Tag Archives: Cat Ba

Halong bay cruise

We started from Cat Ba pier with a small boat with two guys on it, a captain and a ship-boy. Both of them friendly but without english language skills. Anyway communication can be done be a smile and finger signs. Benefits: just both of us and no other crowd around, especially no french guys :) We cruised relaxed through Lan Ha bay and after 1.5 hrs we got a call for lunch. Fantastic delicious food prepared on the ship.

cooked on the boat

I had a nap after that and when I opened my eyes we were into the Ha LOng bay. Amazing landscape. Must be more than 2.000 rocks. A labyrinth of stone. We stood on the deck and watched the beauty of this region. UN world heritage since a couple of years.

Inside Halong bay

Later on we had a stop for swimming but it wasn´t that sunny any more so I was not brave enough but Mandy dived into the sea and swam just around the boat. Really great my dear…. And as a team building event we did kayaking. Even it was our first kayak cruise we did very well. Crossed a lot of limestone caves and tunnels and came back to the boat after one hour. Unfortunately a lot of waste in some of the small bays.
The sky was a little bit cloudy so no chance for a nice sunset to view. We stopped to anchor in a bay and while the crew prepared our bed we had a beer and were talking, just smooth and relaxed.

Trip was organized by Tuan Sailing Cat BaIf you come to Cat Ba and need a reliable person to organize a tour for you asked to Tuan.

So bus to Hai Phong is waiting…..

Cat Ba – hanging around

While waiting for the cruise (starts within next 30 mins…) we spent the day in Cat Ba town and its surrounding. I got up at 6:15 and practiced some exercises (taekwondo patterns) and watched people doing Tai Chi Chuan. May be I´ll ask at the next time if I can jump in the crowd. We had a small breakfast and rented a motorbike just for cruising around. One more coffee in a local shop outside the main tourist area, great and really strong and half the price. Back in town we bought another small backpack for Mandy and went straight to the beaches which are closed to our hotel. Hopefully the picture gives you a (and us as well) foretaste what we´ll expect at our cruise.

Mandy infront of the Cat Co beach

Hanoi – Cat Ba

Met two young german ladies on their way home to Germany from Australia. They have never been before in South East Asia so we had some beer together and we shared some of our experiences. Whole day was lazy (as it should be…) and we arranged some hotels for the next days and tried to book a flight back from HCM city to Hanoi. While walking through old quarter of Hanoi we found a small gallery and bought really nice handmade pictures as a gift for friends, parents and for us as well. Let me try a Hanoi summary. Busy, billions of moto cycles, not that big and we found no other city in that region we know to compare with. Neither Pnom Penh nor Bangkok. Most people are friendly and nice but everybody tries to get a piece from the big cake. A woman on the street sells bananas. I asked how much to pay for 5 small bananas (in Thailand may be 40 baht which is around 1 Euro) She said 150.000 Dong which is around 6 Euros and when I looked at her she begun to bargain and said 140.000 Dong. We turned around and walked away….
We got all our stuff from the Advisor Hotel means bus tickets and the route for the next days.
I can really recommend this small hotel in the old quarter of Hanoi. Friendly and very service oriented and always trying to find a perfect solution for costumers.
6:30 am pickup for the bus to Hai Phong we arrived after 2.5 hrs and than took a speed boat for another 40 mins. Than bus again and finally in Cat Ba town around noon.
Hotel is nice with a big window directly to the sea. And even the agency guy is very friendly. He told us that he´s advised by Lonely Planet and even the german Loose travel book. We were tired so we had a nap for 2 hrs and walked around after talking abut the trip. Well it´s a nice idea to have boat for just both of us (I mentioned that before…) and let´s see what needs to be discovered during our cruise tomorrow. Weather seems good even it´s off season here so we expect getting sun burned :)

Sun goes down at Ha Long Bay

delicious seafood platter Dinner at Cat Ba

stay tuned will keep you updated….. we agreed that we turn into luxury travellers more and more :) which is definitely ok we become older and no need to sleep in a dorm or stay in a hotel room for 6 bucks.