As you are all probably aware guide books like the LP and the Rough Guide often warn you of particular scams or problematic services on local tours etc. Well, one of the ones they strongly warn about in Vietnam are the overnight tours to Halong Bay. The tours can range from $25 to $200 per person and often have no guarantee that people who paid the minimum vs those who paid the maximum have any different an experience!

We of course wanted to see Halong bay and equally we wanted to get our money’s worth so we headed to a travel agent recommended by one of the guidebooks. It’s called the Kangaroo Cafe and is owned and run by some Aussies. While we were happy to spend our money there, the reviews for them were a bit mixed online and the major factor that put us off was their insistence that they were the only “western managed” outfit in Hanoi – this seemed to be some sort of guarantee of their dependability and level of service! And in the process of course implying that the local owned ones did not provide the same service as they are local owned and thus just don’t understand the expectations of the high and mighty westerners! Arghhhhhhh….you can see how this would make me mad!

Anyway, in the end we decided not to risk it with any of the tours and instead make our own way to Cat Ba Island which being the biggest island in the area, is the main centre for tours into Halong and Lan Ha Bay.

This turned out to be a great decision as the bus-boat-bus service there was really convenient and cost-effective, we found a great hotel on the island for cheap and then proceeded to spend all our money on kayaking and cruising around the bays with a local outfit run by British and American expats – minus any of the nonsense of we are the best because we are westerners! The outfit is called Slo Pony and they get the biggest thumbs-up from us. They do adventure activities so P got to go climbing and we had a fabulous time kayaking to go see small caves in the bay and cruised around on a very comfortable boat.

We met an Austrian family on the way to Cat Ba and spent a lot of time with them and really fell in love with their two year old who would talk to us in German and then periodically say “ya ya okay ya!” I taught him to say namaste and every time he saw me he would join his palms together and do a proper namaste!

Thanks to having travelled independently we had a lot of flexibility in how long we stayed in the area and what activities we did so it was a nice relaxing time. We didn’t spend a night on a boat partly because of how cold it was and partly because we only heard bad stories of these overnight boats with everyone demanding their money back at the end of the trip and of course getting nothing – not even an apology in return!

We did, however, spend a day going around the island along with Harold, Mina and Leon. It included a drive around the scenic routes, a stop at a cave hospital and a climb up a very rusty tower indeed! The last of these was in the Cat Ba National Park and was reached after a 30 minute trek scrambling over rocks. The watch tower made of steel was entirely rusted and rattled every time a strong breeze blew! The hospital cave was once a hospital in a cave (!) – build by the North Vietnamese during the war. It had a swimming pool, excercise area and Cinema theatre in addition to the expected operation theatres and clinics.

If you ever find yourself in this part of the world we strongly recommend doing Halong bay independently and basing yourself in Cat Ba thereby guaranteeing that your visit is heaven and not hell!

View from Hotel on Cat Ba Island Erin Lau © 2009

Cat Ba Island was our launching point into Halong Bay, as I watched the sunset from the balcony of my hotel room (an $8 room) fishing boats were returning for the night, and fishermen began their nightly consumption of “happy water”.

Definitivamente um dos momentos mais especiais desta viagem.Tudo começa com um ferry boat pela Ha Long Bay, depois uma inédita viagem em uma motorbike (vir ao Vietnã e não andar em uma motorbike seria como ir ao Brasil e não comer pão de queijo), chegamos à praia! Visitamos duas e ambas valeram super a pena. Praia bonita, água quentinha…  Sabe quando as imagens falam mais que as palavras? Então…

Coming back to Hanoi from Sapa we felt like not entering the capital again. Having arrived at five-ish in the morning, we were lucky to find a bus to Halong City going at five thirty. After four long hours we were there (we already had spent ten hours coming from Sapa). In the beginning I was very negative on going to Halong Bay through Halong City. I thought it would be better doing it from Haiphong but at the end the tourist traffic in Halong City was not too bad. We immediately took a tour boat to Cat Ba as the only way to go to Cat Ba the same day AND see a bit of Halong Bay. The tour was beautiful. We were lucky with the weather and we arrived at Cat Ba, lying down on the sundeck drinking beer.

