Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Tue 4 Sep - Halong Bay to Cat Ba

After breakfast, we are transferred to another smaller boat, which takes us first to a pearl farm and then onto Monkey Island and then to Cat Ba.


Overlooking the beach of Monkey Island.
Monkey Island is called so because...
And don't they just love soft drinks those sneaky buggers. They take the cans or bottles off you if you don't pay attention.
Then, we are off to do biking and trekking in Cat Ba National Park.
Di decides to give the outing a miss due to her cold, so she waits on the boat and to try to sleep.
Hans, of course, jumps onto this, and does a 12km sweaty cycling trip on a bike with approximately half the air in the tires that it should have had and with one foot paddle that needs a good kick every so often so that it doesn't fall off the bike.

The cycling is firstly along the water's edge and then inland to a very green valley with rice paddies. It is all very beautiful.

The hiking is a real scramble on razor sharp limestone up to a hill with nice views and then back down again. Unfortunately no photos as I couldn't bother bringing the camera to this one. Regret that as it was quite an outing.

Then, a bit more cruising...

That night we stayed on Cat Ba island and in Cat Ba town at Holiday View Hotel. Quite dull.
Hans thought that it looked a bit like Benidorm in Spain and funnily enough, so did the nice Spanish couple from Barcelona in our group.
Nice beds and large room though. Free wifi worked fine.
 

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