Bus, boat, and more bus

Cát Bà Island is the less overcrowded version of Hạ Long Bay. It features the same stunning views of dozens of tiny limestone rock islands dotted around the emerald waters of Lan Ha Bay.

To get there, we took the bus – boat – bus transfer out of Hanoi offered by Good Morning Cat Ba. They provide pick up service from any hotel in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, and also allow you to book an ‘open’ return ticket if you’re unsure of the return date (25 USD per person, to be paid on the bus).  Our pickup was confirmed to be at 07:30AM, but as we got down to the reception to check out and pay for our room a bit before 07:00AM, the representative from Good Morning Cat Ba was already there, and proceeded to get a bit stroppy with us when we weren’t ready to leave immediately.

We got onto the bus eventually, and settled in for the 3.5 hour bus ride to the dock near Hai Phong, where we were guided onto a ‘speed boat’. The speed element is to be taken relatively, as it is indeed quite a bit faster than the regular ferry that services the same crossing, but it’s not going to break any records. After setting foot on Cát Bà for the first time, we got onto another bus that took us into the only town on the island and which is home to most of the accommodation available.

Difficult hotel customers

We had not booked anything, but asked to be dropped off near the Ha Vy Hotel which seemed to be perfectly adequate. We checked in and went out to eat something, and came back a bit later to take a quick nap, only to find that there was a construction site next door that we hadn’t spotted the first time around, and the jackhammer symphony quickly ended any aspirations of having a quick sleep.

Because we really wanted some sleep after noisy Hanoi and the jet lag, we decided to do the awkward thing of relocating to another hotel and packed our bags again. The owner at Ha Vy was very friendly and understanding, even though it’s obviously not his fault that there’s construction work going on next door. We walked into the Hoàng Giang Catba Hotel a bit further up the road and checked in there.

Having had a little nap, we headed out again for a stroll around the town. The Lonely Planet didn’t have anything nice to say about Cát Bà Town in terms of looks, and it was right. The front along the bay consists mostly of fairly new, yet uninspired concrete hotel blocks. Food and drink wise, it’s much better, with a few places that have a nice vibe going on. We enjoyed Like Coffee and The Big Man Bar / Restaurant in particular – the latter even has its own brew on tap, but more importantly, they have blankets!

Rain, cold, and more rain

The blankets were needed because up to this point, the weather in the area had been plain bad – constant rain and highs of a measly 14 degrees meant that all the tourists, including us, were out wearing pretty much everything that they had packed and still being cold. Most bars and restaurants here aren’t equipped for these temperatures – many just give directly onto the street without any walls or doors to keep the cold out!

Looking at our options, the weather forecast for the next couple of days predicted more of the same, and since spending a day on a boat in wind and rain didn’t really appeal to us, we decided against booking one of the many boat tours on offer. Instead, we’d start the next day off with the – short – hike up to cannon fort to get a look at the famed landscape.

After a short night, mainly due to our room’s surprising inability to dampen any sound and a lot of people thinking it’s necessary to shout across the corridor, and discovering that the shower’s hot tap produced tepid water at best, we saw that the weather forecast had been correct.

Cannon Fort views

We headed up to cannon fort regardless, and discovered a few fairly recent looking cannons behind a wall and shut gates before even reaching the fort. We also spotted a huge new all-in resort being constructed, proving that there’s no end to Cát Bà’s tourism development in sight. On our way up, we caught glimpses of a landscape that was absolutely beautiful even with the drizzle and grey skies.

Having made it to the top – and having parted with 40,000d per person for the entry ticket – we finally got to take in the unobstructed view of the landscape. After imagining the same scenery minus the drizzle and plus about 20 degrees, we absolutely understand why this region is such a popular destination, and to me it was the first real highlight of the trip. However, with the forecast only promising improvement in 5 days, and the best way to explore this kind of place being by boat, we decided that we’d head off further south in search of better conditions.

Even more bus

The people at Good Morning Cat Ba redeemed themselves by changing our return ticket to a ticket to Tam Cốc near Ninh Bình quickly and without any fuss, and shortly after coming back down from the fort, we checked out of the hotel and found ourselves aboard another bus, this time to Tam Cốc.