Most days the weather is bright and sunny, we experienced a different type of day
Drizzly, foggy, heavy sky and over cast
This is the only day that I wished that we had packed jackets

Traditional Junk with  Fabulous sails.
Exactly the type of boat that we expected to see on Ha Long Bay
This type of junk is usually owned by a single family

Part of the 5 Star experience included an overnight tour of Ha Long Bay, which is an Unesco World Heritage Site.
One of the reasons that truly sold this tour for us!
"Ha Long" means descending Dragon 

Ha Long Bay is in the gulf of Tonkin, North East of Hanoi and includes over 1600 islands
& islets made up of limestone pillars.
According to the Unesco. org website "most of the area is unaffected by a human presence"
however the boat cruise lanes were littered with garbage, which I found very depressing.
Our boat crew was fishing bottles and other recyclables out of the water and then some 'idiot' would
throw another one over board

This boat was very similar to the one that we were on.
Although ours did have the traditional "Junk" sails

Two water birds doing a mating dance

Dragon puppet swimming

Puppeteer's taking a bow at the end

If you wish to experience a "Live performance" feel free to watch a YouTube video
& search for Hanoi water puppet

Musician's to the left and right...main stage with three feet of water in and around
the temple

First puppet to 'surface'
Wooden puppets are attached by their feet to long bamboo poles, which are completely
 holed out to attach the strings to in order to move the facial features and the other body parts

Fire works display

Water Puppetry is an unusual form of live theatre and according to our guide
this one in Hanoi is one of the best in the country. It was created in the 17th century by the people of the Red River Delta
region. Which is Northern Vietnam, Hanoi specifically

Hopefully you will see that this show is done in water, that the puppeteer's are behind the scenes and that the puppets
themselves 'swim, leap and dance' in, through and under the water.
It was a very unique experience!
The following photos turned out as well as I expected them too...
The lighting was greens and reds mostly which made the pictures come out a little off. 

More things and places that we saw

Former Cruise Ship turned restaurant

On our way to the theater to watch a Water Puppet Show

Daily Life in Hanoi
Random sites from the cyclo tour

In 'competition' for the most things on a cart...

And the Winner is...