Sapa and Ha Long Bay

Hi Everyone! So we are back in Hanoi for about half an hour until we start our journey South. We are on our way to Ninh Binh, and tomorrow we are going to Cuc Phoung National Park.














We had an amazing time in Sapa. On our second day we took a 5 hour hike down the mountains into the valleys of rice fields and we really lucked out, the weather was AMAZING! We visited more ethnic minority villages and had lunch in one of them. We took motorcycle taxis back up, I was a bit nervous at first (as was matt) but it was such an experience to be winding up the mountain side with the sun shining and fresh air with beautiful views of all of the rice fields...(dont worry mom - I wore a helmet and they didn't go over 50km an hour).













So that night we took a night train back to Hanoi and then caught a bus to Ha Long Bay. While we were waiting we saw something you definitely don't see everyday. Since it was early in the morning when we arrived, people were making deliveries. We saw 2 motorbikes with about 6 pigs each on them! They had recently been slaughtered and all of their guts had been taken out and they were just draped over the bike in front of and behind the driver...some of their faces were being dragged on the road....pretty wild.

Anyways, enough about the pigs....Halong Bay is such a magical place, with huge limestone pinnacles rising out of the ocean. It was a bit misty which made it that much more beautiful and mysterious. I have some great pictures and will post them when Ryan meets up with us with his computer. Later on in the day we had beautiful weather again! (LUCKY!) We took a boat out and stayed overnight on the boat in the bay. We went kayaking around the islands (there are over 2,000 islands in the area) and into a grotto you can only reach by small boat. It was so nice. That night Matt told the captain of the boat it was my birthday, and he brought out wine to celebrate, and this morning I had all of these vegetables carved into flowers at my place. It made my birthday extra special :)















Today we went to visit a HUGE cave on one of the islands. It had 3 chambers and was about 10,000 square meters. SO amazing. Then we had a hellish bus ride back to Hanoi. Seriously. Our bus pretty much had no shocks and we were bouncing forwards and backwards...I have never experienced anything quite like it.

Anyways, will write again when we get internet again!!!!