Oh come with me to the rolling sea, while the weather's calm and still...

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Breakfast was an early start this morning so that the junk could drop us and the other three day passengers at the harbour on Cat Ba island. Having moored up we had to leap from the roof of the first floor onto dry land. I went first and tried to shoo the ladies selling trays of goods out of the way so I could catch everyone else's bags. Once safely disembarked, we followed our tour guide to the bus and watched as a Taiwanese gentleman that had appeared in the night tried to fight to keep his bicycle with him. He was fully kitted up and obviously doing a tour as he had many different pannier bags strapped to the bike. Once aboard myself and some if the younger guys in the bus were asked to get off and help jumpstart it. It was hugely amusing and Aruna even took a photo for posterity! 

We arrived at the national park where I had been told we could cycle through and enjoy the scenery. The reality in fact was quite different as our tour guide announced we'd be trekking through and assured that it would be fine to do it in flip-flops. Confused but glad to be able to go off alone the group was given one-and-a-half hours to explore the national park. Aruna and I headed up the path trying to avoid the aggressive salespeople offering ice-cream, water and beer at 10am in the morning to the base of a huge hill. The paved steps up the start of the hill were steep and halfway up Aruna gave up and I agreed to meet her at the bottom when I got back.

The climb up the tall stairs was hard going and in the heat of the jungle forced me to take my shirt off as I reached the top. The stairs disappeared and turned into a dirt track peppered with stepping stones. I continued up the track until a came to a sign where the track split in two. One path to the summit was eight hundred metres and the other five hundred. Being conscious of time I opted for the shorter route not knowing what was ahead. I didn't have the best shows for trekking through rainforest and it was hard going. Sliding down muddy paths and clambering over huge jagged rocks I thought that it had been a good idea that Aruna had stayed behind as she'd have never made it over some of the obstacles that I encountered. The path soon disappeared and I was faced with a climb up and over an almost sheer rock face. I relished the challenge and kept in mind what my Dad had told me when I was little, always keep three points of contact.

After a long and arduous climb I realised that the short path must be the harder of the two and decided that on the way down I'd take the easy longer route. As I emerged into the daylight through the tree tops I could see the base of the high rocky outcrop. I climbed the ladders and at last reached the top, sweat pouring from my forehead. There was a wrought iron tower that towered over the peak of the hill. As people descended saying how lovely the view was, and how cooling the breeze at the top had been I thought I may as well go the extra mile. As I climbed the rickety rusted staircase I began to think of Mum and how there would have been no way I'd have got her to go this high up, especially if I was feeling a bit wobbly as I drew closer to the viewing tower. It shook in the winds but the panorama of the national park was spectacular and well worth the climb. We headed back down as a group and as we reached the entrance to the park saw that the Taiwanese gentleman that had been with us had taken a fall and split his lips open on a rock - apparently his cycling helmet had stopped it from being any worse.

We set off again towards Cat Ba city, our base until tomorrow. We had lunch at our hotel and were told we had free time for the rest of the day, with our evening meal being served at 6.30pm. As the sun had made a welcome return to the sky I wanted to find the beach and do nothing but lay on it for the rest of the day. Aruna had been feeling down and so I suggested that we rent scooters and go off to find the beach this way - a happy compromise. For a grand total of 100,000 Dong (£2.90) I had a scooter with a full tank of fuel for the next five hours. We headed off and found one of the three beaches on the island, Cat Co two. Apart from four other tourists it was completely deserted. I lay there for at least an hour soaking up the last rays of the afternoon sun before we set off to have a tootle around the island.

Seeing as there was only one road open across the island, and we had taken that to get to Cat Ba city, there wasn't a great deal of exploring to be done. I had spotted a sign for the cannon fort as we left the city so we went back to check it out. It was possibly the highest point on the island and used as a protective vantage point during the Vietnam war. As I wondered around I found the displays of old wartime memorabilia as well as the two huge cannons that protected the harbour. The weight of the shells and mortar rounds was incredible and I wondered how many they may have to lift and carry during a raid. It was eerily quiet as I looked out of the bunkers at the view from where the snippers would have been stationed. I could only imagine the noise that would have carried through the small tunnels during an attack.

After we sat and watched the sun go down over the islands we return the scooters and headed back to the hotel for dinner. I wanted to go for a wander, so left Aruna to chill out and do her own thing. As I left the hotel I was met by a girl selling pearls from a small stand on the corner. I had a look and she showed me pictures of where and how they were farmed and explained the difference between natural and farmed pearls. I was really impressed at how good her English was and how well she explained everything that I couldn't help but buy a few things to take home. It was all reasonably cheap and I managed to rob her of the better pieces in her collection. I returned to the hotel after a visit to the local bakery for a well earned rest and to pack for my return to the mainland tomorrow.

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