Rocking the Cat Ba

After an organized tour to the Perfumed Pagoda involving set free time and a man who just could not keep his shirt on, Doug and I opted to head to Cat Ba Island on our own. Everything we read recommended against it, except for one web site, which told us it was not that big a deal.

And for the record, it was really not a big deal. We had read to go with the Hoang Long bus company and we planned to show up at the bus station and buy our ticket. However, when we got to the bus station that morning, one of us fell pray to marketing (Doug) and we got on the Hai Phong bus and figured we could make it to Cat Ba from there. And you can - it's just about $10 extra to do it. On the way back we booked straight with the company and it was 160,000 dong or about $10.

Upon arrival in Cat Ba, I was taken in. We found a hotel with a patio over looking the harbor. I felt my Zen coming back - it was so great to be right on the water.

The next day we hopped aboard a boat to cruise Halong Bay and had a lovely day out on the water. We went kayaking, I went swimming, and there were only 5 other people on the boat including a young french boy and his parents. His parents had quite a time trying to keep him from falling over board and he loved to try talking to Doug, even though Doug speaks no French.

While I loved Cat Ba, Doug find it a bit tacky and touristy (which is fair), and the next day we decided to skip over the national park and head back to Hanoi.