Homes with a View

The first afternoon we were on Catba Island, in Halong Bay, we girls opted out of the strenous, up and down hill bike ride that the dads and older kids were going on. We were going to just stroll around the dock area, when we were offered a boat ride by one of the locals. Only 50,000 dong for a one hour ride... at the exchange rate of 18,000 dong to one US dollar, we couldn't pass it up. The ride proved to be a fascinating step back in time. Our boat wove in and out not only of the beautiful karsts rising out of the water, but also through many little floating fish farms, complete with tiny homes.

Gwen is about to get onboard... Madelyn and Elise are already on the boat.

I love the reflection of the karsts in the water.

There were literally hundreds of these little homes. Here you can see the netted frames where the fish are being raised.
This little boy washed up and then dove into the water to rinse off.

This little guy had the amazing skill of rowing his boat with his feet! He was really fast.