This is No "Love Boat"

All Chris could say when she saw our cruise boat was, "Oh My God."

Top Deck

View from the top of the boat. Plenty of room for two, looks pretty good

Honey, Are You Sure?

Chris scouts out the boat to make sure that it will continue to float for two days in Halong Bay

Uh-Oh!

We found out quickly that the "private" boat was government owned so maintenance was not the best

Mud Crabs?

Chris grew even more concerned about the sea kayak trip when she saw what we were having for lunch. These mub crabs don't look or taste like the crabs we have at home

Tan Time

Chris pretends to enjoy herself as we head out to sea kayak. It's a sunny day looks so she looks on the bright side and thinks about the possibility for a "tan"

View of the Bay

Well at least it's pretty and the water is somewhat clean

Inlet View

Halong Bay has a mystical quality about it as you can tell by this picture

HouseBoats

This is how many people are living on Halong Bay...in floating house boats with no fresh water. Amazing

Floating 7-Eleven

Little boats cruise the floating village selling things like eggs and candy. We bought some beer from this young girl and her sister.

Veggie Market

Another view of a store. This time a floating vegetable market

Kayak Time

This is a view from the outside of the underground tunnel we kayaked inside of. The tunnel was 1/8 of a mile long and led to an undisturbed small grotto

It's Dark In Here

Chris sits at the front of our three man kayak in the pitch dark tunnel. The tide was rising quickly so we had to paddle fast or be trapped. There was no light except for flashlights

Let There Be Light

Here's what it looked like as we paddled out from pitch darkness and into the grotto

The Man

Many islands in Halong Bay have names based on what they look like, including this profile of a "man"

Halong at Night

We slept overnight on the boat. It was very uncomfortable because there were no "real" matresses, only cushions. The crew slept on the deck, our guide on the dinner table

Peace and Quiet

All is quiet......until about 3am when all the fishing boats start to stir and turn on their loud motors

Monkeying Around

Chris fools around on the boat with her Paul Frank monkey shirt