Arnie invades Northern Vietnam

I spent last night on a overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa. Sapa is in northern Vietnam is 10 hours northeast of Hanoi by train. Sapa is situated in the mountains near China. The main attraction in Sapa is its mountainous scenery and proximity to various hill tribe villages relatively untouched by tourism. With a guide on hand, I plan to trek to nearby Cat Cat village, and a waterfall this afternoon. Then, tomorrow I will spend the day trekking up and down the valley, and stay overnight with a family in one of the villages.

I've spent the last 3 days in scenic Halong Bay. My tour of Halong Bay left at 8:30 last Friday, and shortly arrived in Halong City 3 hours later. After a short break, we boarded a large boat, and navigated through a sea of boats parked at the dock. The first stop was the So Song Cave. So Song means "amazing" in Vietnamese. The So Song Cave or Amazing Cave is another UNSECO world heritage site - conserved and recognized worldwide for its natural beauty. The Amazing Cave has 3 rooms. The first two rooms are impressive, but the last room is truly amazing. My pictures, and words cannot explain how amazing this room is. The room is at least 2 football fields long, and 1 football field wide. The ceiling is approximately 100 ft. The room is decorated with fluorescent lanterns, and features a large walking path. After visiting the cave, we set sail and docked the boat in La Ha Bay where we stayed overnight admiring the stars, and a small sampling of Halong Bay's 1600 limestone and slate rock islands. On Saturday, we hiked 5km to a fishing village on nearby Cat Ba Island, and climbed up to a viewpoint overlooking the village called Navy Point. In the afternoon, we went kayaking around Halong Bay. We spent the in a hotel on Cat Ba Island. We spent most of Sunday traveling back to Hanoi. I returned to my guesthouse at 5pm, then boarded a train for Sapa at 9:30 last night.

Pics from inside the Amazing Cave
Pics from inside the Amazing Cave
Scenic Halong Bay
Kayaking Halong Bay with Michel from Quebec
Me and the view from Navy Point
More of Halong Bay
My group in Halong Bay: starring Huan, Delores from France, Michel from Quebec
A pig being slaughtered
Rice patty fields on Cat Ba Island