the bay on a junk boat

Paul thought he'd get into the swing of things by growing a beard

The boat we had was called Fantasea, which worried me at first....

The area covers over 1500km squared and has just under 2000 limestone karsts sticking out of the water

The name 'Halong', means 'Descending Dragon', probably because of the mist that often descends, making it a bit spooky at times

This is what a junk boat looks like, and there are literally hundreds around the bay

There are people who permanently live on the water in floating houses

Some of the islets have caves within them.  One, called Hang Sung Sot was discovered by the French and being the lyrical genuises that they are, means Astonishing Cave

To be fair, it is pretty amazing

It's a proper cave tour with lights and a walkway, not like Laos

The rock and water have created many different shapes

Some harder than others......

This reminded me of an old organ (yes I have put this on the correct picture!)

It's pretty big too, although there is a bigger one in the area, this being the better to visit we're told

The caves were used as living quarters and even maternity hospital, during many wars that have blighted the area, including with the Chinese and Americans

It's one of the busier places in Halong, which isn't astonishing

One of the more traditional ways of navigating the bay

Night came and we dropped anchor for the night allowing people to swim.  Paul jumped off the top of the boat into the water, much braver than I.

Morning came and after getting stuck on a sandbank, had some more delicious food and slowly mosied our way back to Halong City

The views on the way back were even better than the day before, helped by the sun

It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the north of Vietnam

The water isn't that deep in places and low tide presents sandbanks that weren't there hours before

More houses, not a bad view from your living room.  They even had dogs barking away at each other.

Vietnam - North West

The north west of Vietnam is very remote in places, but very beautiful everywhere

The roads are very different to that of the cities.  Don't get me wrong, you still get lorries and buses coming round blind bends on the wrong side of the road, overtaking, but they're as quiet as a whispering breeze in comparison to the likes of Hanoi

We didn't see any Westerners for about a week, which meant no one that spoke English.  Thank God we had a book full of thousands of pictures, called 'Point it' book, so we didn't unwittingly order dog on the menu.  What I am on about, thank God?  Thank Yvonne, more like - top gift! X

We passed through villages where children would shout 'Hello' to us as we passed.  We learnt, when stopped in places that hello was the only word anyone knew.  I'm gonna be great at charades when I get back home though....

Sometimes the weather was too hot

I had to wear long sleeves as would burn my arms otherwise

Some of the roads went quite high up with a sheer drop going down hundreds of metres, with no barrier and landslides that occurred frequently when it rainned

These pictures hardly capture anything of the breathtaking views, you can see for about 40 miles in this one

Other times it rained.  This is on the approach to Tram Ton Pass, the highest road in SE Asia that gets 1900M up at it's height and it in a very poor state in parts, though is being worked on at present.  This river was ferocious.  This area has many of the Hmong People, Dao, Tay, Giay and a small number of Xa Pho who mostly settled here from other regions years ago.  It's only recently that population increases and better roads and transport have meant that the Vietnamese and these tribes are mixing, though not always harmoniously.  In the farmost regions, these people still wear traditional dress

When I left work, they'd clubbed together and given me some money.  I used this money to buy this beast of a bike to travel round Vietnam on, so thanks everyone.  It's a Honda Win 100cc and fully loaded with 2 people and 2 bags, didn't really give the performance that my GSXR used it give, but it was a top little bike that was very reliable.  Even had a little fun in places :-)

Paul is soothing his back after 6 solid hours on the bike....and a couple more still to come.  It's surprising he's smiling!

This is Lao Cai, only 3kms from the Chinese border.  Nowhere near as nice as Sapa, but didn't get any pictures there as it was sooooo foggy for most of the time

We came here through a pass between the mountains you see in the distance

Vietnam - Hanoi

Hanoi, like any capital city, is a bustling, noisy, dusty place.  We stayed in the Old Quarter and this is Hoan Kiem Lake, meaning Lake of the Restored Sword (after some old legend), situated there.

