A four-hour bus trip to Ha Long Bay gave us an interesting view of the countryside outside Hanoi as we passed by villages, agricultural land, industrial land, and fish farms.  During the way, we stopped at a Mikimoto pearl complex to see how cultivated pearls are created.  They take live oysters and implant a perfect sphere into the ovary and then place them back in the bay in farms for two to four years before harvesting them.  Only about 30% are usable for pearl jewelry, but they use the rest of the oyster, including the shell for everything from buttons to oyster powder for perfect skin powder!  It’s quite the business.  They turned up their noses when I asked whether they had any natural pearls.

Our favorite stop was definitely NOT a tourist stop – it was a local market in Ha Long with vegetables, seafood, meat, fruits, dried anything, with motor scooters coming through the market for delivery and pickup.  Our guide let us try some interesting fruit like jack fruit and ripe (red) dragon fruit.

Then on to Ha Long Bay, with its 1600 limestone islands, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to board the Paradise Elegance II for an overnight cruise.  The ship is only two years old and quite elegant, and the buffet lunch was excellent.  After lunch, tenders took passengers to Sung Sot Island to climb 200 steps to a huge grotto cave.  Of course, many of the other dozens of boats/ships were doing the same thing.  You walked through the cave and down the other side to exit and take the tender back to the ship.

Cheryl