CAT BA ISLAND – THE BEAUTY OF HALONG BAY

HEADING TO CAT BA ISLAND

Leaving behind the beauty of Tam Coc, we were heading to Cat Ba island – the largest island in Halong Bay.

With high hopes for what we would see on Cat Ba Island, we boarded a minibus.

The minibus drove for 3.5 hours and dropped us at the port of Hai Phong, where we boarded a boat, to the island of Cat Ba. The boat then took an hour to get us to the west coast of Cat Ba island. Another 30 minute minibus journey and we arrived in the town, on the southeast corner of the island.

All for 300K Dong per person (roughly £10). Not bad!

CAT BA TOWN

Once we arrived, we walked up to our hotel and checked in. We were staying in a place called Le Pont Hotel for 2 nights. A pretty decent double room, for around £12 a night.

We dropped our bags off and went for a walk around the town.

First impressions were mixed. The views over the bay were incredible, as expected, but, the town itself didn’t seem to have too much to offer. There was also, sadly, a lot of rubbish that we noticed floating in the bay, which took the shine off the place.

FLOATING RESTAURANTS

Looking out to the bay, we could see a number of floating platforms, at varying distances from the shore. We then realised that these were actually floating restaurants. Some of which had jetties leading out to, but some you had to take a boat to reach.

Quite a cool experience I’m sure, but we skipped it and kept walking towards the beach.

We found a beautiful spot of beach, near a resort named the Cat Ba Island Resort and spa.

We hung around on the beach here and had a drink at the nearby bar, watching the sun set over the water.

THE BOAT TRIP

Now this is what it’s all about. Forget the town. Get yourself out on a boat to see the nearby beauty!

On our second day in Cat Ba, we did exactly that.

We booked a full day excursion which included:

• Boat ride north of the island, further into Ha Long Bay
• Sea kayaking in the bay
• Lunch on the boat
• A swimming stop
• A visit to monkey island

All of this for ~£13. A bargain! And I recommend you do similar, if you’re ever there. This was immense.

The bays were beautiful! Huge rock formations, protruding from the surface of the water.

Some of the rocks, appeared to be magically floating on the water. The years of erosion from the sea had got them to the point of almost toppling over.

We sailed past a number of floating, fishing villages. Local fisherman live on board these floating homes and presumably sell the results of their catch to the local restaurants and markets.

What an unusual life it must be, to live on one of these. Apparently you can stay a night at one of them, during a 2 day excursion. Waking up to these views must be incredible.

KAYAKING

After a couple of hours on the boat, we arrived at the spot where we would do some kayaking.

We spent around an hour and a half kayaking in the bay.

This was definitely the highlight of the trip. I can’t imagine anywhere else in the world where you could have a more beautiful environment for kayaking.

Beautiful, calm, blue waters. Huge, imposing and awe-inspiring rock formations. Cavernous openings. Blue skies. The sun beaming down. A truly blissful experience.

Here’s a few snaps:

SWIMMING

After the amazing kayaking experience, we stopped for lunch on the boat, before heading to our next stop.

We were supposed to go snorkelling here, but the number of masks and snorkels were limited, so we just jumped in for a swim.

A gorgeous place to have a quick swim around though!

MONKEY ISLAND

The last stop on the boat journey, was to a place called ‘Monkey Island’. This was quite disappointing to be honest. A total tourist trap and not for any great reason, for what I could tell.

We got off the boat and noticed a crowd of people, looking to get photos of the monkeys which would come down in the hope of being fed by the tourists.

The tourists seemed keen on giving cans of Coke to the monkeys. Not cool really.

Here’s a couple of other photos of the monkeys here:

I particularly liked this one, where the monkey on the right is exhibiting all the signs of food envy:

I’ll have what he’s having…

Monkey island did have a nice beach though!

After 45 minutes or so on Monkey Island; watching the monkeys, having a drink and sitting on the beach, we boarded the boat again.

We set sail back to Cat Ba Island.

It was a really great day out overall. I’ll never forget that kayaking experience, that’s for sure.

Here’s a few more pictures from the boat journey:

BOAT TRIP VIDEO

Here’s a video of the trip in more detail:

LEAVING CAT BA ISLAND

After two days in Cat Ba, we were leaving to head to the city of Hanoi.

I’d really enjoyed my time here, but there was certainly more we could have done if we’d had more time. The majority of Cat Ba island is a huge national park and I’d love to see some of this, but Halong Bay was definitely the priority. If I return, then I will definitely try and get some time in the national park.

We headed to Hanoi on another minibus, boat, minibus combo.

As we were leaving the boat, I got chatting to these two random guys, who had been biking from South to North. I asked to get a picture, because for me, this is what backpacking in Vietnam is all about.

They returned the favour and got a snap of me on one of their bikes.

It’s a good look, I think. If I return, then maybe I’ll do it this way too!

Read on for the post on Hanoi….