So 7pm came and went and we eagerly waited in our hotel room for the bus, eventually about 10.30pm we had a call to say the bus was half an hour away, so off we went. About 11.15pm the bus turned up and on we got, took a valium and hoped for sleep. Well the valium worked for about 3 hours, then i woke up to realise that the toilet had leaked everywhere and stunk, and the driver had entered some sort of late night rally race. Being on a top bunk this meant that evey corner he took at high speed i felt like i was going to fall out onto the floor. All in all it was a fun night i managed to doze again till about 5am, then everyone else started waking up and the tv went on. It was due to take about 12 hours and despite stopping every ten minutes to drop off a person or a package, we arrived in Haiphong at about 12.30pm. It was then into a cab to the harbour and onto a high speed ferry for the 45 minute crossing to Cat ba Island. Then after another bus from Cat Ba harbour to the centre of town we arrived at our hotel at about 3pm, totally knackered. Just time for a quick meal and a well earned coconut juice, not for me I hate the stuff!
One of the reasons for coming to Cat Ba was to a tour of Halong Bay but hopefully without the masses. So the following day we decided on a wander around town and attempting to book the trip. Now Cat Ba is a lovely island a lot of it is National Park but to be honest Cat Ba town is not that nice. It feels a bit seedy because of the massage parlours, and the seafood restaurants that are ridiculously overpriced and look like they are run by some sort of mafia operation. We soon came across the local market, and although we had been warned that in Northern Vietnam they eat a lot more out there stuff, it still came as a bit of a surprise. They had literally everything, and to my shock cage after cage of the gecko that was living in our hut in Phu Quoc, it was actually quite upsetting.
Later on they were bringing our baskets of dead snakes as well, that was just too much. We managed to find the booking agent that had been recommended to us, to book the Halong Bay tour with. After checking the prices we found that we could have a private tour for an extra $30, so we went for it, all booked up for a couple of days time.
As mentioned earlier the whole town is full of these seafood restaurants, with all sorts of weird and wonderful sea life on display in tanks outside the restaurants. Craig has been wanting a to try crab for the last week or so, so we thought this would be a good place what with everything being so fresh. OMG £20 for a crab, and not a big crab at that. Well that is just ridiculous and totally not in our budget, please correct me if I am wrong but I am fairly sure that you can get two dressed crabs from Marks for under £20, so that was a no. We had however been recommended a restaurant called My Way, and as it turned out it was lovely and we ate there every night we were in Cat Ba. They had the most amazing Norwegian Salmon in garlic butter, it was cheap and it tasted divine, happy days. I am really unsure as to how salmon from Norway was cheaper than a crab pulled out of the sea only 20ft away, but thats Vietnam for you.
The following day we hired a motorbike and took a ride out to the fishing harbour. The birds you see in the pictures are actually eagles, and there were loads of them circling the bay all day every day. When we asked what type of eagle they were, we were told fish eagles, i dont know if this is right, but they certainly did seem to like fish.
After the harbour we went for a ride around the island, i think around the outskirts of the National Park. Pretty epic scenery...
Oh yea when we pulled up on the side of the road to take some pictures, we were passed by the Vietnamese version of a rag & bone man.....
All around the island we saw some amazing butterflies, some very odd bugs and some pretty flowers
One of the last stops of the day was the Hospital Cave, now I know I said no more caves but this was a little different. And in fact about ten times scarier than a normal cave, but I am glad that I saw it. As the name suggests the cave was used as a hospital during the war, pretty eerie.
The following day we were supposed to be doing our Halong Bay tour, but they guy arrived on a bike and said that it was too windy for the boat and we would have to go the following day. So we hired a motorbike again and set off the National Park.
The first thing that we came across was this, the Garden of Eternal Happiness, little cheesy but sweet at the same time.
We had been told that there was a chance of seeing the rare Cat Ba Languar in the National Park, but yet again although we could hear them, we did not see them. We did however see a few little creatures, and some more butterflies.
And of course the scenery was stunning
After that bit of hard core trekking, for about 2 hours, we set off on the bike again. This time headed for the zoo, this zoo we were told were working with the National Park in their conservation efforts, so its got to be worth a look.
The zoo was a tiny family run thing, and we turned out to be more of an attraction than the animals. As soon as we arrived a group of Vietnamese ladies approached us and I had my picture taken with each one in turn, then a baby was thrust into Craig's arms for a picture.
