Halong Bay, Vietnam

We drive 4 hours east of Hanoi to Halong Bay. Cruising on the jade green water among the towering rock formations is reminiscent of our cruise along the Li River near Guilin in China several years ago. We pass a floating village where the main occupation is fishing. We hear what sounds like loud buzz saws echoing among the rock mountains jutting from the water. It is the sound of cicada type insects in the high heat.

Eating on a Junk

In Halong Bay we are on a Chinese junk. Our family are the only passengers on the entire boat. The crew cooks up fresh seafood for lunch. Prawns, crab, fish, squid. It is delicious. The Adolescent, ever the entrepreneur, has offered us the "privilege" of seeing him eat things never before considered, for a fee! The night before he ate a whole bowl of squid, tentacles and all! On the junk he beheads, peels and eats prawns! He is proud of his stomach of steel. At camp last month he won $5 from a friend for stuffing himself with food, spinning around 20 times looking up, spinning around the other way 20 times looking down, doing 20 jumping jacks, and then getting punched in the stomach, all without throwing up. I'm SO PROUD!

Enlightenment??

I ask the kids how all the travel they have done over their lives has influenced them. Both the Daughter and the Adolescent simultaneously roll their eyes. They can't believe their misfortune in landing up with a mother who always asks them these dumb questions!

The Adolescent tells me that the influence for him is that he better appreciates what he has. He does?! I think he's just telling me what he wants me to hear. But after tough cross examination it appears that he's sincere. Maybe he has absorbed some of the Buddhist stories we have heard over the past couple of weeks?

Kuangsi Waterfall

The Kuangsi waterfall is spectacular. The Hubby and the kids have a great time swimming in an area a bit downstream from the falls. I stay safely on shore with the Beamer and document the event.

Rural Laos

We drive an hour out of town to Kuangsi waterfall. On the way we see rice paddies. We see teak plantations. It takes at least 35-40 years for a teak tree to mature so that its wood is furniture quality. And even then the tree trunks are still not that thick, only about 25cm in diameter.

One of our guides reaches up and pulls a bunch of bananas off a tree growing by the roadside. Small, sweet, perfectly ripe, delicious little bananas! This same guide was a monk for 14 years both in Thailand and in Luang Prabang. He does give off a vibe of contentment and optimism. He left it because he had to work to support his family. This was in 2005 and we marvel that he is already married and has 2 sons ages 5 and 1! He just chuckles proudly!