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Adventure to Cat Ba Island
After hearing about how lovley Cat Ba was from quite a few people, we decided it would be our next stop form Hanoi. Being on a budget, we decided to try and do it the cheapest way..
We planned the trip with Dani and Ben, our partners in crime since loas. We left for the local bus stop at 8 Tuesday morning . We had a vague route in mind but after being at the bus stop for less than a minute, we reqlised our plan wasnt going to work. The direct transfer to Cat Ba had already left for the day (only one a day due to TET) So we jumped on a bus that would take us close enough with the locals. After 3 and a half hours we were told this was our stp at the side of the motorway! Our bags were removed and the bus was off before we could ask where we were. We were then approached by a group of motorbike taxis squabbling over who was going to take us and our bags to Halong City. After a conversation in broken english with one of the drivers, he ushered us across the road and into a taxi. A two minute drive down the road to the main town and a request for a 200,000 vietnamese dong! Not a chance, we paid him 50,000.
Once in Halong City we realised we had missed the daily boat to Cat Ba. It was like a ghost town as everything was shut, due to the holidays. Our only options were to stay a nght here or to find another boat. The town wasn;t too appealing, so as a result we ended up chartering our own private boat for a reasonabe price. Feeling like VIP's the four of us boarded the yacht (more of a tug boat but private none the less), sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the amazing view of the rocky islands making up a small part of Haylong Bay.
Once on Cat Ba, we found that no busses were running from the northern port to Cat Ba town on the very south of the Island, with the vultures circling (litterally) we had no choice but to continue in VIP fasion and charter a private mini bus. Having spent widly on our trip to Cat Ba, we were pleased to be offered a room in the town for 100,000 VND (3 Quid!) by the lovely lady owner who made us feel right at home...
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