Cat Ba Island; Days 1 & 2

After spending a few days in Hanoi we were all very excited to escape the city and head out to Halong Bay. We had heard some not-so-great things about Halong City, mostly just that it's a party town which is not our style, so we decided to go Cat Ba Island on the advice of a fellow backpacker at our hostel in HCMC. When we booked our bus tickets through our guesthouse in Hanoi the lady was very adamant that if we went to Cat Ba and skipped over the traditional tourist tour that we would miss out and not have the chance to see Halong Bay (which was a lie). We politely explained that we only needed a ticket to Cat Ba because we already had accommodation on the island and that we had read that you could take a boat tour from the island out onto the bay, she reluctantly conceded and booked us tickets for 90% above face value >:(

The journey there was uneventful, like most of our journeys so far. We were picked up by taxi at around 6:45am and taken to the Lueng Yen bus station about 3km from the Old Quarter. Once there we were hurried onto a tourist type bus that took us as far as Hai Phong city. We then transferred buses and were taken down to the port where we boarded a high speed ferry (very similar to the one we took from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap). The ferry ride took about an hour, we arrived on Cat Ba Island at 11:30am, then boarded one last bus that took us across the island and dropped us off in Cat Ba City just 4 doors down from our hotel! The entire trip took about 5 hours and was through just one company; Hoang Long. If you're planning to go to Cat Ba we would highly recommend using this company, you can purchase tickets at the Lueng Yen bus station for 210,000d. 

View of Hai Phong Port from the bus

The ferry

On the ferry from Hai Phong to Cat Ba

We checked into our hotel, the Duc Tuan, which was situated on the waterfront and headed down to the restaurant for lunch.

While we were eating we saw a couple, who had been on our bus, that were renting motorbikes and going to the Hospital Cave which was about 10km outside of the city and we decided to tag along! We each rented a moto from our guesthouse for four bucks apiece. We were relieved to find that the bikes were automatic and very easy to use – especially Cait, who had never ridden a moto before. After a brief instruction on how to turn them on and off, we were on the road. Even though Cat Ba is the most populous island in Halong Bay, there were very few people on the road and as soon as we got through the town it was smooth sailing.  It was a breathtaking ride. The road wound through gorgeous, jungle-clad karst limestone mountains, and within half an hour we had pulled up in a cafe across from Hospital Cave.

Cait--the moto expert :)

Sam on the road

Karst mountains

 We paid a $1 entrance fee and set off up the path to the cave. What we found confounded all of our expectations. It was a huge limestone cave that had been converted into a 3-level military hospital and training center during the American War. The first floor was made up of concrete rooms for receptionists, patients and doctors, with the most well-protected reserved for surgery. The second floor opened up into the natural cave, which housed a cinema, a swimming pool and a gym! There was also a third floor for secret military planning, but they wouldn't let us go up there. The natural walls of the cave had been reinforced with tonnes of concrete to make a truly impregnable defensive structure, hidden away in the jungle. It was a testament to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Vietnamese fighters who created it.

Climbing up to Hospital Cave

Trying to figure out how to get in....

1st floor; 14 rooms for patients, surgery and for other uses

Climbing to the second floor

The cinema; the swimming pool and gymnasium were directly to the left (out of view)

Outside the back entrance to the cave

After seeing Hospital Cave the three of us set off by ourselves to explore a little more of the island. We rode past the strangely gaudy sign heralding the entrance to Cat Ba National Park, and on to a path leading to another cave. This one was guarded by a half-dozen small children, who proudly showed us the key to the cave and rather ominously mimed closing the gate and locking us in. At this point Mack decided that she had seen enough caves for one day, and waited outside to keep an eye on the motos. A wise move, it turned out, since no sooner had Sam and Cait ventured inside then they were confronted by a giant cave spider! It was the size of your hand, no joke. Nevertheless, the intrepid spelunkers ventured deep inside the cave, but had never been so happy to emerge back into the drizzly daylight. We knew that night would soon be upon us, so we called it a day and headed back to the comfort of our hotel.

The next day broke in classic north-Vietnamese style, cold and rainy (for our Scottish readers, think Greenock with palm trees). Nevertheless, Cait and Mackenzie decided to brave the rain and go explore Cat Ba National Forest, which covers almost half of the island (wisely, Sam decided that it was probably a good day to snuggle under a blanket and catch up with current events in Westeros). We hopped on a moto, Mack driving and Cait doing her best baby koala impression, and set off again through the mountains. When we arrived the groundskeeper informed us that there were two routes through the park, one lasting two hours and the other four. We swiftly decided that two hours was quite enough jungle trekking for us, and even then we had to stop for a cup of tea to gather our strength before setting out. The hike was absolutely beautiful and even though it was raining quite hard we were sheltered by the jungle canopy. As with everywhere we've been in Vietnam, we were immediately impressed by the solid infrastructure: the path was cut out of the bare rock of the mountain and paved in concrete. It led us to the cloud-wreathed peak of Ngu Lam. We saw a few people on our ascent but had the entire mountain to ourselves once we reached the halfway point. It took less then an hour to get to the top and even though we were completely out of breath and exhausted, the view from the top was more than worth the effort!

Hiking up Ngu Lam

Jungle

Halfway there!

We made it!

View from the top--quite misty but still breathtaking

On our way back down, we stopped at a small restaurant for a quick bowl of pho and an ice cold drink. We then drove about 30km to the opposite side of the island for our first view of Halong Bay (the island of Cat Ba is situated between Halong Bay and Lan Ha Bay—which was the side of the island our guesthouse was on).

We all headed to bed early because we booked a tour of Halong Bay the next day!