Hạ Long Bay and it’s neighbor Bái Từ Bay feature thousands of  limestone karsts and isles, most topped with thick forests. According to Vietnamese legend, a family of dragons came down to earth to protect Vietnam from invaders; the emeralds from the dragons mouth were scattered across the battlefield which prevented ships from coming into the bay; the emeralds turned into the islands and islets.  The bay where the mother dragon descended to earth is called Hạ Long (meaning, descending dragon) and bay where her children descended is called Bá Từ (meaning, thanks to the dragon children). 

Legend aside, the area is magnificent. 

Over the last 20+ million years,the tropical wet climate and the rising and lowering of the sea level have shaped the islands and islets creating nooks, crannies, caves, and interestingly shaped islets. 

For the last couple of days, we have spent time exploring life in the Mekong River Delta; the Vietnamese refer to this area as Cừu Long, the nine dragons which refers to the Mekong River’s many tributaries.  

The Mekong River delta is an amazing place place to visit. I have a greater appreciation of the beauty of the river after having had the opportunity to travel on the river in small boats. 

This is a small tributary; below are better pictures of the river. 

The Mekong delta is one of the two rice basket areas in Vietnam. As you drive into this area, you are surrounded by rice paddies–fields of brilliant green rice plants.
In addition to rice, tropical fruits, including coconuts, pineapples, dragon fruit, papayas, mangos, pomelos, jack fruit, watermelons, and logans are grown in this area. All of these fruits are available at the Cái Răng floating market in Cần Thò; think of a farmer’s market on water.  If you want to buy something, you pull your boat along side the vendors boat. 

As you can imagine, this agriculturally rich area is also home companies making food products from these commodities.  We also toured mom and pop companies making coconut candies 

and rice noodles. 

(Sam is feeding one of the rice paper sheets through the noodle cutter). 

It is an amazing region of the country. Can’t wait to explore other regions of Vietnam.