John wrote: ....Several years ago my wife and I were chatting with Derek Hutchinson and she asked him "what's the most exotic place you've ever paddled?" He mentioned some place in Vietnam where he paddled through large sea caves on islands which contained lagoons in the middle which also contained islands.... That sounds like Halong Bay which is dotted with about a thousand limestone karsts. Beautiful turquoise water, but very few beaches - most of the karsts fall sheer into the sea. We went through one cave into the middle of the island but our guide didn't want to hang around to explore. It's quite a spiritual place for the Vietnamese. Easy to get to from Hanoi - take a train to Haiphong and then the ferry to Halong Bay (I'm a faltbooter so travel like this is less of a hassle). Lotsa cheap hotels on the mainland. It's quite pleasant here even in midwinter. I don't know what camping is like or if it's even allowed, but there seem to be plenty of people living afloat on sampans. For some romantic photography of the islands, check out the movie 'Indochine' which stars Catherine Deneuve. Cheers Paul *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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