Hanoi and Northern Vietnam

We are playing catch up today on the last few weeks, so check further down for another post on Hue. Now I will cover Hanoi, Halong Bay, Cuc Phuong National Park. I'll save Sapa for the next post. Arriving in Hanoi on an overnight bus from Hue, Erika and I stayed with Hank and Donna Tomlinson, friends of Josh's parents who live in Vietnam. Hank and Donna were so welcoming and let us stay with them for two weeks, using their house as our base camp to explore northern Vietnam. Our three side trips were to Halong Bay, famous for its limestone islands which jut out of the sea at near vertical angles and are riddled with caves; Cuc Phuong park, one of the nicest national parks we have seen in Asia and home to a Primate Rescue Center containing several monkey and langur species; Sapa, mountain retreat and base camp for mountain trekking to minority Hmong and Red Dao villages.

Pictures from Hanoi

Local fisherman in West Lake, right in the middle of Hanoi

This 500 year old turtle is part of a local legend

Josh trying to fit in on the ever common kindergarden stools at sidewalk restaurants

Vietnam is pretty behind the times when it comes to electric lines

The Intercontinental Hotel is built out over West Lake

Pictures from Halong Bay

Enjoying the sunset from a kayak

The view from one of the caves

This cave that we visited was several hundred yards in, and 40 feet high in spots

Pictures from Cuc Phuong

Langurs at the Primate Rescue Center

There's also a new video I put up of the monkeys playing around in their cages, just look for the You Tube link over in the right column.