Words Fail

Just woke up on a junk in Ha Long Bay. It is unbelievably beatiful here.

Our hotel in Hanoi convinced us to do the overnight trip--good move.
We left Hanoi at nine am yesterday and got to the harbor at 12:30 (105
miles at 35 mph). Took a skiff out to the big boat, then out to one of
the many inlets in this 1969-island natural wonder. When lunch was
over we got back on the skiff to get to "Surprising Fury" cave on one
of the islands. Biggest cave chamber I've ever seen--bigger than
Carlsbad. No iPhone pictures as I tried to leave as much gear behind
as possible--because after spelunking we went kayaking on the bay,
doing our best to stay out of the way of the larger vessels. Then back
to the boat for dinner and hanging out on the deck, chatting up the
Basques and Kiwis, and watching 30 boats drift in the night.

Lots more photos when we get back, but we'll post a few more later--
we're off for a hike around one of the islands.