It's just as well we had a relaxing day, because the night was not so relaxing. The only way (we were told) of getting to our next stop, Nimh Binh, from Dong Hoi is the night bus to Hanoi, jumping off on route. OK we thought, until we found ourselves deposited on the roadside at 3am! The fact that Olly didn’t fit in the ‘bunk’ beds on the bus didn’t help either.
After some more sleep we took a xe om ride (on the back of two scooters) to the see the beautiful limestone formations surrounding the town. The trip included a VERY sweaty hill climb, followed by a far more relaxing boat ride. The boat drivers row with their feet!
Nimh Binh town is not much to write home about. The local specialty is roast goat. We were surprised to see one being blow torched on the pavement in preparation for dinner (it was dead of course, but still very much in one piece).
It was back on the road the following day, with a local bus ride to Haiphong. Loud music, sun and dust were the main themes of the journey.
In Haiphong, we brought tickets for the “fast” boat to Cat Ba, the island at the edge of Vietnam’s iconic Halong Bay. Along with two American girls we met on the bus, we boarded what looked like a suspiciously rusty, over loaded boat. The lady who sold us the tickets much have been delighted as she waved us off with the fair for a 45 minute boat ride in her pocket. 3 hours later we arrived in Cat Ba town. We could have been pissed off about it, but actually the boat ride was quiet fun and the scenery was beautiful.
Cat Ba is overrun with Vietnamese tourists. It’s summer holidays and if you have the money in Vietnam, you travel. We arrived on Thursday, when a room cost $10 a night. By Friday it was as though carnival had some to town and room prices rocketed to $30 a night. Vast quantities of beer and seafood were consumed and the cash machine emptied. Vietnamese are early risers though, so everything is over by 10pm.
Friday was a good day. Kayaking and boating around Halong Bay. The weather wasn’t the best, but we went with a fun bunch of people, avoided the crowds, paddled around stunning bays and didn’t get sun burn. The floating rubbish jettisoned by thousands of tourist boats was a bit of a downer.
We had dinner and beers on Friday night with our American friends – and Olly ordered a 400,000 dong crab – about 13GBP worth!
Saturday was more chilled (we had a lie in after Olly tried to stay awake to watch the football, on at 1:45am here). We climbed the island to see the Vietnamese war bunkers and gun emplacements.
We had a lovely dinner, featuring a little lizard which scurried up inside my trouser leg. Thank god it wasn’t a cockroach! The waitress couldn’t stop giggling and saying “very funny memory”. Here’s a photo of the little blighter:
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