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The trip
to Halong Bay is a nice bus ride from Hanoi via Hai Phong. It takes
four hours and gives a good impression of the countryside. There are
everywhere beautiful green rice terraces, pools covered with lotus
flowers but also many military cemeteries as they lost millions of
lives in the wars during the last century. That is also the reason
why the population looked very young.
At Halong Bay I entered a boat
heading Cat Ba. The area looks a little bit like the Andaman sea in
Sout Thailand, but here the geological form looks much more massif
compared to the small rocks in Thailand.
Sung Sot means Surprise Cave: We
stopped to visit a giant cave, lots of stalagmit, actually it is recognized
as a UNESCO world heritage.
Cat Ba is
a bit like Vietnam's answer to Nice. Promenade along the shore, cafés,
playgrounds for children, restaurants on boats serving the freshest
seafood.
On the way back to Hanoi we stopped
at a motorway service area. They had an interesting project: handicapped
children learned to embroider paintings which are sold for 40 to 200
$. Our stop was organized to generate consumer's demand for these kids.
Help to help yourself.
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