Day 17: Cat Ba Island - Halong Bay

Again up at 7am for breakfast which was an array of pastries and jams which was delicious with a nice coffee. We made our way back over to the cave island and walked through 3 caves. The first was ok and about what we had expected then the second was huge and the third was surprisingly massive! We later found out that these are named the surprising caves and now we know why.

When back on the white dolphin we cruised for an hour or so then checked out and transferred onto another boat to get a ride to Cat Ba Island. The majority of our group were returning to Hanoi today including Brenda and Kevin who have agreed to go and get our camera for us.
We said our fairwells to our group who were a lovely mix of people from young USA and Ozzies to old German and Finnish guys. When on the island we took a minibus with a family from Canada to the Cat Ba National Park. We did a very tough 2hr hike to the peak which was 250m high. The terrain was very rough and it turned out to be a great adventure.

The family had requested to be taken directly to their hotel and the taxi guy was not having any of it which led to a bit of a slanging match. It turns out they have been here a few weeks and had bee ripped off for $400 and were really not impressed. It is really difficult to communicate with the Vietnamese compared to the Chinese which we found strange as their alphabet resembles ours rather than symbols! Due to this the whole tour seems a shambles with nobody really knowing where we are going or when or how. This is very frustrating but it does seem to work.
After the trek we were relieved to find our taxi waiting at the bottom with our gear inside. A short ride to our hotel which is amazing! It has a great view of the bay and the room is lush. We went straight to lunch which was approx 8 courses and delicious.

We resisted the urge to sleep and walked to the 3 beaches on the island via a beach bar for a beer. We crashed on the third beach and relaxed for a while. There was one other person on the whole beach and the view was top notch.

We decided to take a motorbike taxi back to our hotel which was actually only round the corner but we were after the experience more than anything. Three of us on one bike was crazy but fun.

Back at the hotel we rested for a while and made use of the lovely hot shower before dinner at 7pm. The dinner was another 8 course menu that was very filling and a huge mix of flavours. We had intended to explore the town by night but absolutely exhausted we crashed out and were asleep by 9.30pm.