Vietnam Trip Day 4: Halong - Cat Ba Island

0715 Hrs:

Same as yesterday. Woken up by the noisy chicken calling at the neighbour's house next door.

Sigh ..... damn that chicken.



0900 Hrs:

Had a simple breakfast at the living room. A cake with peanut on the inside and rice on the outside.

Not sure of the name. But it sure was very filling.

Anh Vinh, the younger son, knew that I would be visiting Cat Ba Island today so he recommended that I get his friend to be my tour guide. Initially I thought of going there by myself but since there is a guide available, I agreed to his proposal. He also told me that as today is May Day, so the prices of things generally went up.

Anh Vinh got his friend to come over. He works at another hotel 2 blocks away owned by his uncle. He told me his sister has a hotel in Cat Ba Island and he could be my guide to Cat Ba Island while visiting his sister at the same time.

At first, I thought visiting Cat Ba Island was like visiting Halong Bay where you could go there and return in one day. However, they told me I was wrong. Visiting Cat Ba Island would need at least one day overnight in Cat Ba. The boat only leaves at 1200 Hrs each day. By the time I got to Cat Ba, it would already be very late. This meant I would only come back to Bai Chay tomorrow afternoon. I was surprised at this as this would meant my plans for tomorrow would go haywire. I had planned to embarked on my trip back to Hanoi tomorrow. However, it seems I may need to change it.

Next, the price that I was charged for this trip was also high. 30,000 VND for the entrance fee. 200,000 VND for the boat for only one trip, which means I need to pay 400,000 VND for two trips. Lastly, the hotel room costs 500,000 VND. All in all, I need to pay 930,000 VND or around USD$ 58. This was much higher than what I had prepared. However, I was thinking since I am already here, I would just spend the money and go for it. If not, I would need to spend time, effort and money to come over to Halong again in the future.

After some consideration, I agreed to go for the trip.

As the boat only leaves at 1200 Hrs, there was still time left. I just went back to my room and prepared for an over-night trip to Cat Ba Island.

1105 Hrs:

The friend is called Vi The Hoi and he is able to speak both English and Chinese. Good.

He asked me to meet him outside the guesthouse at 1120 Hrs. Need to grab a very quick lunch.

Went down to the restaurant down the slope to have lunch. Ordered egg fried rice. Very tasty I would say.

Egg fried rice. Very good tasting.

1130 Hrs:

Set off for the jetty. Before that, I got two bottles of water for myself. I knew the drinks would be expensive over at Cat Ba and also on the boat that we are riding in. The drinks were bought at 10,000 VND.

The cab fare to the vessel cost 17,000 VND.

We reached the jetty in a short time. The Hoi went to find his friend and he told us to wait outside the ticket office. There were lots of tourists around as today was May Day. The whole place was just so crowded. Not only tourists, there were also lots of locals around too.

1215 Hrs:

Still waiting to board the boat

The person in charge of the boat was busying making arrangement. There were people who were staying for one night, two nights as well as three nights. He was trying to sort them out and to collect their passports.

1220 Hrs:

Finally boarding the boat.

It did not set off immediately after the passengers were on board. We were still waiting. For what, not sure.

This is how the interior of the boat looks like. There were tables and utensils set up for the passengers to have lunch.

This was a boat that moored on our port side. The lower deck has several rooms that allows passengers to stay overnight on the boat. The upper deck was for dining. The upper most deck was meant for passengers to sun tan. Our boat was similar to it.

1320 Hrs:

Still waiting for the boat to set off.

The other passengers had paid to have lunch on board the boat in their package tour. They have already started having lunch. The Hoi and I just sat at a corner and waited patiently for the boat to leave. Certainly wasted a lot of time.

A nothing-better-to-do shot of myself. Window lighting. Wah ...

The other passengers having their lunch.

1345 Hrs:

The boat finally setting off. Finally ...

Jetty.

Jetty.

The person in red is my guide, Vi The Hoi.

The trip includes a visit to Hang Tien Go which I had went yesterday.



The dragon head again.



One of the openings of the cave.

This limestone structure resembles a head of an animal at the top. Hmmm .... I forgot what's the animal. Think it looks like a dog.

One of the many penguin dustbins that were located at the place.

The exit opening. We had to climb up a narrow flight of stairs carved out in the rocks.

The long "snake" of humans lining to go through the exit.

There was lesser people compared to yesterday. As I was already here yesterday, I did not spend too much time in the cave. We made it back to the boat and soon after the boat began its way to Cat Ba Island.

The jetty below the Hang Tien Go.

They also have banners to tell people to preserve the place.

The UNESCO sign on the steep slope.

En route, we stopped near one of the islands. There was a small boat (can take around 10 - 15 people) that offers a short ride along the small water channel into the island. It cost 30,000 VND per person. I wanted to stay on the boat so did not take up the offer.

We also stopped at one of the fisherman's floating house. This time I did not go down to have a look.

There were other tourists on board. From locals from Hanoi, to Korea, to Germany, to France etc. It was a long journey so we began chatting with each other to make friends.

This is Shin JaeHwan from Korea. He just graduated in September 2006, majoring in public administration. He began touring around after his graduation up till now. WOW!

