This UNESCO World Heritage site was truly impressive. The drive from Hanoi was about 4 hours but well worth the trip. Although the sun evaded us for most of the day, it was one of the highlights of our travels. We made the mandatory stop disguised as a bathroom stop, at a marble, silk embroidery, Pringles factory on the way. (We had made many of these factory pit stops in China where you are taken into see people working on local craft: sometimes kids, sometimes handicapped.)
Ha Long is a wealthy city that is developing rapidly. The roads were devoid of potholes and we saw many new, tall buildings.
Although our boat could have easily fit 30 people, we had it all to ourselves. We visited several floating villages, shopped on the river and Bob got suckered into buying 4 large prawns for 800,000 dong($38)...after all, we are millionaires here, but I think we all need to work on our negotiating skills. We had lunch prepared and served on board. Boats pulled up along side of ours, and kids would jump on and try to sell us things. We also had a sales presentation by the girl on the boat before we got off. Communist or capitalist country? Hard to tell.
Ha Long is a wealthy city that is developing rapidly. The roads were devoid of potholes and we saw many new, tall buildings.
Although our boat could have easily fit 30 people, we had it all to ourselves. We visited several floating villages, shopped on the river and Bob got suckered into buying 4 large prawns for 800,000 dong($38)...after all, we are millionaires here, but I think we all need to work on our negotiating skills. We had lunch prepared and served on board. Boats pulled up along side of ours, and kids would jump on and try to sell us things. We also had a sales presentation by the girl on the boat before we got off. Communist or capitalist country? Hard to tell.
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