Blogs from Cat Ba Island, Hai Phong, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 2

Na een dagje bijkomen in Saigon zijn we verder gereisd naar Cat Bai Island met het doel de Halong Bay te bezoeken. Geboekt met Jet Star airlines. Een budget maatschappij waar Ryan air nog wat van kan leren. De vliegtuigen lijken iig afdankertjes van Ryan; oude 737's waarvan de leren bekleding uitgedroogd en versleten is en die er van buiten niet al te best onderhouden uitzien. Voor het opstijgen vragen we ons af af het wel zo een goed plan was aangezien het vliegtuig toch wat doet denken aan de bussen in Laos/Cambodja (ja, die ene die halfweg de geest gegeven heeft). De vlucht viel mee (hoewel de pneumatiek toch wat schokkerig ging) en veilig kwamen we aan in Hai Phong. Hier een taxi genomen richting de pier waar we met de boot naar Cat Bai ... read more

Our transportation to Cat Ba was simple yet complicated. Simple because we paid for one ticket that got us from our hotel in Hanoi to Cat Ba Town; complicated because it involved a number of modes of transportation. First we were taken by xe om (moto-taxi) to the bus station. It was about 7am so the traffic wasn't bad thank goodness. Next we hopped on a bus that took us to Haiphong. Haiphong was hit pretty hard by the typhoon; trees and electrical lines were down all over the place and some roofs were missing, but they seem to be sort of used to cleaning up and dealing with this sort of thing in South-East Asia. Everyone was working together to clean up the typhoons mess. From the centre of Haiphong (we had switched onto a ... read more

Day 26 - Snorkelling in Lan Ha Bay, boat trip to Monkey Island The dreaded pancakes for breakfast. It was a majority vote, so I just got on and forced it down, again! This morning a small group of us have booked a private boat to go snorkelling. There is Ben, Roisin, Britty, Renske, Nadia and me. We got picked up at about 8.30 to be taken to the harbour. I always worry about the state of the boat; again, it was a good boat. Good choice girls! Everyone enjoyed the snorkelling, all seeing plenty of different stuff. Amberlee seemed to be out the most, and also went further afield than anyone else. I was back to the boat first as I was having problems with my eye......and my mask. That is another box ticked for ... read more

Day 24 - Halong Bay to Cat Ba Island Not up too early this morning. 8am natural wake up too! Shared a room with Roisin, felt sorry for her having to put up with my snoring! I did ask her if it was bad, but she said I was ok last night, that was maybe a bit kind of her!! I had breakfast, bread and jam, funny bread, but still a welcome change! We all went off to the beach to catch a couple of hours of sun. The beach was really quiet, which was good for us as we cause such a stare! Mind you, it does look funny; 16 of us all lined up. Britty and I had a funny conversion about how we were all like food on a barbecue, turning at regular ... read more

After leaving Sapa we went back to Hanoi for one night and then took a local bus to Cat Ba Island. We decided to go to Cat Ba Island instead of Halong because we have heard good things about it and it's basically Halong minus the tourist crowds. It's really easy to arrange the trip by yourself without booking with an agent. Just go to the Loung Yen bus station and there you can buy a ticket for VND220000 that includes the bus, a minibus to the ferry port, the ferry and a minibus to Cat Ba Island. The journey takes about 4 hours door to door and is really easy. All the accommodation is pretty much on the sea front and they offer good deals. We found a nice one for $10 with lovely sea ... read more