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Zoe and Ed's Travels
We have spent the last few days relaxing (as much as we can) on Cat Ba Island. It's a lot more peaceful here than in Hanoi, although there are still one or two mopeds whizzing around to keep you on your toes. We have been having some tasty seafood at a small restaurant a couple of doors down from our hotel. The owner is very friendly, and cooks all of the dishes himself, and the seafood swims around in tanks outside the front of the restaurant until it's called upon.
We also have been on a boat trip around Lan Ha Bay (the southern end of Halong Bay). The scenery was interesting to see, although we saw it for quite a number of hours! The rest of the trip was a little disappointing: the remainder of the sights were only really included to make up the numbers; lunch was good but they'd neglected to provide any drinks at all, so we all got rather thirsty. We were taken to an island which it turned out you had to pay to get onto, so we all refused! The two Dutch ladies who were on the trip with us had been royally stitched up by the tour company (our hotel), and the four of us spent a long time arguing with the staff on returning to the hotel. Nothing came from it except we made a lot of noise outside the front of the hotel for a good while, and hopefully dissuaded some people from booking tours. We expressly warned one couple who'd just checked in. All as bit of a shame as the place had a good write-up in the Lonely Planet.
Our hotel is located in the centre of town, overlooking the harbour. A short walk away, around the headland, are three quite decent beaches. We spent an afternoon on one of them. The water is fairly rough, but it's warm enough for splashing around in.
The weather has been quite cloudy, but we haven't had any rain here.
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