Halong Bay (including Cat Ba Island), Vietnam

3rd June – 5th June 2018

After leaving Sapa, on our sleeper bus, we had a lengthy six hour drive back to Hanoi. We had a short break about half way in, where we were hit by the humidity again – something we hadn’t missed whilst in the cool air of Sapa! We arrived back in Hanoi at about 10.00, where we were sent to a minibus to take us back to our hostel.

For once, we were first drop off, which was a nice change, meaning we could check in and organise ourselves for the next day. Each time we checked in, we were given a welcome drink but never claimed it; this time we decided to. We dropped our bags upstairs and went to the bar on the sixth floor to have our drink and donut that we bought in Sapa. The staff in the bar were so rude and uninterested but the drink was nice and meant we could discuss our options without whispering in the room.

Once we were refreshed and sorted, we went down to the room, where we set up our beds. The dorm was huge, with eighteen beds in it! We were on the top bunks of two beds right next to each other. It was fine for us, but I can imagine that it would be strange for two strangers.

The next morning, we were up with the alarm at 6.30, ready for our next Vietnam adventure. We got up and dressed and went up to the seventh floor for breakfast. Once we had eaten, we got our things together and went down to check out, again.

After checking out, we put our big bags in storage and waited in the reception area for our tour guide to arrive. We were collected at about 7.45 and walked to the bus, where we got on and drove through the Old Quarter, picking up a few more people. Once we got on our way, the journey was a little over two hours, with a break in the middle, to get to the port.

When we arrived, we were dropped off about 300m from the water’s edge, so had to collect our things and walk. It was really busy down at the port with lots of cars and buses waiting to get on the ferries. Apparently this time of year is really popular with domestic tourists, as it is summer holidays, even though it is low season for international tourists.

After waiting a little while, we all squashed onto the ferry for a short, but slow twenty minute journey over to Cat Ba island. Once we arrived at the island, we had to load into another van, for a trip to a different port on Cat Ba. After that journey, we all squashed into a mini speed boat to our other boat for the actual trip to begin. Cat Ba island means woman island, as the women and children are left on the island for most of the time, while the men go out fishing.

After traveling all morning, we finally made it to our boat at around 1pm. The boat that we were on was much nicer than I anticipated, which was a good surprise for us. We got onto the boat and had a quick debrief from Toby, our guide, before it was finally time for lunch!

Lunch was a great spread: we had a variety of western and local foods and all were very tasty, but I didn’t try the squid. We filled up, while the boat was on the move, to our first proper destination of the day. Once we had eaten we had time to chill out on the sun beds on the top deck. We decided to sit on the beds which were half in the sun and half in the shade, because it was another hot day. In Halong Bay, there are 1669 islands, with only half of them having names. The ones that are named, have names, based on what they look like.

When the boat stopped, we were at the kayaking spot for the day, in Lanha Bay. Before we got the boat, we were advised to take all of our valuables, this was weird and didn’t say much about the crew, but we did as we were told! We got off the boat and walked along the platforms to the kayaks. We were in double kayaks: I sat at the front to get the photos and Joe sat at the back. We set off around the bay, taking in the beautiful scenery around us. We went under caves and into hidden lagoons.

In the lagoon, we saw lots of weird looking jellyfish. I had never seen spotty jellyfish before and they were definitely interesting looking, but they were also poisonous, so were a little creepy looking too. Apparently we could play with them with our paddles but not our hands, which we found quite funny. Toby showed us what they looked like when they are dying and knocked one of their tentacles (legs as he called them) off!

After spending some time in the lagoon, we kayaked back to the boat. It was a little disappointing to see how dirty it was in the water and how much litter there was. I don’t think the people in South East Asia understand about littering and pollution because it’s something we have seen a lot, and they don’t seem to care.

Once we were back on the boat, we carried on through the bay, to emerald waters. Along the way, we drove through fishing villages, which have been there for over one hundred years! I couldn’t believe it when Toby said that, as they just looked like rickety shacks, balanced on bits of wood. Apparently, the people living in the village love living there, and would never consider going back to the main island as it’s their life and livelihood living in the bay.

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When we arrived at the emerald waters, we were able to jump off the boat into the waters and chill out. Although I was a bit reluctant at first, as I had seen how dirty the sea was, I eventually jumped in. We chilled in the water for a little bit, before getting back on the boat and carrying on.

The next part of the journey was taking us back to Cat Ba island, where we had to get another van to a different port on the island. It seemed to be a trip filled with travelling on different forms of transport. We arrived in the centre of the Cat Ba township, where we then had to wait. We waited for about forty-five minutes for the next boat to arrive to pick us up. Apparently we had just missed the boat, which was annoying, as it was a long wait.

It finally arrived, and took us to Cat Ong Island, where we were spending the night. It was apparently a speed boat to the island, but it was the slowest speed boat I have ever been on. We arrived at the island after about twenty minutes and it was much more beautiful than it was made out to be. It is a private island, with only one little resort on the front, which was where we were staying.

Once we got off the boat, we were greeted with a welcome drink, which we enjoyed on the second floor, looking out over the sea. After our drink, we were shown up to the dorm room, where we could shower and get ready for dinner. The dorm was another one with bunk beds placed right next to each other, which was again, fine for us, but others in our group didn’t seem too happy about this.

