Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island

After Sapa I went east to the coast, not sure what to see or expect. I was not thoroughly impressed with the island itself, but the bay was amazing. There are huge limestone rock formations that jut out of the water. They are very majestic. The best way to see them is by boat, so I payed $17 for a day tour with lunch included (boat-cooked meal, similar to home-cooked). We left at 9 am and were supposed to come back at 5 pm, but we came back a little bit later....more on this later.

The boat was a decent wooden, 2 story vessel. The top was open with a seating area. This was prime for taking in the views and diving into the water. On the boat was a South African guy with his parents and girlfriend. He was a really nice guy and had worked in Antartica for over a year which was great to learn about. With him were his parents and girlfriend. There was another American, which is a rarity over here. Rounding out the boat were 2 Russian guys with extremely limited English.

We navigated our way through the bay for about 2 hours. On the way we passed fisherman and even villages on the water. They lived in floating houses and had docks setup to either catch and raise fish, or to farm clams and mussels. It reminded me of the movie Water World.

From Cat Ba Island

We made our way to a couple of caves with huge stalagtite and stalagmite formations. They were nice caves, although very dirty and run down.

From Cat Ba Island

After the caves, we went to a secluded cay and set the anchor. We had lunch which consisted of fresh seafood and rice. Great food indeed. Then the blue waters called and we went swimming for about 2 hours. The water was blue and cold. A great place for a swim with many beaches within distance of the boat.

From Cat Ba Island

After swimming we went to a little spot and kayaked around for a couple of hours. The entire place looked the same, turning it into a labyrinth of sorts. I was in a kayak with the American and we paddled as far as we could and completely lost our way. It was a good feeling actually, in the middle of nowhere and lost. Robinson Crusoe like for a very short time. So we paddled and paddled but kept getting ourselves more and more lost. An hour or so later and one sore back to boot, we saw the boat chugging towards us. It was full steam ahead. They rescued us from our plithe and did not fail to tell us how they felt...all in Vietnamese of course. Which was interesting and harmless. Leave it to the pilot and advanced scuba diver to get lost.

I spent 2 days in Cat Ba, but was itching to get out because it is a big tourist place and they are used to tourists. Thus tourists traps and sleaziness arethere in full force. But before I left I got to see a local man's stash of liquor which he uses to cure ailments of all types. These are special alcohols, not because of the alcohol itself, but because of what they put in with the alcohol. They are used to cure different ailments There are king cobra snakes in some, sea horses in others, and even baby goats. The real kicker to me were the ones with full feathered birds and another with a bear paw. Absolutely insane. I was offered a drink from whichever I chose, but graciously passed.

From Cat Ba Island