A UNESCO site, Halong Bay's beauty has to be experienced firsthand. These limestone formations surround you as your boat moves through the waters. We stayed overnight on the boat, with the crew serving us three lovely meals. Some of the group went kayaking, all of us went to a beach and many of us hiked in sweltering heat to the top of one of the formations. We also were given a tour of the "Surprise Cave," which is one of the largest among the many caves scattered throughout the area. Sounds like typical tourist fare, but we learned a lot about the geography and waters of the area, and even about the kinds of people who visit the Bay. Everyone enjoyed walking alongside the Buddhist monks in Saffron robes, with their cell phones, taking pictures of each other at every stop. Everyone has cell phones, tablets, and those awful selfie sticks. You have to get used to ducking under or around.

We spent the night on our junk boat after feasting on seafood and fresh salads expertly prepared by the chef and served by boat staff. We were lulled to sleep by gentle rocking and the music of a few party boats, also moored in the bay. In the morning we visited a cave found by the French in the 1901. Halong Bay, with its hundreds of karst formations, is a natural wonder of the world, so it is not surprising that the cave was busy with tourists from all over Asia and the world. Our guide in Vietnam, Thuy, explained that the French called the cave "surprise". Around a bend and down some limestone stairs we gazed upon the big stalagmite surprise, lit up in all its splendor.

My grandmother Yvonne used to say that Pearls were put on this earth a for women to wear, and that is exactly what they are doing in Halong Bay, where they cultivate natural pearls so we may adorn our ears, wrists, and necks. With a 30 percent success rate, pearl cultivation is a labor intensive task. Workers pry open oysters, plant a "seed" pearl, and secure these seeded oysters inside cages that are placed in the bay. The black pearls are my favorite, and our leader Brenda Jordan acquired one of three beauties for herself.

Back in Hanoi, Jennifer Gipe and I walked to the Hanoi Opera House. We found open sidewalks and wide streets outside of Hanoi Old Town. As we came upon the Opera house, emerging through the traffic of motos and buses, the beauty took our breath away. French architecture and iron works are both familiar and unfamiliar. Simple and elegant, the cheerful butter color of the Opera House is a welcome site for a franophile.

We have not been able to access the internet for a few days, due to the overnight boat trip on Halong Bay (wow) and the overnight train trip from Hanoi to Hue (definitely an adventure, but maybe once is good enough...). June 26, Monday, we met in Hanoi, and the drove to Halong Bay on June 27. On the way, we stopped at a rest stop that was a workshop and showroom for artisan work created by the disabled. Everywhere we looked on the road to/from Halong Bay, there were construction projects, but no one was working on them. The rice plants were in place and growing, and most of the work was being done by hand. This contrasts with the fact that a large number of people have smart phones and tablets, and use them all the time.

We had an afternoon and morning on the boat. Some of the group went kayaking with our guide. Some enjoyed the scenery. We all went to the beach later in the afternoon, and a number of us braved the steep climb to the top of a hill where there was a great view of the bay. Then there was dinner on the boat, and watching the sun set from the deck on the roof.

June 28 we drove back to Hanoi in the afternoon after exploring the Suprise Cave in the morning. A train ride overnight to Hue was quite the experience. Each compartment on the train held four bunks (upper and lower), a tiny table, and just enough room in between for two people to stand back to back. It was a juggling act to get four adults into bed in each compartment. For some, the rocking of the train put them right to sleep. For others, the rocking, rolling, jerking, and jumping of the train kept them up for hours (not to mention the hard bed--clean but hard). Almost everyone was up around 5:00 a.m., either because they were well rested or because they couldn't stand it any longer!

Thuy, our guide, got us into our Asia Hotel at Hue right after we arrived in Hue. We had a huge buffet breakfast there, and then were able to check into our rooms. SHOWERS!!! Change of Clothes! Afternoon was spent on a bus tour to important historic sites such as Tien Mu pagoda (the entire complex is called a pagoda here), Royal Tombs along the Perfume River, and the Imperial Citadel which still bears bullet marks from the Vietnam War. One major impression thus far is that the historic sites are not being kept up well at all. There is some effort at restoration, but overall some amazing sites are just crumbling. More money seems to be put into memorials for the dead from the Vietnam War, the battles with the French, Chinese, and Japanese in the 19th and 20th centuries. An optional tour in Hue consisted of a group motorbike ride, which about 11 of us elected to do. It is impossible for photos or video to really convey the sensation of riding on a motorbike through the masses of traffic on the roads, over the changes in pavement in the villages, and up and down trails to/from the bunkers from the wars. Our drivers were amazingly skilled, and we all felt safe but it took your breath away to barely miss little old ladies, cows (lots of cows), other motorcycles, and the big truck with the pigs, etc. etc.

From Hue, we journeyed yesterday to Hoi An via Danang by bus, which was a spectacular drive up into the mountains with the ocean to our left. Hoi An was not bombed during the Vietnam War, and thus has a great number of preserved houses dating back several centuries. The city, like Danang, is also much cleaner than what we have seen to present. Flowers and lanterns abound in the old quarter, which features merchant houses from days gone by. This is also a shopping Mecca, as the city is focused on tourism. So there are many shops and resorts. Completely different feeling from Hanoi (or at least the areas that we saw in Hanoi). That's all for today--except to say again that the food is great and people are gracious and kind.

Well, we all made it to Hanoi, had our first meeting tonight, and went out to dinner together. We'll be writing blogs and adding pictures as soon as we can, but we are off tomorrow to Halong Bay, and a overnight boat trip.

So...Hanoi. This is one colorful place, rather like being in the middle of a movie set. If you walk the streets of the Old Quarter, in particular, there are small shops crowded on top of small shops, people gathering outside to eat, drink, and talk, and singing birds in little cages. Traffic is just as chaotic as it was when we visited in 2009, with one major change. Now you have to negotiate streets filled with CARS in addition to the motorbikes and buses. Hiroshi has taught Nervous Nelly Me how to approach this situation. Wait until there is a bit of a break in the traffic, then calmly and slowly walk across the street while giving all the millions of vehicles time to anticipate your path. Don't do anything unexpected. Don't jump like a frightened rabbit when the motorbike with an entire family on it swerve around you, missing you by a hair. Not a problem. Breath deeply.

Otherwise, food is fabulous here. People are nice. There is a colorful picture of city life around every corner. Weather is...HOT...HUMID...miserable. But we will survive.

Cheers from Brenda to all our friends at home.