From Hanoi we took a bus and hydrofoil to Cat Ba island in Ha Long Bay. Cat Ba is the largest island of nearly 2000 in the bay. Some are inhabited but many are merely rocky outcrops. It was a strategic lookout point and was bombed during the American war forcing residents to hide in some of the numerous caves dotted around the island. I visited a Hospital Cave on the edge of the National Park, and only 10 km from Cat Ba town. This is a 3 storey building within a massive cave which was used as a bomb-proof hospital in the American War until 1975. I also walked to Canon Fort on the southern tip of the island. Here you could see anti-aircraft cannons, ammunition stores, trenches, the helicopter landing pad and the lookout
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