While the city was great, our plan was to spend the next week or so on an island in the famous Ha Long Bay. The best place to base ourselves was in a small tourist town on Cat Ba Island. It is a quaint place with only few roads and a pleasantly sheltered harbor. During the week this appears to be a sleepy fishing town with the locals going about their daily business. On the weekends, however, it fills up with mainland tourists hoping for some beach time with their families. Still, it was a nice place to stay taking it slow for a while. Between extremely high temperatures and a storm or two, laying low in our air-conditioned room was perfect for a while.
We didn't spend the entire time cooped up in our hotel. There are some interesting sites to see that are either a short hike or cab ride away. Within 20 minutes walk from the main street is a good viewpoint of the town and Ben Beo Harbor, where the tour boats launch from. At the top is an old cannon fort, left over from the Vietnam War. While there isn't much of the fort to see, hiking to the top at sunset was amazing.
Another remnant of the war is a cave that was converted into a shelter and hospital. The locals are quite proud of the structure as it was never discovered, and is quite an impressively built structure. It is three levels deep and comprised of many concrete rooms. It boasts all of the major amenities with water catchment systems, airflow, electricity, and even a training/cinema room. It was a short yet informative tour that actually has great views from the cave entrance.
Most of the island is a national park and nature preserve. A lot of it is inaccessible, but there is a nice hike to a mountain peak that has 360° views. It is two hours round trip and quite steep. The trail itself is mostly well maintained concrete and rocky steps with a sturdy handrail. Once you get to the top there is a two tiered viewing tower, or you can hike another few minutes to stand at an even more impressive spot.
The most popular attraction and perhaps the main reason why people come here is for a boat trip through the islands. We were no exception. We booked an overnight tour that included a day of kayaking. This was possibly one of my favorite things we've done on this trip. We started in the early morning with a lovely cruise from the harbor to a remote floating restaurant where we boarded our kayaks. We spent the rest of the day paddling the amazing calm water in awe, observing the many floating villages, passing through low rock arches into secluded lagoons, and past tiny Sandy beaches. The water was green and as warm as bathwater. The boat crew served up some of the best tour food I've eaten, and we had an enjoyable, relaxing experience. At night cushions were laid out on the deck where we slept under the stars. I was a little disappointed that we had to go back, as I could have spent several days on the water.
After a week and a half we decided to move inland a bit to Ninh Bình for a couple of river tours. Cat Ba was a lovely town that I hope to visit again someday. Soon we go back to the craziness that is the city of Hanoi and on to Hong Kong.
Hanoi, Vietnam
Hotels:
Holiday Diamond Hotel: $30/night
Restaurants:
Bun cha Huong Lien
Street food
Transportation:
Airplane to Hanoi
Bus to Hanoi: $5 ea
On foot
Activities:
Old Quarter: free
Hoan Kiem Lake: free
Thang Long Water Puppet Theater: 100,000 dong ea
Cat Ba, Vietnam
Hotels:
Cat Ba Hostel: $30/night
Cat Ba Central Hotel 2: $20/night
Restaurants:
Street food
Family Bakery
Phuong Nhung Restaurant
Transportation:
Bus to Haiphong, Boat to Cat Ba Island, Bus to Cat Ba town: $17 ea
Taxi to cave
Taxi to park: 360,000 dong to and from
On foot
Activities:
Boat Tour Ha Long Bay with Outdoor Asia: overnight and kayak
Cannon Fort: 80,000 dong
Hospital Cave: 165,000 dong ea
Beaches 1, 2, & 3: free
National Park: 40,000 dong ea
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