La Vie en Rose .... Ha Noi Day 3: Ha Long Bay

Early December 2020....In the middle of COVID.....a new LOVE, by now 2 years in the running.....HIS first time in a plane....when checking in at the airport, I insisted on a window seat for 'the kid'......he is 28 at this time but I get so much happiness from watching his eyes go SO WIDE when the plane leaves the ground.

N.B. FINALLY finishing this post 4 years after the fact......I'm thinking about the lyrics of Hozier's cover of Van Morrison's SWEET THING ..."I will never be so OLD again....I will never be so COLD again"....  I have changed ;-) THANK GOD.....the friendliness of the Vietnamese allowed me to change (that is the secondary title of this blog:  sự thân thiện của nguoi Viet Nam cho phép tôi thay đổi  ;-)

The 25 year old RETARDS working for Blogger have their algorithms WRONG....Upload pictures and they show up in the opposite order.....SO...... you will have to read THIS post starting at the VERY BOTTOM....and then scroll upward ;-)

 /start reading at the VERY BOTTOM and proceed UPWARD/

23:00

sleep

 

21:00

We're back in Hanoi......Walking around the Old Quarter because he's hungry....  we finally find a place....chicken legs .....beautifully marinated and grilled..... he's constantly texting..... GREAT JOY ;-(NOT).... (our very first tiny tiff)....    ah well....4 years later I can only smile about it...

 

19:00 He orders the bus in Ha Long.....he is Good at that but I don't want to drink beer on the bus because I don't want have to PEE during the bus ride... but once we reach Ha Noi.....I RACE towards the LOO at the Ha Noi Hilton Hotel ;-)

Yours' are the kindest eyes I've ever seen

I thought that was the day before ...?!

stalactites ;-)

His idea to paddle through here.....is this MAGICAL or what ???!!!

There is a boat where you get rowed around.....NO...we take the Kayak....Phap's very first time in a Kayak

Here we go....Ha Long ..... My third time....but HIS first time ;-)

The single reason I came to travel to Viet Nam for the first time in 2015. Still MAGICAL ;-)

GORGEOUS (both him and the background ;-)

COVID times....out of 300 tourist boats...only 2 or 3 are running ....

after 3 hours delayed departure (not enough tourists)....finally on a boat

OMG...I looked so much OLDER 4 years ago than I do today !!!

waiting for a boat....

 we made it to Ha Long City by 10 am

a long bus ride through unfriendly territory ...... Phap arranged it well ;-)

It is COLD in Hanoi....(13 degrees C?)