.: Cat Ba-loo!

We will return to Hanoi for a couple more days before Laos, but off to the lovely and talented Cat Ba for some much needed R&R! WHAT? It's been rainy and cold....and I got the sniffles...I feel hearts going out to me all over the planet! Cat Ba is a little island off the port of Haiphong...yes, the same one the Americans mined during the war. Hey, this place is big!...and communism is certainly shaking hands with capitalism here! Big bucks being poured into the Haiphong area. Anyway, we got on a bus in Hanoi, but not without snatching a shot of the local officials charging for access...

...so there we were at the bus station in Hanoi, and we ran into our lifelong friends, the Gastonguay-Beaudry's...

...and a strange thing happened...they started to follow us! We go to the bus, they go to the bus...we go to the boat, they go to the boat...we go to the hotel, they go to the hotel...I think they're STALKERS!!! They seem like nice stalkers though...they live close to us in Vancouver...I think when we go home, they'll go home! On our first stop to catch the second bus, Cassandra went to get something to eat, and the Gastonguay-Beaudry's followed her of course...all of them! I was left to watch the baggage...and this lost, old soldier came shuffling by...

...he was deep in his thoughts...probably planning some attack on old foes! As I mentioned, we got on the boat, and the Gastonguay-Beaudry's got on the boat, and off we went to Cat Ba...I think the boat had some sort of a problem tho...

...they had to keep the engine compartments open the whole trip, and 2 guys to monitor it...along the way, we saw these little fishing stands...

...and for the first time in a long time, the sun was shining, and it was WARM! We got off the boat, and the Gastonguay-Beaudry's got off the boat...we got on the bus and the Gastonguay-Beaudry's got on the bus...are you seeing the pattern here? They were speaking french...but I detected a Russian accent. They are reading this for the first time and won't get it! hahahahahahahahaha They'll just have to read the back issues!!! hahahahahaha Another drinkiepoo I think!!!! So we take bus into Cat Ba Town, and guess who follows us to the hotel? Anyway, we get into the room, and the Gastonguay-Beaudry's aren't in it! Cassandra takes a great shot out of the window...and I copied hers...