Splashing and Staring

Highlights of Ha Long Bay, Vietnam:

• Taking in my surroundings -- almost two thousand islands. They aren't mountains, and they aren't hills... they are singular mounds of rock and trees rising from the sea. The horizon looks like a long blue camel with a thousand irregular humps.
• Swimming in the bay -- the water was like bath water. And taking running jumps off the top of our cruise boat (only about 15 feet up from the water) made it that much more fun.
• Sitting on top of the same boat, drinking Tiger beer, and staring up at the stars.
• Checking out the village on the water: an actual town made up of floating huts. Their front yards were a grid of fishing nets, and they actually had dogs that ran and played along the planks in between them [the sea makes an effective fence for dogs].
• Hiking to the top of Cat Ba Island to get a view of the bay and surrounding islands.
• Taking the boat back to Ha Long City, and just sitting on the bow in the sun. The morning breeze, all by itself, made my day.

It was insanely touristy, but it didn't matter. Ha Long Bay, to me, is one of those places where everything and everyone else just falls away for a little while.