Dinner was served at 7.30, and it was another good spread. We had plenty to keep us going and even got a welcome cocktail, although it was a little questionable. We ate dinner and then had a debrief about the next day, telling us the options that we had. We had paid extra to go to Cat Ba National Park, so could either do a trek up to the top or go on a boat ride through a cave. Although they said we had the option, we didn’t really in the end, as we had to do the same thing as the others who had paid extra, as there was only one guide.

After dinner, we went downstairs to the bar area where we chilled out. Joe got a beer but there wasn’t really anything that I fancied, so I stuck with water. The guides got us up and played a game with us for a free drink. We all joined in and had to play a rotated mini beer pong game, with only one cup. Those that got it in, got to go to round two. I managed to get it in the cup and won a free shot, which was disgusting, but I didn’t do too well with round two, where we had to knock a cup off with a ping pong ball and bat.

After having a chilled evening, chatting, playing ping pong and pool, we ended up being one of the last to go to bed. There was a bonfire set up for us, and I felt bad that most people had already gone to bed, so we sat there for five minutes before going up.

When we got to the dorm, most people were already in bed, or asleep, but the Vietnamese group at the end of the dorm were not bothered about this. They had their conversations with each other, talking across beds, across the room, with no consideration of others, it was strange!

As the schedule was a little vague, we weren’t sure what time to get up the next day. I woke up first and we ended up getting up just before 8, as breakfast ended at 8.30. There were lots of good options for breakfast which was nice.

It was raining, which was a shame, so it was a slow morning on the island. We were meant to set off at 9.30 for our boat trip to the cave, but that ended up being delayed until 10, which meant we just chilled out for a few hours. I was glad we booked to do the extra trip to the national park, otherwise it would have been a long and slow morning on the island, like the rest of the group had.

As the tide was low, we couldn’t get straight onto the boat to go to Cat Ba, so had to take another smaller boat, to the bigger boat, to go to Cat Ba – it was just more transport to add to the list! As the first boat was tiny, there was only room for some of us, so poor Joe got left behind in the rain, while we got our lift to the bigger boat. They went back for him straight away tough, so it was only a short wait.

By the time we reached Cat Ba, the van was waiting for us, ready to go to the cave. It was a twenty minute drive down the narrow, windy roads, until we arrived.

When we got to the caves, we got out and the guide (who was different from the first day) paid our entry. We had paid extra to do this part of the tour, but it was $10 extra and we thought we were getting a hike out of it, so I was a little disappointed to end up at the cave, as it wasn’t worth the money.

Once we were in, we walked up some steps to the entrance of the cave, taking some photos along the way. It was a short walk through the cave, which was pretty, but it wasn’t anything that I hadn’t seen before, so made me wish we could have done the hike, even more. We took photos along the way, but felt a little rushed to get to the end, by the guide.

After completing the cave walk, we got back into the van, and went for lunch. For lunch, we went to a local restaurant, where there was a spread put on for us. There was only me and Joe from the original group, as well as four Americans who were on a different tour, but we had joined up with them. We all sat together, while the guide took herself off for lunch, sitting on her own, playing on her phone – she wasn’t as good as Toby.

We finished lunch within half an hour, but still had another hour to wait for the van to come back for us. We didn’t know that it would be an hour though, we were just left at the table with no guidance, so it was kind of frustrating. When it eventually arrived, it had been to collect the rest of the group, who had been sat on the island all morning – they didn’t seem too happy about that.

Once we had been collected, we drove to the port to get the ferry. It was busy again at the port, with lots of cars and coaches queuing to get on, so we had to get out and walk again. It took us about ten minutes to get to the ticket office, where the guide bought our tickets before we could go through and wait for the ferry.

When the ferry arrived, we all piled on again, getting squashed in the process. We had the short ferry ride across to the mainland, where we got into yet another van, to go back to Hanoi.

After two and a half hours, and a stop in between, we arrive back to Hanoi at around 5pm. We got taken back to our hostel, where we didn’t stop, as we didn’t have time. We went straight back out again to get some food for dinner, and some snacks for the bus, as we were being collected at 5.30 to move on to our next destination.

Finally, back at the hostel, we gathered our bags and had a quick change, before the transfer arrived. We had to walk around the back streets, picking up more people, before we were shown to a rickety, old bus. It was fine at first, as there were only four of us, but as we drove around the streets picking more and more people up it got very hot and crowded in the van and I got told off for putting the fans on! The van got that full in the end, that the man doing the running into the different hotels, couldn’t fit in with us, so we left him behind.

When we got to the office, there was one bus about to leave. It wasn’t going where we wanted, so we had to wait a little longer, but that was fine, as it meant that when our bus did arrive, we got the first choice of seats. We got onto the bus and chose two ‘beds’ next to each other, but near the back (not too close to the toilet), and settled down ready for a long journey, after saying goodbye to Hanoi for the final time.

Halong Bay was a very beautiful place, although the tour wasn’t what I expected: there was a lot more waiting around and catching various forms of transport. The kayaking and swimming were good, but seem like the only highlight, and the only activities we had the chance to do, which was a shame. It was disappointing to miss out on the trek as that’s what we had signed up for, but we couldn’t change that. It’s now time to travel half way down the country to our next stop, Da Nang.

To travel is to live, Katie x