Ha Long: The Cruise

Ha Long Bay is one of the premier tourism destinations in Vietnam, for reasons which are obvious once you actually get to the place and have a good look at it. The famously chaotic dock where you get on your boat is not one of those reasons, but it can be fun none-the-less. The picture above is from one of the islands, looking back toward the dock at Ha Long City.

This above is the harvest at a "pearl farm" which is kind of a fascinating thing to farm, and no, there were no swine on the farm. Below are views from the top deck of the boat, where I spent most of my time. They call them "lounge chairs" for a good reason! Aside from taking in the scenery, the seafood was insanely delicious and the squid fishing highly amusing - if not terribly productive.

Boatloads of pictures from previous Ha Long trips are here.

Not long after my recent trip to Ha Long, sadly, a tourist boat sank there killing a number of tourists who were sleeping on board at the time. Considering that there are some 5 million people visiting Ha Long every year, this accident, while tragic, hardly makes the place a "dangerous tourist attraction" as noted by that most democratic of institutions, Wikipedia. Indeed, the van trip from Ha Noi down to Ha Long City makes even the ricketiest of boats seem like a welcome safe haven!

Buddhas and Other Muses

More from the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum.

This guy, the ear-scratching guy, I think is my favorite of these pictures. Buddha statues come in all shapes and poses, but you can just see this one's expression saying, "Aaahhhhh." The following shot is part of a lacquer work. I like lacquer paintings, and the process to make them is just too painstaking to think about.

And something entirely different:

Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum

Style, a pig with pure style! These are a few pictures from the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum. This next shot is a woodprint from the village of Dong Ho which is famous for ... woodprints. I like woodprints, the Dong Ho ones are cool even if rather formulaic. This one is of Hai Ba Trung, plus an elephant, so it's got to be high on my list!



Galleries with windows are nice, but they do make for surprising pictures sometimes! And this below, I have no recollection of exactly what that was but I'm pretty sure it didn't happen naturally.



Here we have the "Tall Four Seasons on Silks and Short Wooden People on Pedestal" Gallery:

Street View

The corn wagon, fully equipped with a charcoal fire, a steamer, a big pile of sweet corn and an umbrella is always a welcome sight. The corn here is a bit more mealy and not quite as sweet as where I come from, but fresh steamed or roasted right there on the street, it still makes a delicious snack.



When you need a place to throw your corncob...


These clouds of balloons, laden down with bicycles, float all over Hanoi. Randomly, it seems. Disney World must be just around the corner!

Ghosts of Tet Past ...