Islands on a Bank Note!

I've been to Halong Bay, in the north of Vietnam.  Halong Bay has hundreds and hundreds of tiny islands made of limestone (the same type of rock that you find outside Granny Kath's house).  

It's so impressive that it's called a 'World Heritage Sight', which means it needs to be protected so people can enjoy visiting it in the future.  There are some World Heritage Sights in the UK too - I wonder if Adam, Robin and Grace can name any?

The islands in this picture are so beautiful that they are even shown on the bank notes in Vietnam!  

The money in Vietnam is called Dong (instead of Pounds) and these islands are on the 200,000 Dong note.  (I'm sure Adam knows how to say the number 200,000 in words.)  This sounds like a lot of money but it's only just over £6.  If you want to get £50 out of the bank, you need over a million Dong!  I wonder how many Dong Adam, Robin and Grace would get for a week's pocket money?!

Unfortunately it was a bit of a gloomy day when I went to Halong Bay so my pictures aren't all that good.  It was very pretty though.  I went on a boat trip around the islands to get a good view.  I even spent a day sea kayaking there!  Then Uncle Guy and Auntie Susan went rock climbing on some of the cliffs but it's hard to go rock climbing if you're a stuffed traveller, as my legs are quite short, so I just watched!  (I think Robin, Grace and Adam would have been good at climbing the cliffs though.)

When I was on the boat trip, we stopped to look at some caves.

There were lots of stalactites and stalagmites in the caves.  I reckon Robin, Adam and Grace probably know the difference between a stalactite and a stalagmite as they're very smart.  (Just in case they've forgotten, here's a clue: if you're a stalactite then you need to hold on tight!)

The caves were enormous.  There was a stone pathway and we walked along it to get from one end of the caves to the other.  Then we climbed down lots of steps to get back to our boat.

There were lots of different coloured lights in the caves to try and make them fun for visitors.  I think it might have been interesting if they had been dark and scary though!

I wonder how many caves Grace, Robin and Adam have been to?  I think they might have been to Stump Cross Caverns in Yorkshire.  I wonder if they've been to any others?