ha long bay

finally, the beach!

LB here, back in northern viet nam after our quick trip to cambodia (happy to report, by the way, that i breezed through passport control with no problem at all). as knox mentioned in his two posts, we really enjoyed our time in cambodia - warlords and disneyfied cultural heritage sites aside. i was also very uncomfortable with the fact that i couldn't speak the language and have now put "learn khmer" on my official list of things to do - because it would actually be relevant to my work and because i like to torture myself.

as soon as we landed in ha noi, we got on another bus and headed out to ha long bay, one of the most marvelous places on earth. neither the photos nor my description will do this place justice, but i give the former anyway:






in addition to some very pretty pics and a priceless comment on knox's part ("this is the most beautiful sky i've ever seen" - does it get any better than that??), we also came away from our overnight in ha long bay with a belly full of fresh seafood, a jellyfish sting, a scary-looking rash, and a pretty healthy inner-conflict about non-sustainable tourism and the slow destruction of world heritage sites. check, check, and check.

the vietnamese government certainly knows what a treasure ha long bay is, and i just hope those in charge will take their eyes off the immediate prize of tourism dollars, which are coming in by the bucket these days, long enough to put some preservation measures into place. maybe start with an anti-litter campaign? because it really is upsetting to see a coke can floating through such gorgeous waters...

enough of that. we're in ha noi now for a few more days before we return to the beach, this time in da nang. i've been dragging knox all over the city and have even gotten him on the back of a motorbike! and he tolerates my non-stop itinerary in exchange for a cold beer here and there. he has found his people among the sidewalk-stall-beer-drinking northerners, by the way. he is completely taken by their preservative-free, made-to-be-drunk-quick light beer, and they are fascinated with his big, hairy body and love his jovial nature - two days and we've already got a regular bia hoi joint! it's a match made in heaven.