The classic Halong Bay

Cat Ba island is part of the National Park of the area in Halong Bay, thus under some protection by the government. So it served as both a place to relax (yes it had a very nice beach called erm… 2) and also for trekking purposes. Most of the days passed easily and happily and well… lazily. See it was the last stop to this beautiful country. The trek how the only exciting part. Usually people do it by entering the park and ending on the point of no return or returning from the end to Cat Ba town by boat. We found out that it would be cheaper and easier if we took our time. We took the boat to the “end” of the track were after walking a good 6km we were in a beautiful village in the middle of nothing. There we stayed one day at a home stay and off we went the next day. We tried to find the path ourselves in the beginning but finally we had to pay for a guide. A beautiful place altogether and a great base for exploring the Halong Bay area. Recommended to everyone.

Then it was back to Hanoi and from there a flight to Bangkok. Noemi was to fly back to Spain and another friend from Greece was to join me for a bit less than three weeks. Lucky me!

Its inspiring to know that there are new species and lost worlds to be found and explored. World Wildlife Fund WWF just reported earlier today in Bangkok that 163 species of plants and animals were discovered last year in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia where the Mekong River flows. Luckily politics were not involved. Some of these animals include:
Bird-eating fanged frog called the Khorat big-mouthed frog which is an opportunistic hunter found in streams

A beautiful tiger-striped pitviper (look at the eyes), this species is native to the Hon Son Island in Rach Gia Bay, southern Vietnam.

A new species of Leopard gecko (Goniurosaurus catbaensis), exclusively found in the Cat Ba Island national park in northern Vietnam.

A rough-coated tree frog (Philautus quyeti), discovered in the Truong Son mountain range in Vietnam.

Another creature that was recently discovered is the Bosavi woolly rat. It is a Giant rat that  when found had no fear of humans when it was discovered in a volcano crater in Papua New Guinea.

El ferry que cogimos para visitar Halong Bay nos dejó la mañana siguiente en Cat Ba, la isla más grande de la bahía. Esperábamos que el barco nos dejara en Cat Ba Town, el pueblo de la isla, pero nuestro barco desembarcó en una especie de puerto muy raro al otro lado. Rápidamente conseguimos un bus para llegar hasta la ciudad, no sin previo regateo, evidentemente.

Decidimos que después de una noche lujosa en un camarote de barco nos tocaba algo distinto, así que nos hospedamos en una especie de bungalows muy muy rústicos que están en Cat Co 2, una de las 3 playas que tiene la isla, y la menos golpeada por el turismo. El sitio era paradisíaco.

En la isla conocimos a una pareja de ingleses y un húngaro que nos contaron que durante el fin de semana la isla se llena de turistas vietnamitas de tal forma que en las playas no se ve la diferencia entre la arena y el mar. Sorprendentemente, los días de cada día no tienen nada que ver con eso.

Decidimos alquilar un par de motos por 5$ al día para recorrer la isla y disfrutar de sus increíbles paisajes, que tal como leímos en la guía, son dignos de Jurasic Park. Durante un buen rato nos perdimos por una carretera rodeada por una fauna y flora impresionante, pura selva.

INFORMACION

Dormir

Bungalows en Cat Co 2, 250.000 VND.

Comer

Bamboo Cafe, 150.000 VND por dos personas.

Motos

Hotel Hoang Y, 5 dolares al dia.

]]> http://viajandoporasia.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/seguimos-vivos/ Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:01:40 +0000 Dan http://viajandoporasia.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/seguimos-vivos/

No hemos podido actualizar el blog hasta ahora porque en China WordPress.com esta censurado y no podiamos entrar a escribir (blogspot y todo lo que se le parece tambien lo esta). Hacemos un resumen de estos dias.

