An emerald sea dotted with thousands of towering limestone islets, pillars, and arches, each coated in thickets of green jungle. That is the allure of Halong Bay, a designated UNESCO World Heritage site, and huge 1,553 kilometer2 seascape east of Hanoi, in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province.
After a night of fearing the doll’s dress above our bed and the haunted town outside, I was ready to get to a happy place. As Rich knows all too well, when you have a sad, scared or depressed Lis there is one surefire way to bring a smile to my face and a lasting happy demeanor: add water, big great expanses of water. Thankfully the next day would have us crossing into Namibia, and spending two days paddling our way along the calm waters of the Orange River.