Halong Bay

In Vietnamese, Ha Long means 'where the dragon decends into the sea'. The legend says that the Islands of Halong were created by a great dragon that lived in the neighboring mountains. As it ran towards the coastline, it's flailing tail gouged out the valleys and crevices, and as it plunged into the sea, the areas dug up by it's tail became filled with water leaving only pockets of high land visible. As we look out on the bay it is easy to see how this legend got it's credibility.

It is beautiful here. We are finding we need the quite and easy days of being on the emerald waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. We are staying on a junk which an ancient Chinese style sailing ship. They range in a variety of shapes and sizes and are really quite nice. Ours is beautiful and only carries twenty passengers and the crew. It sails amidst the karsts and grottos and we are in awe of the beauty here.

There are a variety of activities and excursions but we find that the quiet and easy rocking of our ship as she sails the waterways is really all we need. There is kayaking into the grottos and caves in this area and the water is warm for swimming. But we are content to await the sunset to watch as the emerald ocean turns a deep red. We are in awe of God's goodness to us as we enjoy the beauty here. We are enjoying the rest.

 We head to Laos at the end of the week and are ready to see what lies ahead. Here we will connect with one of our MMI partners and see first hand the work that is being done in Laos. We are excited to be with our friend Bounkham and see this country from his perspective. We will let you know...