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Published: April 27th 2009
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21st April 2009
We were up early and went looking for some breakfast, easier said than done in Halong City. It took us a good forty minutes walking around and asking in every café for coffee with no success until we stumbled on one empty place who did serve us. We finally manage to get an omelette from a street stall near the hotel. We were amazed that a tourist city based at one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam has next to no resturaunt catering for the western tourist.
We were collected by a taxi at 12:00 noon and taken to the quay where we were to depart on our five hour cruise around the famous Halong Bay islands. This is where it started to go wrong. We handed over our tickets and tried to confirm the details of what we had paid for, a 5hr cruise stopping at the Thien Cung Cave, then to an island beach for swimming and then onto the Cat Ba island port on the south east side of the island. The guy who ushered us onto the ship told us that we’d get the cruise and other stuff but we
wouldn’t be dropped at the Cat Ba Island southern port. We clenched our teeth and suggested politely that we’d hope that the transport to Cat Ba Bay would be included, the guy reluctantly agreed to sort it out for us.
We sat on the ship for an hour while the other guests had their complimentary meal, why we were sat in the bay we couldn’t understand, we should have set sail but no we sat in the bay instead. Finally we head out towards one of the largest island with the Thien Cung Cave. It took about half an hour to get there, all the cruise ships were heading there and the bay was lined with tourist ships. The island was flanked with step cliffs with Black Kites circling the peaks; it was nice to see wildlife after so long.
The cave itself was discovered last decade when a sailor chased a monkey into a hole that opened out into a large cavern. The cave itself was quite impressive but Pili and I have been spoilt by the massive cave system in Pili’s home town on Nerja, Spain. This cave you’d fit into the corner of the Nerja
cave and you’d never notice it. Saying that the guides were very informative and the lighting showed the showed at its best.
After spending an hour looking around we were ushered back onto the ship. The next hour was spent sailing in and out of the steep sided islands. I spent a lot of the time looking for any kind of life moving around the forested slopes. I expected a lot of birds as only one out of over a thousand islands have people on it. I saw a few Kites and a reef heron but that was it. I’d expected a sea bird colony at least, but nothing. It was extremely beautiful and scenic and I’m really pleased we did it, the cruise was very relaxing and the weather was perfect. We were looking forward to the island and beach visit to have a chance to cool off in the waters, but then we saw Cat Ba Island come into view and we were heading for it. Our hearts sank, we’d been afloat for just over an hour and nowhere near the five hours we’d paid for. This was getting beyond a joke, Pili went below to complain
leaving me on deck as she was scared I was really about to blow my top. Of course nobody cared or even sympathized with our grievances. When we pulled into port we were told to shut up and stop complaining, what could we do, again we were at the mercy of these unscrupulous people stranded on this island. The guide begrudgingly agreed to pay for our bus to the south of the island as if he was doing us a favour; WE’D ALREADY PAID FOR A TAXI!!!!!!
AAAAAAAARRRHHHHHHHHHH we wait for another hour in the sun for our bus, they weren’t going to leave unless the bus was full. We also met a Spanish couple (Ana & Juan) who had also been ripped off and they were refusing to pay again for the transfer bus, they eventually hired a motorbike ride with luggage and all. This whole country should be shut down until they start to treat its visitors with a little more respect. If someone had told me about this without experiencing it I’d have found it really hard to believe, trust me its all true!
We finally get our ride and within half an hour driving
through the mountainous island we arrive at Cat Ba Harbour. The sun was going down over the bay that was filled with boats and a floating fishing village, it was very beautiful.
With a bit a faffing around we finally secured a room at the Huong Cang Hotel. The hotels décor was straight out of the 80's. Lots of lace and false silk furnishings, big erotic prints and mirrors. We were on the 5th floor and were nearly dead by the time we’d humped our bags up the badly lit stairs.
Later in the evening we met up with the Spanish couple who had the disagreement with the bus earlier. We were very pleased to see them so we found a bar and chatted the night away. Hopefully tomorrow we can relax on a beach.
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