Cat Ba Island

In every country you visit, there's always that "one place" that you simply "must see". For Vietnam, this place is Halong Bay. It is a bay with hundreds of small islands that are ideal to visit by kayak and that are great for climbing. I decided to forgo the usual route of joining a boat cruise. These are usually two day, one night on ship affairs where you follow your group around on the schedule of your guide. Since I had a few days I decided instead to go and stay on Cat Ba Island, the biggest island of Halong Bay, and my stay was a great rest after all the drama that had awaited me in Hanoi!

Cat Ba Town itself is quite ugly, lots of hotels rising high along the harbor front. However, from the balcony of my room, the view was incredible! I enjoyed many evenings sitting up on the 5th floor watching the sun go down and playing my ukulele.

The island itself was gorgeous and I spent a great day exploring it by motorbike. The roads were deserted and the scenery was ever-changing and also beautiful. The locals were very friendly and were especially happy to try and communicate with me as soon as they figured out I knew some Vietnamese! However, I have to confess that the Northern accent is totally different from the Central accent that I've been learning a it was a struggle to understand even the simplest of sentences!

The highlight of my stay was the day I spent on a boat tour of Halong. There were only six of us in our group and four of us were solo travelers which made for great conversation. Included in the day tour were a short hike, a quick swim, a couple cave tours, and a kayak paddle time that was much more torturous than I thought it would be -- apparently my arm muscles have completely vanished from disuse during my time in Vietnam!