the honking ceases - halong bay

just to get away from the bustle of Hanoi, a few friends and I headed off to do a boat trip through Halong Bay. As was all of the tours in Vietnam, it was very...well...touristy, but my only intention on the trip was to relax and enjoy the peace, so i put up with the cave viewings (lots of neon lights and stories how some of the structures bring good luck etc etc etc...nothing compared to walking through a pitch black cave on your own, in constant fear of falling down a bottomless pit, a la Laos.) we slept on the boat, we ate on the boat...visited a cool floating village (yes, the people live in houses that float on the water). little boats full of food and goods were constantly up along our boat, with cute ladies trying to sell us food and fruits. unfortunately, we had already hit up the oreo and liquor districts of Hanoi before going on the trip, so we were loaded with food, so we didn't get to do any bartering with the boat ladies.

my question is: where do the dogs get to play? seriously, there were lots of dogs, but since the houses were floating on water, there was no green space (clearly.)

we braved the cold (yes, it was actually quite cool) to sit up on the top deck and enjoy the misty view, but most of the time we spent warming ourselves inside, eating candy and drinking whiskey.

a very relaxing trip.