We’ve made it to Halong Bay to find that the storm is coming earlier than expected probably, so we’re not allowed out on the boat overnight. Boo. But I am on a boat right now, only just for a little while – we get about 2 hours. So we’re going to the caves and then we get lunch and that’s it. Better than if we were getting here tomorrow, as originally planned, when the bay will be shut due to the storm. Better to be safe, but riding out a typhoon would have been hardcore.

We’ll overnight at a hotel by the bay and then back to Hanoi tomorrow to pick up our original activities there (tour of the city, water puppets, etc.) And then the next thing (I don’t have an itinerary handy.)

There is nothing like being freezing cold on an air-conditioned bus and then stepping out into the warm, sticky air outside. It’s rainy today, so extra sticky. I like the heat, just being careful to drink water (haven’t been doing this as much as I should).