Advertisement
Cat Ba Island - view across the bay
Note the Great Orme and illuminations...Cat Ba Island (a la Llandudno) We jumped ship in Cat Ba and found ourselves swamped by motorbike taxi drivers. We told them that we didn't need a bike and that we were going into Cat Ba town by tour bus. They obviously didn't understand because when the guide from the boat eventually turned up as promised with the bus he was threatened by the motorbike taxi blokes that they would beat him up if we went on his bus as we had asked them to take us by bike (30km on a bike with backpacks ...as if!!!) ......that's it from now on we don't talk to anyone!!!
We checked into the Hotel that the tour guide had organised for us and even managed to barter the room rate down from $6 to $5. The room was ok, clean and comfy with a decent size bathroom and an excellent view overlooking the bay. After a quick shower we headed into town for some lunch and a wander around then decided to see what the beach was like. There are three beaches in the area called - Cat Co 1, Cat Co 2 and Cat Co 3....very original we thought. Cat Co 1 was quite nice
Auditions for Hawaii five-o
If you hear the theme from Titanic paddle faster!!! but has been spoilt a bit with a brand new 5* resort encroaching on the cliff side overlooking the bay. We took the short walk around the headland on the board walk to Cat Co 2 which was much quieter and more sheltered. We spent a couple of hours swimming and chilling out in hamocks before setting off back to town for dinner.
Cat Ba Town comes alive at night...well the street illuminations do any way. It's really like a mini version of Llandudno, it's got high rise hotels along the front, a bay with loads of boats coming and going and it's even got a mini Orme!!! Oh, almost forgot the all singing, all dancing water fountain....not to be missed!
Day 2 in Cat Ba - decided it would be good fun to do a bit of Sea Kayaking on Lan Ha Bay so we booked a trip through the hotel which included transfer to the boat by motorbike, 1 hours kayaking and return transfer, $6 each - bargain!! We were in a group of 8 (nice and small), we didn't think much of the induction - "here's your kayak, here's your paddle, be back in 1
Auditions for Hawaii five-o (part 2)
Paddling and whistling at the same time....not bad for an old timer!! hour" Fortunately Barry has done Kayaking before so he knew what to do, I just did as I was told and managed to put in my fair share of paddling in our 2 man vessel (even though Barry kept telling me off for my strong left arm - we were kind of going in a circle I suppose!!!). The scenery was gorgeous and it was very peaceful out in the Bay with only the sounds of the paddles (or as I kept calling it "my stick") to be heard as they cut through the water......heaven!!! We even managed to explore a cave... bit like potholing in 100 degrees celcius using a bathtub, but after the hour I'd had enough. My arms felt like they'd been pumped with lead and we both had aching knees and thighs, needless to say we went straight back to the Hotel for 40 winks before spending our last night out on the town in Cat Ba.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.198s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 18; qc: 70; dbt: 0.1595s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
lifesabeach
B&B
Like Mother like Daughter
I think it's best to leave the strenuous stuff to the men anyway, I just like looking at the views and pretending I'm rowing, Barry needs the exercise more than I do!! Love to everyone, see you all soon xxxxx