Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island
A few hours north of Ha Noi is Halong Bay, limestone karst islands sticking out of the south China Seas.
The way to do it is spend a couple of days on a junk style boat, sailing amongst the islands, visit some caves, a bit of swimming, kayaking, and lots of seafood. In between spend a day on Cat Ba Island, climb a hill in the heat of the day, and then kick back on a nice beach at the end of the day, before yet more seafood.
It sounds idyllic, and with the perfect blue skies and hot weather it was. Kind of. There were twelve of us on the boat, including a 59 year old Japanese man who was backpacking around south east Asia! It’s a shame that the crew on boad appeared to hate tourists of any sort! Some might describe them as surly. Though miserable and downright rude would have been a better description! They even took away the steps back onto the boat when someone swam out to buy drinks from the floating shops, because they were much cheaper than on board. We had to laugh when they grounded the boat and we had to get towed off by another junk.
Still we had a good time. Great views, sunsets and sunrises. We visited a few caves, though they were so brightly lit, they became dubbed “The Vegas Caves”. The trek on the island was good, though hard in the heat, and the constant dodging of huge spiders and their webs kept us on our toes.
Then after all that peace and quiet, back to Hanoi before heading off to Sa Pa overnight.
Tags: Travel
Nick