Blogs from Cat Ba Island, Hai Phong, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 3

So here we are, Halong Bay ... after years of reading about it and admiring photos we are finally here. Even thinking about it gave us goosebumps – we were that excited;-) Of course we knew, we did not come at the right time of year so there was no expectation of amazing turquoise water etc. but never the less we were confident that it would look stunning. When you embark on such a long trip as ours, you cannot expect to always have fantastic weather, we just had to get over it. Tomek was a little bit disappointed with visibility and light for his photos but what else could we do. We got to Cat Ba town by bus-bus-boat-bus combo from Hanoi (see previous blog for details) and Lorraine and myself walked around to find ... read more

Andy says: We have now been on Cat Ba Island for 3 nights after spendng a few days in the mountains in Sapa. It seems that everywhere in Vietnam closes down after about 9pm so it's lucky we've had some nice scenery to look at! It was a long journey to get to Sapa from Hanoi on the overnight train. I'm not sure the rest of our sleeper carriage were impressed at the smell of mine and Dan's feet when we took our shoes off! It was actually a lot more comfortable than we expected if you could handle the UNBEARABLE heat! Got to Sapa 8 hours later and jumped in a minibus who's driver was typically Vietnamese....mental! This journey included a whole new level of danger however in the form of mountain roads and sheer ... read more

If things could not get better in Vietnam well they already did and I have just finished my journey in style! Since my last blog I've biked from Ninh Binh to Cat Ba, Chilled out and done some incredible rock climbing (more later) and finished my Bike ride in Style making it to Hanoi completing almost 1900km of riding. So to start, My journey to Haiphong to catch the ferry to Cat Ba was a complete disaster culminating into my most stressful day yet.... It all ran smoothly until I arrived in the metropolis of Haiphong and trying to locate the ferry was a complete nightmare!! Haiphong is the biggest port in Vietnam and it was slightly neieve of me I guess to expect only one ferry to Cat Ba. I was sent on a wild ... read more

On the 15th we left the boat after breakfast and headed over to Cat Ba island across from our anchorage. This is the biggest island in Hao Long bay, probably about 30 by 50 kilometers. We took another minibus into the center of the island where we stopped for a bicycle excursion. While Carolyn slept on the bus, Jacob, CC and Ted (and the other tourists) took some bicycles for a 5 km ride across the island to see the sights. We stopped near the hospital cave. This was a big natural cave that ended up being expanded into a 3 story underground hospital during the war. The kids weren't interested so we just cycled a bit further down the road before returning to the bus. The cycling was easy and flat, but the bicycles made ... read more

Halong Bay, in the North of Vietnam, is famous for its picturesque scenery and unwinding ambiance. The preferred route of passage is an overnight stay on one of the luxurious small boats. Or, if you're a budgeting backpacker like myself, you catch a public ferry to Cat Ba Island and find the cheapest accommodation possible. Who would of thought the dark side of Vietnam would rear its ugly head in such a beautiful place? My friends and I find a room, and begin exploring. For those of you who haven't heard of Cat Ba Island, try to picture Jurassic Park! No, Sam Neill isn't riding shotgun with the Colonel from KFC, but that doesn't make it any less amazing! The majority of the Island is National Park and the best way to get around is by ... read more