Cat Ba - Halong Bay

One of the most visited sites in Vietnam is Ha Long Bay.  The Bay has been declared a World UNESCO site and is renowned for its beautiful towering limestone karsts jutting out of the ocean and floating fish farming communities.  We knew that we wanted to go to Ha Long Bay but choosing the tour operator and type of tour was overwhelming.  There are day tours and overnight tours; high-end tours and budget options; I read horror stories about “party boats” and mixed reviews about the itineraries on the overnight ones.  In short, I was overwhelmed with options and paralyzed by the fear of making the “wrong” choice.  Ultimately, after much reading and hemming and hawing and balking at the price of some of the more desirable tours we landed on a solution that worked really well for us.  We traveled overland from Hanoi to the island of Cat Ba in Lan Ha Bay which is Ha Long’s lesser known neighbor.  

Cat Ba town's harbour

The trip was a fun one involving riding a bus filled with backpackers whose average age didn’t fit in any of the three categories we had covered in our family group (that of youngish kids, middle aged and senior).  From the bus we boarded a small wooden boat that ferried us across a bay to Cat Ba island, and then onto another bus for the ride across the island to the main town of Cat Ba.

Heading to the ferry

 

Cat Ba is a chill island with a population of about 13 000.  It has been “discovered” as an alternative to Ha Long Bay and we were by no means the only tourists, but it was worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi.  We wandered the streets without fear of being run down by motorbikes and took in the sights of the sleepy port, the seafood restaurants that advertised what was on offer in the big clear tanks out front, marveled at the pervasive presence of Karaoke restaurants and cringed at the labour safety standards of constructions sites as hunks of metal were thrown down, wheelbarrows winched up and questionable wooden scaffolding was noted.  

Nutella "crepes" with banana and mango. Yum.

You can choose your fresh seafood out front, before sitting to eat.

Yia Yia, myself and these two headed to an "open mic" at a hostel.
The kids cracked up feeling like they were part of the show as the locals all gathered on the sidewalk and proceeded to take photos of the kids.

Super chill Cat Ba

A highlight of our land-based time on Cat Ba was the afternoon we rented mopeds and rode around the quiet roads of the island including through the national park.  

This guy was PSYCHED that he got to ride his own!

The girls rocked their own moped.

We went up to Cannon Fort and were rewarded with impressive views of the bay.  

We road the bikes through the national park and stopped at a cool cave, Tung Trang Groto.  

The island roads were pretty empty which was a rare treat for Vietnam.

 

Sol was pretty thrilled to ride his own moped
and we all sang Macklemore's song as we breezed around the island.

 The main event was getting out into the bay on a full day tour.  The boat took us through Lan Ha Bay and into Ha Long.  The beauty was as it is described in all the books and pictures.

Lan Ha Bay is still a working bay with many people making their livelihood via fishing.

There are also well known floating fishing villages in Ha Long and La Han Bay.  We visited one and, as usual with any kind of tour, Vios was right up front and center soaking it all in.

The final highlight of our tour was the two hours of kayaking that we did as a group through dark caves and into little inlets.  It was very enjoyable seeing the limestone towers from the surface of the water.

We returned back to Cat Ba Town as the sun was setting.  It was a beautiful day and well worth the effort to get there.

From Cat Ba the adventure continues as we head back to the mainland and make our way via Haiphong to central Vietnam.  Next stop, Hoi An.