Tras la aventura Hong Konguesa (con chungo de Dan incluido, ya os contaremos…), cogimos el tren rumbo a Nanning (China). Primero 3 horas de tren hasta llegar a Guangzhou (o algo asi). No sabemos como describir esto… Imaginad 10000 chinos (sin exagerar) en una estacion de tren. Tirados por el suelo, comiendo fideos, escupiendo por los rincones…. Madre mia! Inocentes nosotros no sabiamos que esa ciudad es la tercera mas grande de China! No teniamos dinero chino y nos esperaban 14 horas de tren hasta Nanning y solo nos quedaba la esperanza de encontrar a un guiri como nosotros que nos cambiara yuangs por dolares. Al final encontramos a un aleman que iba dando la vuelta al mundo solo, completamente mal de la cabeza, ajeno al infierno chino a su alrededor. El nos senyalo a otra pareja de ingleses que tambien andaban perdidos por la estacion, y que al final nos hiceron el favor de cambiarnos unos cuantos dolares  y pudimos comer.

Una vez en Nanning, nos recogio nuestra host de CouchSurfing con su padre. Pasamos un dia bastante curioso con ella y su familia. Nos acogieron como reyes. Ya colgaremos fotos y contaremos mas detalles.

Ahora, tras 9 horas de autobus y una odisea para cruzar la frontera chino-vietnamita, estamos en Halong City, una ciudad-pueblo bastante asqueroso, pero que tiene en frente la maravillosa Halong Bay. Manyana pasaremos un dia y una noche en un barco por la bahia y al dia siguiente iremos a la isla mas grande, Cat Ba, donde alquilaremos una moto e iremos al parque natural. Hemos leido que se pueden alquilar tiendas para dormir en la playa, asi que seguramente nos lanzaremos a la aventura!

Buscaremos wifi e intentaremos subir alguna foto. La conexion aqui es muuuuy lenta.

Un beso muy grande a todos!

Depois de um pessimo dia de viagem para Halong Bay com um guia mal educado que so sabia gritar “you, out of my bus”, “out of my boat” e “police will shoot you”, fomos abandonados a porta de um parque natural na ilha de Cat Ba onde se podem avistar langures. Foi bonito, avistamos um dentro de uma jaula ferrugenta de 1 metro quadrado. Em seguida, haveria uma caminhada ate ao topo da colina, no meio da lama. Paecia entusiasmante, nao fosse a constipacao que arranjei com a chuvada de Sa Pa, as ventoinhas, ares condicionados e calor de Hanoi. Ao fim de 3 minutos desisti porque mal conseguia respirar e achei que de havaianas tambem nao se consegue ir longe no meio da lama. Com este humor bestial, fiquei quase duas horas a espera do resto do grupo, com a esperanca de que algum guia tivesse pena de nos e nos levasse para o hotel. Para me entreter, fiquei a ver as borboletas e quase decidi ser borboletologa. Vi 8 tipos diferentes, daquelas muito coloridas. Uma das mais feiosas pousou para mim. Houve ainda uma libelinha preguicosa que tambem me deixou tentar fotografa-la e assim passou-se melhor o tempo.

Spending the night in Cat Ba Town, the main town on the islands of Halong Bay. Cat Ba is also a vietnamese national park covering a large part of the islands of Halong Bay and we spent the day frolicking in the waters of the bay and hiking those crazy peaks.

After one night at sea, we are spending tonight in Cat Ba. This is a Saturday night at the peak of the Vietnamese high season. The town is packed with families and groups of twentysomething on holidays but although we stand out quite a bit, the tourism industry is clearly focused on the vietnamese tourists and hardly anyone approached us to offer us anything.

As we did in Sapa, we asked our guide not for a recommendation but for where he eats when he goes out in town. He pointed at a barge in the harbour, Xuan Hong, which we drove past on the way to the hotel. Again, it was way out of the tourist area and our hotel’s staff seemed a bit uncomfortable with the fact that we wanted to go there. After asking twice, a younger staff member was nice enough to write down for us “Please take us to Ben Beo for 10,000 dongs per person. Thank you.” and showed us where to find some men who would drive us.

