M&C: Cat Ba Island & Lan Ha Bay

Thanks to a generous birthday gift from the parents Jennings, we booked a two-night, three-day tour from Hanoi to Cat Ba Island. This island is the gateway to the internationally-famous Ha Long Bay as well as its nearly-identical but less famous sister, Lan Ha Bay. We woke up early on the morning of the 9^th and rode about 4 hours on a bus (including a 30-minute ferry ride) to Cat Ba Town. Our itinerary had us staying the first night on a boat in the bay and spending the second night in Cat Ba Town. We thought we’d be hanging out with our bus full of new companions for the full two days, but next thing we knew we were dropped off by ourselves at a hotel in town and told to check in and that our next guide would be there in a couple hours.

We had no clue what was going on. Would we still get to see the bay? Had we just gotten totally scammed? There seemed to be more employees than guests in this hotel, and we tried getting in touch with the tour organizer as we ate a strange set-menu lunch of mostly fried food in the completely empty hotel dining room. After we got back up to our room, we received an email saying that all was well and that the days had been rearranged but all the activities remained intact. Fears allayed, we actually started to appreciate the absolutely amazing view of the harbor from our balcony.

A couple hours later, we were picked up by our guide for a trekking trip in the interior of the island. There were four other people on the trip, a Belgian father and son pair and a father-daughter duo from Oregon. We stopped first at Trung Trang cave, tucked into one of the limestone hillsides, which served as an operational center for the Viet Cong during the war. It was a cool cave in general, but it was also a bit haunting to imagine hundreds of people living in it in wartime conditions. From there, we drove a short way to Cat Ba National Park, where we hiked a couple of kilometers up a very steep trail to the top of one of the tallest peaks on the island. At the top we were rewarded with an incredible view of the karst-strewn dense jungle of the island, all the way out to the ocean. Along the way, it was really nice to chat with our trip companions and guide, and we arrived back at our hotel very satisfied with the afternoon.

Dinner at the hotel was included in the tour as well, and we ate another mediocre meal with the Belgian father and son. Other than the four of us, the large dining room was once again completely empty. As we walked around the town that evening, we found tons of completely empty restaurants and practically nobody on the street. Just one or two bars with lots of loud tourists.

After a leisurely morning, we were picked up at our hotel by another bus and taken to a nearby port, where we boarded our boat for the main part of the tour. Our fellow passengers included a French couple, two French women each traveling by themselves, two Malaysian sisters (one living in Malaysia, one in Switzerland), and their daughters (one about 12 years old, one about 20). As we ate lunch, we started to get more into the heart of the bay, cruising among huge jungle-covered karsts rising up out of the ocean and passing many floating houses with sprawling shrimp and oyster farms.

The boat stopped in a gorgeous bay after about two hours. We got into kayaks and paddled around the bay, past cliffs, and under natural bridges. The weather was gray and overcast, but not too cold. There were a smattering of boats and canoes in the bay with us, but nowhere near the crowds we had been warned about. The whole experience was so beautiful it just felt surreal. At one point, we stopped on a little beach and walked through a short cave to a lush area inside one of the karsts, completely encircled by limestone walls. After kayaking, we jumped from the boat into the water and swam around a little bit.

That night, we ate a good dinner with everyone on the boat and made fresh spring rolls all together. Chandler tried to learn how to play Chinese chess with our guide and some of the crew while Michelle rested and basked in the amazing scenery. A little later, we were given rudimentary fishing poles and invited to try to catch a squid off the back of the boat. We tried for about an hour with no luck, seeing the squid but not able to tempt them enough to catch one, until finally Chandler snagged one. It was only about 5 or 6 inches long, but it had inked all over the hook. We thought it was pretty cool to see it up close, but also a little horrific. Our guide offered to cook it for us, and we debated the issue briefly before just releasing it back in the water. Finally, we did a little karaoke with the Malaysian family and one of the French women, and we got to show off our Spanish a little with the Shakira song La Tortura.

We woke up early the following morning and all set off on a bike ride on the east side of Cat Ba Island. Before we began, we were told that the local authorities and residents there are particularly concerned about the coronavirus, so we were all given masks and were required to wear them. The ride was absolutely amazing, winding along a pretty nicely paved road through a small valley surrounded by towering jungle. The town itself didn’t consist of much other than its amazing setting: a giant field with some water buffalo in it, a handful of residences, and a small area designed for tourists with a couple of little shops and guesthouses. There was some sort of town-wide public address system that continuously blared coronavirus-related PSAs the entire time we were there. We walked around one of the guesthouses and dipped our feet in a little stream where they had the “kissing fish” that nibble at your skin, then got back on the bikes and rode the 3 kilometers or so back to the harbor, where an official barked at the 12-year-old girl for not wearing her mask.

Back on the boat, we had a quick lunch before cruising the hour or so back to the main harbor, getting one last look at the scenery, before grabbing our bouncy bus back to the ferry, across to the mainland, then on to Hanoi for the night.

Next up: South to Tam Coc!