April 25th, Thursday, and the flight to Hanoi was pretty easy. We got straight onto a bus and headed for Ha Long Day for a night. Was a long 4 hours in the bus, but we stopped at a crafts market on the way which is government sponsored to employ people who were, and are still affected by Agent Orange.

By

69 % if Vietnam was covered in natural jungle before the Viet war, now due to the introduction of Agent Orange, there is only 28 % coverage. People who live in those effected areas still experience mental and physical problems. Because the war was fought in the jungle areas, the Viet soldiers use the jungle as cover, the Agent Orange was designed to defoliate the forest so they could no longer hide, the effects have gone far beyond that. What I learned was there was also Agent Blue, white, and other spraying, each with a purpose like, killing off the rice and food supply.

Arriving Ha Long bay, I went to the market to buy some Ao Do, traditional dress, then got some sleep. I'm looking forward to visiting this area as I have seen a lot about it on National Geographic.