Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay

Cave in limestone karst in Ha Long Bay

Fifteen days, 4 UNESCO World Heritage sites, ten hotels, 281 miles on the bike and 15,815 feet of climbing. We have a few more days in Hanoi for eating, sightseeing and shopping, but I feel like the trip is winding down. Looking back, each day of the trip added something new to our perspective of Vietnam. No day was "more of the same," so we've gotten a good first taste of the country's variations in personality and landscapes.  On the other hand, the constant change in hotels was difficult for us. I think our next trip here will focus on the Mekong Delta (we haven't gone there yet), Dalat and Hoi An.  (Note that the last two were places where we had fantastic chocolate croissants.)  We didn't have that much time in Saigon, so we'll probably spend more time there too.

On another note, the cruise to Cat Ba Island and back through Ha Long Bay was excellent. The scenery was lovely, and the incredibly fresh seafood (shrimp, clams, squid and  fish) along with fried taro were just amazing.  On the way to a cave in a limestone karst, the boat stopped at a floating fish farm to buy the ingredients for lunch.

Fish farm where we stopped for lunch ingredients