The thing i love most about that picture is that baby looks so nonchalant, like this happens to him all the time, which it probably does. Anyway celebrity moment out of the way, there was quite a random selection of animals.
And one of the saddest monkeys I have ever seen. Although this was not nice, whilst Craig went a took pictures of the crocodiles, I sat and talked to the monkey and fed him some fruit off a tree he couldn't reach, and he did seem a little happier by the time we left.
Now i am not entirely sure what the point of the zoo is or how they work with the National Park, because no one really spoke English. I do know however that it was not a tourist trap because it was free, I felt like we should make a donation. So i gave them the equivalent of £6, and the guy just looked completely surprised, so it was all a little odd.
We got a lovely view of the valley on the drive home...
The following day we were all set for out trip to Halong Bay and we were picked up at 8am, and taken to the harbour. We then boarded our own little boat and headed off, definitely the way to travel.
For quite a way as we headed away from Cat Ba, there were loads of fishing villages. These are villages floating on blue barrels, and they raise the fish within the net enclosures in the sea. Some of these villages move around and some are stationary, when you want to move you just hook your boat on the front and off you go. It must be a pretty crazy life, living on the water like this. A lot of people have no need to go to the island as there are floating shops and the permanent villages have a school. For me one of the strangest things is the dogs that live on the floating houses, what must they think? Apparently they have them for security, and they do make a real racket when someone floats past them.
After we got past the villages and into the Halong Bay area it was beautiful, the scenery is so dramatic. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Ha Long Bay is a centre of a larger zone which includes Bái Tử Long bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà islands to the southwest. Ha Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2,
Our first stop was a cave, where apparently many parties are held. I am getting to be quite over caves, so we had a quick whizz round and came across a lovely looking hidden lake.
Then back on the boat to our next destination. We stopped off for lunch in a bay, with quite a few other boats which was not ideal, but lunch was lovely.
From our boat we then got into kayaks and had a little paddle, we didn't take the good camera, so I did a little video.
Now next on the agenda was supposed to be snorkelling and swimming at private beach. When i asked about this, our guide he said we were going to the beach all the groups go to, so hardly private. So me being me asked him to take us somewhere quiet, anyway as it turns out you cant actually pull up in a boat to most of these beaches. Normally this would not be a problem and I would happily swim, but the water was horrible and we had seen loads of big jellyfish. When I dangled my legs off the boat into the water I could not see my feet, that's never a good sign, it looked a bit like the water off Lowestoft. Suffice to say we would not have seen anything snorkelling and I was not willing to risk jellyfish stings to get to a tiny dirty beach. So at that point we decided that it was time to head for home. I think that we were both pretty happy with the trip all in all, we felt that we saw what we wanted to. But I have to say the way they sold it was that there were crystal blue waters perfect for snorkelling or swimming, and that is totally not true. The water is really murky and there is so much rubbish, a lot of which seems to come from the fishing villages. I think for a UNESCO National Heritage site, it is a shame that they are not taking better care of it.
Ok so just a little rant, whilst we have been in Cat Ba I have been communicating with DHL about a package that mum very kindly sent me. Well the package arrived safely in Vietnam but it could not be cleared through customs, I had an email from DHL in Vietnam to say it was being held as there is more then 1 million Dong (£30) worth of cosmetics, and what did i want to do. Well I said I want my package so what do i need to do to get it, they helpfully told me that there is a form to be filled in that would clear it, but you cannot fill it in as a foreigner. Really helpful, now this is really frustrating because not only was there cosmetics (body butter and hair conditioner), there was also my birthday present from mum, Tetley tea bags and Marks & Spencer's Cheese Tasters, along with some other bits like Migraleve and antihistamine tablets and cream. Anyway long story short I eventually rang DHL in the UK as i was getting nowhere with Vietnam, so it seems I cannot have my package and no they cannot just take out the items that take it over the threshold. But thankfully just yesterday I heard from Kevin in the UK and he has assured me the package is being returned to mum free of charge, and she will be refunded the £75 it cost her to send it to me. What a palava, and I'm really annoyed, I was really looking forward to getting that, but at least my birthday pressie will be waiting for me at home.
So all that done and dusted we are off to Hanoi tomorrow. Then from there we fly onto Sumatra, Indonesia in the next couple of days. So until Hanoi..............
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