This is Jeeeun Kim, also from Uijeongbu-si (she said its near Seoul), Korea, but she was not travelling with JaeHwan. She told me she was working as a systems administrator in a nuclear power plant (WAH!) in the past. She quited her job last September and and started touring around. She said told me her next stop would be Laos.

So envious of them able to tour for so long.

When they asked me what do I know about Korea, I could not answer them as I do not know much about Korea. I said what I know about their country is Korean dramas, like 大长今, they immediately went "OOOOhhhhh!!!!"

Hahahahaha .....

1630 Hrs:

Still en route to Cat Ba Island.

There was a commotion between two girls and the person in charge on the boat. Apparently, the girls had paid to stay overnight on the boat but the person in charge insisted that they had not. He told them that they would stay in the hotel tonight. However, the girls did not book any hotels.

From my own understanding, it seems that they girls had paid for the trip at the hotel that they were staying in Halong. Through some sort of middlemen. Along the way there was some miscommunication and the boat did not have records of them staying overnight. The person in charge even showed the girls their receipt which did not indicate that they would stay on board.

After a long argument, the person in charge finally let out a room for the two girls.

1745 Hrs:

We had reached the jetty. I think its the Ben Beo Jetty.

Those who opted to stay on board remained while the others got down. There was a small van waiting at the end of the jetty to bring us to the town.

Getting down to the jetty.

We had to walk to the other end to board the van.

From here you can see that the jetty is located in a remote area.

The boats were at the other end. This family was from Hanoi and came to Cat Ba Island for holiday during this holiday season.

This is Vuong Hoang Son (王云山), a Chinese Vietnamese. His grandfather came from Guangdong, China to settle down in Vietnam. He is currently living in HCM. He majors in economical laws and will be having his final exams in the university one month later. He even mentioned that he is planning to go to Germany to take Masters to further his studies.

When he heard that I came to Vietnam alone to tour, he said I was very bold. Ha ....

The person in the center, who is a friend of Hoang Son, is Steffen from Berlin, Germany. He is a freelance author and is currently working in a bookshop selling old books. Both of them had came to Hanoi to tour and Cat Ba Island is one of their destinations. There was another Vietnamese from Hanoi with them. On the left is JaeHwan.

We boarded the van and made off for Cat Ba town. It was quite packed. The whole journey took around 15-20 minutes and was a bit bumpy.

A bumpy ride.

It was very packed in the van.

1815 Hrs:

Reached my hotel. Sea Dragon Hotel which is owned by The Hoi's elder sister. It is not situated at the shoreline but further up a small slope.

Sea Dragon Hotel.

My room.

The view from the balcony at the corridor.

Cat Ba is a very quiet and slow moving town. We could see mostly hotels and restaurants. Located by the seaside, it naturally is a fishing village. Seafood can be easily found.

By the time I left the hotel to go out for a walk, it was already dark. I went out alone without The Hoi accompanying me. Some of the other passengers on the boat was staying at this Giang Son Hotel. They had signed up for this Cat Ba Island tour in the hotel they were staying in Hanoi. They were gathering at the entrance of the hotel for dinner which was included in the package.

A peddler on the road outside the hotel.

Cat Ba town shore line at night.

This is another one of the passengers, Ute from Berlin, Germany. She was a pharmacist and quited her job to go for touring. She had already been touring for four months and had been to Burma, Thailand, Cambodia. She would be going to next to Laos, followed by Thailand again with her boyfriend.

So envious of them able to tour the world for so long.

Starfishes. Do not ask me that are they used for. Most probably they will end up on the dining table, I think.

Some sort of lizards.

Internet cafe.

This road leads to Haiphong.

One of the small drink stalls at the side of the road.

I walked around but could not find a nice place to have dinner. In the end, I went to join the people at Giang Son Hotel. I ordered a bowl of pho which costs 12,000 VND.

The Hoi had initially suggested that I have seafood at the hotel's restaurant. However, it would cost me 150,000 VND. Ha .... Although it was considered very cheap compared to the price back home, I do not wish to spend so much on a meal.

After dinner, went to walk around some more. The traffic in Cat Ba is definitely very much lesser than what you see in Ha Noi. You could cross the road without keeping turning your head around to look out for motorcycles.

There was a night market along the road next to the shore.

2045 Hrs:

Bought two pieces of bread back for tomorrow's breakfast and went back to the hotel. Discussed with The Hoi that we would meet up to take the 0700 Hrs boat back to Halong in the morning.

We could have taken the original boat that we took in the afternoon to go back to Halong. However, The Hor said it would only depart at 1100 Hrs and by the time we arrive at Halong it would already be 1500 Hrs. He needs to be back by 1300 Hrs to meet his friend on the net for some matter. He also added that it could be dangerous to take the original ride to Ben Beo jetty as the road is very winding.

Not that I mind the winding road, I did not mind taking a different route back as there would be different things to see. So we agreed to meet at the hotel lobby at 0745 Hrs. The jetty at the town was just at the shore side.

1147 Hrs:

Finished watching House of Wax. There was also Gambling God (赌神) on another channel.

Its time to sleep.