More pictures of Ha Long Bay and a few of Hanoi

So, this is a picture taken from our balcony in August. Then below you'll see a zoomed in photo of the same area and another zoomed out like this one. Notice: 1. The air quality change. 2. The height of the two tallest buildings. They are now over 70 stories high. They will be the highest in the country.

So it has not rained in over 4 weeks and as you can clearly see (Ha!) the dust and air pollutants are nicely packaged in Hanoi. This is often called a "dust dome" and it literally covers the city. If it would rain, much of the suspended dust would be grabbed by the water and brought to the ground. Our balcony is covered with a fine dust and open shops have a fine dust on all their products. Breathing is not the most pleasurable activity.

This is the new building that is being constructed quickly before our eyes. We catch the public bus in the morning under those trees in the middle of the picture.

Jumping in Ha Long Bay. The air here was nice and so was the water!

Lisa at the floating fish market. You walk around on a grid pattern of planks looking into netted areas below with live fish. Pick the one you want and they scoop it out with a net.

Standing at a floating fish market.

Trip to Sapa in the mountains near China

water storage tank

a day at the market.

Quick! Find the green umbrella handle.

Indigo dyed fabrics and pillow cases.

A cool orchid.

Technology from the 1800s is still alive and well!

Lisa and somebody with long sticks in a basket backpack.

A terrraced rice paddy after being harvested.

Walking with a giant wok.

At a market we went to. Spot the dinner choices, duck, chicken and two types of dog.

Trip to Halong Bay

The pictures are pretty self explanatory. Ha Long Bay is breathtaking. The scene of pirate ships and deep water. It was fun. Don't have any pictures of us jumping off the boat roof into the water, but somebody does, we'll have to get those on the blog.

Lisa and Hang. She is our secretary, "solve all problems" person and she came along with our group for the 3 days. Only one day on the water though. We all wished we could have been out for longer.

Sort of like Vermont in November...but not really.