Craving another escape from the city, this past weekend James and I headed to Cat Ba. Some of you may have heard of Halong Bay or seen pictures of the rocky landscapes. Cat Ba basically provides the same experience as visiting Halong Bay–you see the same scenery, you can take boat trips, you cruise in the same Bay–but Cat Ba is apparently less touristy. This seemed more ideal to us so we headed off for the weekend. The journey was comprised of a bus ride, a boat ride, and another bus but it was pretty easy to get to. Upon arrival, we walked up to our hostel and tried to check in. The woman looked a bit confused and sent us next door to a Vietnamese style hotel. We again gave our names to the front desk, not sure what was happening and very ready to take a nap. She also looked confused and then told us that we had a reservation for September 7th. It was August 10th. Somehow in my delirious ill state (I had been diagnosed with tonsillitis two days before) I hadn’t even thought to check the date and had booked a room for a month in advance. Whoops.
We quickly found wifi were luckily able to find another hostel just up the road that appeared relatively clean and suitable for a one night stay. Upon arrival, we collapsed on the bed for a solid two hours. Once we were reenergized, we wandered around the town, found some adorable puppies to pet, and ordered an unsatisfying cheese-less pizza. We called it early to be ready for our adventure the next day, the boat trip!
The highlight of this trip was to take a boat tour around Lan Ha Bay and Halong Bay (a birthday gift from my parentals–thanks parents!) We booked with an amazing company called Cat Ba Visions (highly recommend). There were only 15 of us on the boat, all young fellow travelers. We set off at 8am and it was a dream. The views were unexplainably beautiful. The second I’d put my camera down to just enjoy my surroundings, there was another rock or a new angle or another hidden beach that I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of. Definitely a photographers dream. The weather was also unbelievably perfect. We lounged on the top of the boat in the shade while absorbing the cool breeze and the light ocean spray. Our first stop on the trip was to go snorkeling. Though the visibility was maybe one foot and we only saw five fish, it was still great. We swam over to a little beach and collected shells and basked in the amazingness of what we were doing.
We continued cruising around as we passed floating villages and incredible rock structures (like the vietnamese leaning tower of Pisa, as our tour guide called it, and the rock structure that’s on the $200,000 VND bill). I found the floating villages really special. People live here, amongst the most amazing nature, in the middle of the ocean, for their whole lives. Children are brought up to be fishermen and learn how to live off the water. We even passed a floating school house. It was incredible to see and to imagine what it would be like to live there.
Floating villages
"Leaning Tower of Pisa"
After a few hours on the water, we stopped for lunch on the boat and it was a FEAST. There were 11 dishes including tofu, fish, vegetables, and fresh shellfish that they plucked out of the ocean. I tried some of the crustaceans even though they looked quite unappealing–I mean, when will I get to try a clam right from Halong Bay again? It was slimy and tasted like salty sea water but the freshness was cleansing.
Our next activity was kayaking. James was very excited for this part as he spent much of last summer in Alaska doing just that. We hopped in a two person kayak and headed off to some caves with the group. The first cave we went into was the longest and darkest and definitely scariest. The ceiling was so low that we had to duck in some parts and we had to wear headlamps in midday. As we came out on the other side of the cave, we were in a small enclosed little lake. The mountains joined to make a full circle around us. It was so peaceful and isolated. The next cave was a bat cave, filled with tiny squeaking bats above us. I was mostly scared they would poop on us, but it was still pretty cool. We traveled in and out of two more caves navigating between rocks jutting out of the water and rocks hanging off the roof of the cave. It was an arm workout and we were getting splashed from the paddles and there were some steering difficulties, but when I just stopped for a moment and looked up, I realized how lucky we were.
Our cruise concluded at a floating structure (where we would also be spending the night!) to see a fish farm. When we arrived, they started removing some of the floor boards to reveal the ocean below. It felt a touch concerning that they could so easily take apart this house that was resting over the water…As they did this, they told us to ready our cameras and not take our eyes off the water. We waited for a few minutes and then all of a sudden and giant, dinosaur era looking fish grazed the surface. It had massive scales and looked as though it could swallow any of us up. It had apparently been alive for 13 years and the fisherman keep it for good luck. I didn’t get a picture of it, but it was insane and I still think it was a hybrid dino-fish. We also saw sharks, cuttlefish, and other fish they kept for consumption. I’m pretty sure this guy hauled our dinner right out of one of the nets. (PICTURE)
About half of our tour group had decided to spend the night on this floating home. Our room was simple and toasty but it was so relaxing to feel the soft waves under the floorboards and to open the door to see more of the mountainous landscape. The views from here where somehow even more spectacular than while we were on the boat. And some people live here every day! Shortly after arriving we had another feast filled with more beautiful seafood. Then it was time for the night activity–kayaking to see the bioluminescent plankton! This turned out to be one of the most magical experiences I’ve ever had. James and I hopped in a kayak again and tried to follow the group off into the night. This time, we didn’t have any headlamps so it felt as though we were getting lost every two seconds. But after only 10 minutes of paddling, we stopped and realized why we didn’t need the lights. I place my hand in the water and gently moved it around. Instantly it was covered with hundreds and thousands of tiny glowing specs. Blue dots covered the entire water around us. Even without touching the water they sparkled like tiny flashing christmas lights. I scooped up handfuls of water and it felt like I had just reached into the sky in some Greek myth and was holding a bundle of stars. We kayaked around for about an hour before heading back, admiring this crazy feat of nature. (I still don’t totally understand how or why this happens so if anyone has any insight feel free to share).
The next day was pleasantly overcast, a nice change from the heat yesterday but this made us realize how lucky we were to have such amazing weather the previous day. Some boat trips had been canceled due to the choppy ocean so we really lucked out. We spend the morning relaxing on the floating house, reading and taking in the last bits of the landscape. We boarded a boat around noon and headed back to Cat Ba.
We were originally supposed to leave for Hanoi at noon but we extended our stay for a few hours so we could explore Cat Ba. After an amaaazing lunch of seafood pasta, we rented a motorbike and started to cruise around the backroads of Cat Ba. Not far out of the main part of town was a mountain top pool. To exciting to pass up, we raced back to town to grab our bathing suits and headed up the mountain. It was a short (but quite tiring) walk up a hill before we came to the top. The views from up there were amazing and we got to admire it all while cooling off in the pool. It was a perfect way to finish off our weekend excursion. Not only was it unbelievably beautiful, but it was a great way to take a break from Hanoi. We came back feeling refreshed and eager to go on another adventure. To anyone coming to Vietnam, would highly highly recommend going here!
For more pictures, click here.
