Good Bye Vietnam

Well... this is it... a few last days in Hanoi and the grand Asian adventure is over! I spent a week here and it rained quite a bit of the time sooo... not so many pictures of me outside!

Anyhow - I got to go and see Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum - this is where his body is on display. When I got there it was closed - it's only open from 8 am to 11 am and they close the doors at 10:15 am... Oh well...

I also went and saw the Museum of Ethnology which is super cool! It has an indoor part where there are displays on the 52 (or so) ethnic minorities of Vietnam. There was also an outdoor part where you could go into typical houses from across Vietnam. This one is a long house...

The weaving from some of these tribes is beary beautiful!

Oh and in case I forget to mention it later - the traffic in Hanoi is crazy!! Just like in Saigon except with more cars...

Near our hotel is Hoan Kiem Lake - which means Lake of the Restored Sword. It has a pathway around it which is nice to walk.

There are two islands in the lake - one is connected to the shore by a red bridge. There is a pagoda on the island which has...

The preserved body of a massive turtle! There is still a massive live turtle in the lake - but I didn't see it. The water is kind of pea-green. If you see the turtle in the lake it's supposed to be a sign of good luck!

The other island is just a tiny one and has a little tower on it... it's called Tortoise Island.

That's the tower over there...

If you didn't know where I was - you might even think this was in France! This is St. Joseph's Cathedral... it was locked up pretty tight when I was there...

And another stop was the remains of Hoa Lo Prison. It was built by the French in 1896 and they used it as a prison for political prisoners until 1954. During the war with the Americans, many American pilots were held here and they called it the Hanoi Hilton.

Which is sort of a premonition because most of the former prison grounds now have a big hotel on them. There are only a couple of buildings left from the old prison.

Here we have the Temple of Literature - Hanoi's first university...

Students back then, centuries ago, still used a Chinese-looking script. Nowadays, there are hardly any people who can read that anymore.

It was beary pretty here and I think the students must have been distracted by all the water and the flowers!

Recognize these?? There were some in Hue too which also had a Temple of Literature. The names of successful graduates were engraved on the plaques which sit on the back of huge turtles.

One of the buildings even had a huge turtle too... gold-plated. Not sure if this one is a relative of the one in the lake or not...

Well... that's it... tomorrow it's back onto a plane to fly to Hong Kong and then on to Canada. I am looking forward to some real Canadian honey! And a change of clothes! Honestly... who only packs one set of clothes for an active little bear???? Hope you enjoyed traveling with me... next stop... Vancouver!

A Maritime Bear on Halong Bay

Oh boy... I am going for a boat ride!!! On Halong Bay!! Halong Bay is world famous for its many islands (karst topography) and stunning mountains. And... finally... I get to go! Along with a gazillion other people. Those sure are a of boats...

That boat is just a day trip boat... we aren't doing that... we are going for an overnight trip.

That's our boat!!

Ooohhh... ahhhh... It is like Ninh Binh except in the ocean...

Beary beautiful - even if the blue skies were missing.

This is my cabin and the view out the window.

I get this bed all to myself??? No, not really... but it sure is comfy!

But it's more fun up on deck...

It is so beary beautiful here and the island mountains all look different. 

Of course there are caves here... can you see that one - you can look right through to the other side of the island!

Hmmm... I wonder if people try rock climbing here?

That looks like another cave but it's really just a hollow, not beary deep at all.

We are going to anchor in one of these bays overnight... but I don't think this is the anchor they will use. At least I hope not!

Ohhh... and can you guess what else I got to do on Halong Bay?

I got to go kayaking!!! Wheee!!!! This is super cool because you are right in the water... mind you... it was a little bit wet and I had to get tucked into my plastic bag rain gear.

That's that same cave - you can see through to the other side really well.

That's another kayak from our boat... The kayak trip was super fun but beary tiring for a little bear! I turned in early and left the humans nattering away until late in the night.

Next morning... hmmm... the weather has taken a turn for the worse...

It is bucketing rain out there. Oh well... at least I got to go kayaking yesterday!

We went to see a floating village (in the rain) and a pearl farm (in the rain) and everybody and everything got beary wet, except me of course. I stayed on board (as any sensible bear would do) and watched the soggy humans go out and come back!

The Beauty of Ninh Binh

Today we went to Ninh Binh, south of Hanoi. It's been called the terrestrial version of Halong Bay or Halong Bay on land. It is beary beautiful!

First we got onto a traditional row boat...

I was the navigator pointing out where to go and where not to go. You never know when you might need a little bear navigator!

Ewwww... there were a tonne of weeds in the water - which made it hard to see what was down there... but I did my best!

It turns out I did a great job and we didn't crash into any mountains or rocks!

The mountains here are made of limestone and were formed a super-long time ago. Rainwater and groundwater can dissolve limestone over a beary long time so... which is why you get caves in limestone!

This time of landscape, with steep limestone pinnacles and lots of caves is called karst topography. It is beary beautiful and photogenic!

Ah-hah!!! I knew there had to be caves here somewhere! This looks a bit like the one in Phong Nha...

But a lot smaller and not as deep... we only went in for a few hundred feet and then...

Came back out again.

One thing I noticed along the waterline in the cave and along our route were these little pink things. Can you guess what they might be?? ... Snail eggs!! Yup, there are water snails here and they lay their eggs in little pink clusters. When the rains come and the water rises, the snail eggs will hatch. There were a LOT of snail eggs here!

So beautiful!!

And so hot!! Our boat driver picked a couple of lotus flower leaves to give us as hats... Mine is a bit too big...

But it does create some shade and keep the sun off my face... and...

zzzz.... whiffle... zzzz... whiffle.... (the sun also tires out little bears!)