Halong bay and back (continued)

Didn't realize you have to finish these things at one sitting, once you put it away you have to publish it or delete. Anyway here are the pictures of Halong bay:

Fairly spectacular. However we had a busy schedule for our short time there , besides eating which was plentiful and excellent, we saw a "floating village"- people who spend life on  the bay in raftlike homes. I went kayaking here , while the women were taxied around in a sort of rowboat by an adolescent girl who looked all of 12 but rowed like an olympian. Next we prepared our own spring rolls on the boat-following the instructions of Kong our guide. We all performed well except Bella's looked like a blintz.

Next we went to a pearl farm and watched how they performed the "culturing" process. We were wiped out and turned in early . The only shortcoming with our accomadations was a lack of heat (temperature) in the bedrooms . This morning we were taken to a cave (grotto) which was discovered by french soldiers about 100 years ago. After an arduous hike up about 150 stairs we were treated to the following scene.

Well that's enough for one day - tomorrow heading to Hue
Thanks for following-Mark