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Published: December 4th 2005
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Travel in style
We grabbed these bike cabs to take us to the train station We decided to pass on the much used tour package to Cat Ba Island and chose instead to do it ourselves. In the morning, we jumped on cyclos (bike cabs) for the ride to train station. It was a bit unearvy being in traffic on highways with trucks and cars while sitting on a chair being pushed by a bicycle.
We caught the local train for 2.5 hours to HaiPhong during which I spent an hour practicing my Vietnamese with a young man who also wanted to practice his English.
Upon arriving in HaiPhong, we were attacked by motorscooter taxi drivers who all wanted our business. We accepted rides from two women drivers who zipped us across town to the ferry landing. We then boarded the slow boat down the river into Ha Long Bay and then out to Cat Ba Island (3 hours in total).
First impression as we entered the harbor of Cat Ba was that it was much more developed than we expected (think a smaller Cancun) with nice buildings/hotels and restaurants. We took the first taut who approached us and selected a room with a harbor view for $5 per night (got him down
Travel in danger
We grabbed a scooter ride from the train station in Haiphong to the ferry which would take us to Cat Ba Island. from $6). As we walked the main street in town, we bumped into a girl (Tania) who had joined us during our excursion in Phonsovan, Laos. Small world out here.
We spent the evening eating, drinking and playing pool at an Aussie run establishment called the Noble House. Lots of other travelers were there so we could swap stories.
The next day we rented a motor scooter to explore the island. The majority of the island is a national park but as the weather was not so great, we passed on hiking and instead drove around and stopped at local villages to meet the people. The kids loved us as usual. We met a large group of kids on a beach where the girls all circled Tamar while the boys kept trying to steal my sunglasses and play-fight with me. That night we ate a fantastic local fish dish and then retreated to the Noble House for pool and drinks.
The next day we had booked a boat tour of Ha Long bay on a Junk boat. The weather was on our side as the sun shined brightly making the cruise fun. There were 10 people on
SS Minnow
We decide to sit outside to enjoy the fresh air for the 3 hour slow ride to Cat Ba Island. the boat including two Swedish girls who are bicycling around Vietnam. The day included visits to a few caves, a swim, lunch on the boat and a visit to Monkey Island (were they have some mean ass monkeys who stole my bread).
The next day, as the sun was out, we spent some time at the beach (it is the off season so not many people were there) and swimming. A quick funny story (at least I think so..)...at breakfast, we both ordered some Musleix (spelling?) with fresh fruit and yoghurt (which was not officially on the menu but after explaining what we wanted, the young Vietnamese girl smiled "ok"). Then a manager type man came over and asked us what we wanted and we once again explained our culinary desire. A few minutes past.
Then, as the young girl reappeared, she first put infront of me a nice bowl of cereal with fresh fruit and creamy white yoghurt on top. But the in front of Tamar she put a plate of fresh fruit with a large frozen white ball in the middle. We both looked at mine, then her's, then mine again and then her's. Quizzically we
Cat Ba Island
When we arrived in the late afternoon into the bay, it was overcast and chilly. both turned to the girl and asked "what is this". She replied "same, same" as she pointed to our two dishes. I replied "same, same...but different?" which is a famous saying from India as it is what all the sales people say when trying to sell travelers and tourists something. Tamar took a little taste of the frozen white mass and it was ice cream. She then asked the girl if she could have what was in front of me. The girl smiled, nodded and then took Tamar's food away. Less than a minute later, she returned with the same plate, but this time they had melted the ice cream over the fruit. Same, Same...but different. Not sure if this story translates so well over the net but we laughed about it for half the day.
We were both ready to leave this Island and get back to Hanoi for some exploring of the city and it's many treasures. So the next day we boarded another junk boat for a ride to Halong City and then caught a bus back to Hanoi.
My overall thoughts of Cat Ba are that it is a tourist trap and not much
Costa Del Cat Ba
The island is more developed than we thought with modern hotels and restaurants. It is the off season so there is not much traffic on the streets as you can see. of a place for travelers. I did enjoy the boat trips through Halong Bay with its numerous limestone formations and caves.
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