Belle

Ohhhh--Myyyy--Goodness! I'm writing our first post as the boys are on the beach at Cat Ba island playing soccer. It is New Year's Eve. We made it safely to Vietnam!!! We had a 30 hour trip that went very smoothly and got to Hanoi at 1am. Our driver was there waiting for us and despite waking our hotel folks, they kindly met us at the dark, charming and quiet alley that led us to our charming guest house in the old quarter of Hanoi. Minimal sleep (I can't believe how resilient and wonderful a traveler Jesse is... better than me) for us before we awoke to meet our mini-trip of 7 -3 Aussi gals and 1 fellow from Japan. We drove to the east coast viewing the country side and we started our trip on Halong Bay. The photos tell the story... I'm still pinching myself here. We swam last night and early this morning off our "junk" and the water is green, clear and very salty. Jesse fished off the boat for squid and we actually caught a few. Happy New Year to everyone... thank you for your prayers getting us here safely. Duncan and Jesse having a ball-