Yesterday we took a day trip to one of the most famous areas of Vietnam “Ha Long Bay”.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  It was quite a hike, 3 1/2 hours each way by bus, but fully worth it.  Six of the seven families we have been traveling with rented a bus and had a private tour guide for the day, Hoi (pronounced HOY).  He was a great young man.  He told us to call him “Lucky” and said he had just been married 10 days ago to the most beautiful woman.  He must have told us how pretty she was about 20 times yesterday.  It was very sweet!

When we arrived at Ha Long Bay we have a private boat waiting for us to take a 4 hour tour.  The boats are built to look as if they have been sailing for thousands of years.  They are make of wood and have the tradiotional “oriental” style to them.  It was much cooler out on the bay than in the city and was great to have a break from the heat.  Our first stop on the tour was one of the “floating villages”.  It was unreal to see.  The people of the village catch the fish all day and then take them into town to sell.  There were many boats on the bay and most you could tell were people’s floating homes.  It was very surreal to see this kind of lifestyle. 

After we toured the small village, by foot, we got back onto the boat for lunch…. traditional Vietnamese food.   It was all very good.  There were similar foods to what we ate in Tuyen Quang the day we picked up Lauren.  There were french fries (these are the very best), sea weed (it was yummy and super spicy), fried chicken wings, spring rolls, squid (not my favorite), and fresh fish (it was seasoned well but was whole and kind of turned us off a bit).  However, there are a few of the men that like to see who they can gross out by eating the eyes.  It has become some sort of strange badge of honor…. and it makes all the women say “eeewww”!! 

After lunch the boat took us through the bay and to the caves.  It was a bit overcast and kind of dark for most of the day.  The rock formations and mountains have been there for millions of years.  It was an amazing thing.  We docked and walked through two ancient caves.  I can not even describe in words how beautiful they were.  The water has eroded the walls of the caves for millions of years creating  the most amazing and stunning formations.  The best way I can describe it is it looks like carved ivory.  It was very dark in the caves and the pictures did not turn out too well.  However, we did get some video that I think shows it good. 

After the caves we headed back to the bus and started our 3 1/2 hour ride home. This felt like the longest 3 1/2 hours of everyone’s life!  It was hot on the bus and there were times that all 6 babies were crying at once.  Some of the little ones have some amazing sets of lungs and ear piercing screams.  It was fabulous!  Lauren was a complete angel the whole day, as usual.  Everyone always asks “does she EVER cry”?  Not really.  She fusses… but so far no meltdowns.  We have been blessed with the most loving and easy going baby.