About 4 hours west of Hanoi, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to see first hand the view most people see on advertisements and brochures and associate with Vietnam…Halong Bay. The bay is full of thousands of islets (limestone karsts) formed over millions of years. Everywhere you look you see these beautiful rocks jutting out of the water. It was designated a World Heritage Site in 1994. And, luckily our visit was perfect timing. Only a few days ago, the locals received devastating news. The Vietnamese government announced as of 2020, boats will not be allowed to anchor for the night in the Bay…only day boats will be allowed. Word among the locals is the hotels put pressure on the government because most visitors were choosing the relaxing one or two night cruises in the bay (like us) rather than staying in the posh hotels on land. There are 200 overnight boats and 300 day boats currently. Lots of boats!!! With this ruling,overnight boat owners will discontinue investing dollars into the repairs and maintenance of their boats, and these boats will crumble quickly. It’s a dying adventure. Very sad. And comes only 2 months after they banned kayaking in the bay which was very popular with the visitors.

Our boat was the Paradise Peak and it was outstanding. With only 8 suites total on board, our suite was huge, complete with a king bed, dining area and very large bathroom (included both a jacuzzi tub and marble shower). We left our big boat for a short time via the locals rowing us in their small boats to visit a local fishing village formed of floating houses and schools. We were surprised at the simplicity of the lifestyle among these fishing families. Very, very few material items.

Not to be morbid, but heading back to the Hanoi airport to begin our journey home, we learned more about the Vietnamese custom for burying their loved ones. They initially bury them in a wooden box in their rice field with no marker. Then after 3 years, when the skin has had time to decompose, they dig up the wooden box, clean the bones, put them in a ceramic box and bury them again either in their family cemetery in the fields or a town cemetery, but this time with a shrine or marker of some sort to show permanency. The new generation is trying to break with this tradition and go with cremation, but the older folks are not approving of the change.

Our trip to Vietnam had been lots of fun and extremely educational, but my heartbreaking memory of this beautiful country will be a phrase 2 different South Vietnamese used to describe their Independence Day celebration to me (which was going on during our visit)… They referred to it as their “liberation from America”. And, we thought we were helping…