Halong Bay, Vietnam

On our first morning we woke up to this view. It literally made my eyes widen and my jaw drop. I may have let out a gasp too. We took a small boat to shore and then went exploring. We found a taxi company who agreed to take us around for a small fee and then we realized that our driver didn't know ANY English. That was interesting to say the least but we made it work. We also found an ATM to get some Vietnamese money called Dong.

Our day included a lot of exploring which is my favorite thing to do. Here a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

We ate breakfast with this fabulous view. 

We saw so many unique things as we drove to our first stop. 

This man was worshiping, banging his drums and chanting some prayers. 

Our taxi driver dropped us here and pointed up the hill side when we told him we wanted to check out the local market. We were so confused and up for the adventure. Some Elderly people offered us some tea and then posted us through this massive sliding gate. It felt like we were entering another world altogether. 

This was a lovely garden outside one of the homes. 

I loved all of these back roads in this part of Halong. 

Nobody could speak English, except for Hello. They were a very happy people though and they laughed at us quite a bit. 

This sweet lady was going to town hacking meat out on the street. I was impressed with her skills. 

The classroom of students spotted us on the street outside their school and some of them saw my camera and yelled, "Take our Selfie! Take our Selfie!" 

So I did. Sort of. 

Shops and wires everywhere. 

I find these narrow street charming. 

Lots of people were carrying around chickens. 

Homes and apartments,

Lots of people were out and about getting ready to sale things for the day. 

Our friends were in a Japanese Corn chip commercial and we found their product in Vietnam. So cool! 

We had an overall impression that the people were very hard workers, especially the Elderly. 

This was a fishing village of some sort. The views were amazing at every turn. The people used their boats to live, we saw lots of clothes hanging to dry, other boats were used for fishing, some for markets and selling goods and more for taking tourists out. 

It didn't feel much like Christmas in a country where the majority don't celebrate Christmas. But we did see this Asian Santa in a shopping center. 

Lydia liked the random garbage cans. 

We tried to visit this Vietnam War museum but it was closed during the lunch hour when we arrived. 

We did some fun people watching and then sat down to eat a few snacks. Teenagers are alike everywhere we go. I love them. 

A beautiful group of girls. Some of them were posing their finger like a snap and we were curious as to what this meant. Another funny thing that people did to Lydia was rub her ear lobes.

Later on in the day after we ate lunch we found another taxi driver (an older man) and he took us to a few popular markets on the other side of Halong Bay. 

A darling little girl shopping along side her Mom. 

The sun was HUGE and watching it set was gorgeous! 

Wires and more wires. 

Shopping here was a little intense. Some shop girls were pretty aggressive. Tyson knows how to get to me walk away so I don't buy from everyone that gives me those sad looks and "please Mam". 

Next stop: Hanoi, Vietnam