HA LONG BAY

When I extended my vacation by two days, this was my reward...one of the most beautiful, unusual, peaceful and serene places I have ever been. We cruised slowly through the bay, swam off the boat, toured a huge cave, and spent the night at Cat Ba Island. Cat Ba has hotels and discos catering to the tourist scene and not much else.

The cool looking sail boat in the upper right photo was for tourism.

Itinerant fishers live in their boats during fishing trips of a week or more, before heading back south to sell their fish and see their families.

We also saw pearl farms -- oysters are marked with little bobbles that float above them, marked with the date, so the pearl farmers can tell how long they have been cultivating their pearls.