The only way to move large numbers of kids?   Get them to link and walk in the road.  Bikes, cars and buses all swerve to avoid them, mostly...  I think I've previously mentioned poor road and driving in Asia, but this place has been the worst of anywhere we've been, so these kids are all very brave, I promise you!

St Joseph's Cathedral.  Built in 1886 just after the French Colonists had occupied the region.  They destroyed a former pagoda (buddhist place of worship) and put this in its place

This was a gift from the people of Switzerland (who else), though can't really tell the time from it once you're a few feet away

There are thousands of microbreweries around Vietnam all producing 'Bia Hoi', or Beer Draught.  Street sellers with plastic chairs invite you to sit and these cost 5000 Dong, less than 20p. We never had a bad beer from them and preferred it to the official bottled stuff

There aren't many English signs in Hanoi, though some that are, were more confusing than the Vietnamese ones!

A statue of Ly Thai To (meaning 'Supreme Forefather').  In 1010, he founded what is now, modern day Hanoi and officially got independence from the Chinese 'Song Dynasty'.  Last year Hanoi celebrated its 1000th year birthday!

This is the Tortoise Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake.  There are apparently, soft shelled tortoises living in the lake

Hong Kong

Greg had arranged quite a welcome party when we arrived at Hong Kong Internation Airport

I spent the first few days with neck ache...

It's not always hustle and bustle in Hong Kong

We were only in Vietnam for a day, before flying to Hong Kong to see my brother, sister in law and niece.  I didn't realise we got 6 months stay there, so thought I'd fill the time by opening my own hotel

Liora has grown loads since seeing her at Christmas, only 4 months ago.  She loves the swings and cries when you take her off

Also partial to the slides too!

This is part of the botanical gardens, only 5 minutes from where they currently live

When we were there, Utd were playing some German team, so Utd's 3 biggest fans got ready for the game

At times it was tense

We couldn't remember who'd bought her the Utd kits she had.  We asked her and got the feeling she was trying to tell us something.....

The views from their living room were okay, I'd say!

No comment needed

Hong Kong is actually made up of a few different islands.  We went to see Tian Tan Buddha, known as Big Buddha on Lantau island.  To get there we got a cable car

The cable car was glass bottomed - eek!

It went pretty high, but the views were worth it

You could even see the planes landing and taking off.  The ground upon which it lies wasn't there originally.  There were 2 small islands off Lantau which were levelled and then an extra 10km square of land was dumped on the seabed to make the area that the airport and runway lies upon.  It was finished in 1998 and the second terminal was added in 2007.  It's very busy and efficient, we had no problems going in or out of it

The nearer we got, the bigger it seemed...

It was completed in 1993 and made of bronze, sits on top of a peak on Lantau Island

We then visited a small fishing village where pink dolphins swim near. 

Another day we went to Lamma Island.  This beach isn't what I thought of as being Hong Kong before coming here..

It's nice to be proven wrong

On Hong Kong Island, there is a cable operated tram that can take you to the peak.  We walked up.  It took us hours and were very hot and tired by the time we got there.  The tram was a Scottish man's idea, built in the late 1800's to open up new areas for people to live

The tallest building in Hong Kong is the ICC. At 108 floors and nearly half a km high, it's the one on the far left of the picture, on Kowloon Island and is currently the 4th tallest in the world

Hong Kong Gardens is in the middle of skyscrapers, but hard to believe once you're in there

Some of the plants are very colourful

The water features are good

They're so efficient in Hong Kong. I was only stood there a few minutes....

Every night there is a light show to music.  Many building are involved and have lights and lasers that project in time to music.  Never thought I'd see buildings dance!

We went over to Kowloon Island to look back at Hong Kong island where you get the best views

It has dolphin and sealion shows

Which are most entertaining

The jellyfish display is quite vast and beautiful with all the lights

 Almost looks like it's stood up with legs and arms

The seals were very active

And did I mention the rides!

And more cable cars that go very high

 Ocean Park is a non profit run reserve and has a huge marine centre