I. Vietnam
Chapter I. Cat Ba Island
Day 1 Good Morning Vietnam
This time, Quinn and I are going to travel to Vietnam and Cambodia for one month. Our journey starts in Hanoi.
We land in the evening. As a French citizen, I’m allowed 15 days visa-free in the country. For Quinn, we had organized a visa in advance online. So everything is pretty straightforward. We get a taxi to our hostel and lock our bags in the room.
Not much to do now, but sample our first Vietnamese spring rolls.
I notice that, unlike in France, the sauce is either spicy or made with peanuts. I’ll have a hard time looking for the fish sauce that I like so much (below).
Day 2 The Turtle God
We’re only staying in Hanoi for a day while we wait for the bus to go to Cat Ba island. So, we get to the bus station early in the morning to buy our tickets and decide to relax around the lake until the bus arrives.
There, I try my first Vietnamese coffee. The coffee is filtered through a stainless steel « hat » that sits on top of the cup.
When it’s ready, you’re supposed to mix it with condensed milk. The taste is both strong and sweet.
The name « Hoan Kiem Lake » translates as « Lake of the Returned Sword ». According to the legend, the Emperor Le Loi received a magical sword from the Golden Turtle God that he used to defeat the Chinese armies. One day, as he was boating on the lake, a giant turtle rose up, snatched the sword from him, and disappeared forever into the depths of the lake. The Turtle God had reclaimed the magical sword. Today, it’s possible to spot giant turtles in the lake. But they are very elusive.
Ant
Crossing a bridge on the lake, you’ll get to a small 18th century Buddhist temple.
After that, we hop on a rickshaw and head back to the bus station.
If I remember, it takes about 5 hours to reach the harbour of Hai Phong.
Then, it’s a 1h boat ride to the island.
After the boat ride, we take another bus for another hour to drive around the island. At sunset,we’re officially in Cat Ba town.
We walk to our hostel, put all the bags in our room, and head back to the beach to find Cat Ba Ventures – a boat tour operator recommended in the Lonely Planet. We book our boat tour for tomorrow and go for dinner – with more spring rolls and one of my favorite beers ever (Bia Ha Noi).
Nice sunset. If I knew itwould be the last time I see the sun in Cat Ba, I would have taken more time to enjoy it‌
Day 3 Salad Dressing (Thousand Islands)
We get up early, hop on a bus, and head to the bay. We meet up with about 10 other passengers before getting on our boat. It’s chilly today. And it gets even colder once we’re on the boat.
Designated World Heritage site in 1994,Ha Long Bay is one of the highlights of Northern Vietnam. Its towering limestone pillars and waveeroded grottoes attract thousands of visitors every year – most of them opting for cruise-tours that include sleeping on board within the bay. Those who travel on a smaller budget, can still enjoy a similar experience by heading straight to Cat Ba Island instead. It’s cold today, but our English speaking guide (Ian) tries his best to keep us warm and entertained.
The tour starts with a visit to a fishermen village on the sea.
There are thousands of limesone karsts and other islands to behold. Some of them have claw-like stripes all over – an effect of the erosion.
This is one of the most famous limestone karsts. It’s often featured on post cards. (It’s really foggy,I had to edit the photos).
After a while, it’s time to get off the boat for some awesome cave kayaking!
Well… This seems encouraging…
We are both on the same kayak. But only Quinn has a light. All I can do is paddle slowly and watch out for the rocks.
This is one of my favorite photos. Love the contrast. No editing on this one.
Once we emerge from the other side of the cave, we are in the middle of a lagoon, surrounded by mountains. There’s no other way out but back the same way. If not for the cold, we could have gone for a swim here.
Needless to say that the islands are very impressive up close.
We paddle around for about 2 hours and head back to the boat‌
… where a huge feast is waiting for us! Spring rolls, cabbage salad, cucumbers, fresh shrimps, fresh scallops, and fried ‘friendly shark’.
We were lucky this morning. It was cold and foggy, but nothing serious. Now, it starts raining. We decide to stay inside.
In the brochure, we were supposed to get to a tiny beach and spend some time there. But it’s still raining. None of us is brave (or stupid) enough to swim to the shore. We all stay inside the boat with our blankets.
Since there’s nothing else to do,we start our return to Cat Ba. I talk with Ian and draw while Quinn sleeps on a mattress.
A few hours later, we’re back to the fishermen village.
We’ve spent the whole day on the boat. At 5pm, we’re back in Cat Ba.
For dinner, we go to a more fancy restaurant. I get seafood/BÊchamel pizza (yum!), mango flan, and ice cold beer. And when I say ice cold, I mean that the glass is frozen when they bring it to you‌
For tomorrow, I’d like to rent a scooter and drive around the island. But if it rains, it’s not worth it. We’ll see what the weather looks like then.
Day 4 Jurassic Park
When I read that a trip to Cat Ba was much cheaper than HaLong Bay, I was already interested. But when I read that the island’s topography looked like something ‘straight out of Jurassic Park’, I was sold. And I couldn’t wait to drive around. Thankfully, when we wake up, it’s not raining. So, we rent a scooter from our hostel. Our first stop is the harbour where we took our boat yesterday.
Then, we decide to drive to the other side of the island, where the bus had picked us up. But to get there, you have to cross the town, which is quite dangerous, with all the children going to school, the marketplace, and the hundreds of other moto drivers on the road.
But once you’re outside the main area, it’s a great ride all the way to the pier. And I can definitely feel the‘Jurassic Park’ vibe around us…
After a while, we get to the pier.
Back on the road.
Somewhere along the way, we visit a hospital cave that was used by the Vietnamese during WW2.
After the hospital, we stop for lunch. We’re in the midle of the island. We have less than half a tank of gas left. We have to decide if we go back to town now or go all the way north and hope to find a station in between.
We go north.
The road to the north is being renovated. It’s really hard to drive through, between all the rubble, the trucks and the cranes. And , so far, I haven’t seen any gas station around.
Eventually, we arrive at the northern harbour and use our last gallon of gas to reach the pier.
Surprisingly, there’s no gas station around here either. But there’s this one guy who sells petrol in plastic bottles. That’ll be enough for the way back.
Back in town around sunset. We drive around a little longer to enjoy the view.
After a whole day on the scooter, nothing beats a good dinner (seafood noodle soup/spring rolls) and a massage. Quinn goes for the relaxing type, while I get a ‘kung fu master’ doing mine. He comes with his own tools and equipment for something that feels more like a seance of acupuncture. But it does the trick.
Cat Ba is no party town. At night, it’s pretty quiet all around.
The traffic is so rare that the locals can even start a fire in the middle of the boulevard… We’re back at the hotel around 8pm and sleep right away. It’s been a long day and tomorrow we gotta get up very early...
Day 5 (Part I) The Fog of War
Today, we’re going back to Hanoi. Our bus is at 9am, but we hope to see the sunrise before we leave. So, we wake up at 5.30am and climb up a hill to reach a Cannon Fort used during WW2. For sure, we are the only ones up there. No one else would get up that early just to enjoy the view.
When we get to the top, we quickly understand why‌ What a view indeed !
In the meantime, we can walk around the fort, see the gun emplacements, visit underground tunnels, and lose ourselves in the trenches.
Sketch of the main cannon - done in 10min, standing up and leaning against the wall.
So much for what the Lonely Planet calls ‘one of the best views in Vietnam’… Better luck next time I guess.
We wait up there for 1hour but the fog doesn’t show any sign of clearing up. We gotta go anyway to catch our bus back to Hanoi. This is the end of our adventure in Cat Ba Island. But only the start of our journey in Vietnam‌