This is how we ended up on separate motorbikes, racing through the hills of Halong Bay to eat dinner on a floating restaurant, surrounded by dozens of vodka pounding, screaming  Vietnameses. The grilled whole fish with lemon and the garlic greens where amazing and so was the motorcycle ride back especially since that time around, we had helmets on.

Xuan Hong, Ben Beo (Harbour), Cat Ba, Halong Bay, Vietnam.

Pour répondre à cette question, nous avons tenté d’éviter les itinéraires proposés par les agences de voyages au départ d’Hanoi et nous nous sommes rendus sur la petite île de Cat Ba, à l’extrêmité de la baie, et y avons négocié une promenade en bâteau d’une journée sur la portion la moins fréquentée de la baie.

Verdict  ?

La baie mérite sa réputation !

 Cliquez ici :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10301605@N04/sets/72157619170557912/show/

Il existe d’autres régions avec les mêmes formations karstiques, aux Philippines ou en Thaïlande par exemple, mais aucune de cette ampleur : 1969 îles sur près de 1 660 km². De nombreuses légendes ajoutent une note poétique, comme celle expliquant que la baie est née le jour où l’empereur de Jade envoya un dragon céleste pour se protéger d’une invasion. Ce dernier cracha une grande quantité de perles qui formèrent des îles et des chaînes de montagnes et fermèrent la route aux envahisseurs.

Nous n’avons croisé ni envahisseurs, ni dragon, mais de nombreux villages de pêcheurs et des élevages de fruits de mer et poissons, qui ajoutent des couleurs vives au milieu du paysage où le vert domine glorieusement dans toutes ses nuances.

La promenade de 9 heures nous a permis d’apprécier un paysage insolite et magnifique, de faire du kayak au milieu de nulle part, de profiter de criques isolées pour nous baigner et savourer à bord du bateau un excellent repas de poissons frais. Le rêve !

Một mình trước biển

“ Đã bao giờ anh ngồi trước biển đêm

Nghe tiếng sóng rì rào nức nở

Đã bao giờ anh giật mình trăn trở

Nhớ đến em một thoáng xao lòng

Đêm nay buồn em tìm về với biển

Hát nghêu ngao khúc hát của riêng mình

Em là sóng vẫn muôn đời dào dạt

Xin anh đừng là bờ hờ hững mối tình em…”

If it’s possible Hanoi is actually more mental than Saigon. On arrival its almost too much and makes you want to get out of there as soon as possible. If you’re arriving as a backpacker the city can be pretty hard work in terms of navigating your self around and finding cheap places to stay and eat compared to other cites we’ve stayed at.

There’s also a lot of people always trying to have one over on you so you also ways have to be on the ball which can be hard work and tiring after a while, especially after a long journey. Safely to say that on arrival we quickly booked our tour out of there to Halong that left the next day.

One thing you notice as you travel round is that the lonely planet lies a lot. Its quite useful for general information about an area but some of the maps dont quite match up and the prices are always wrong so you have to take it with a pinch of salt.

For example when booking our Halong Bay tour it recommends a number of tour operators as there are quite a few dodgy ones and scams going about because of its popularity. The problem is that as soon as it appears in the lonely planet everyone else seems to change their name to jump on the bandwagon (similar thing in hotels). We used a tour company called Sinh cafe which was fine but we later found out that there are over 100 Sinh cafes in Hanoi so had no chance of knowing if we used the one suggested – incidentally it was fine and we had no problems.

Our trip to Halong Bay left the next morning, with one night staying on a traditional junk ship and another on Cat Ba Island. Once we left the mainland and went out into the bay the views were breathtaking – believe the hype as words and pictures wont be able to get across how amazing this place is.

During the day we also stopped off at some caves which were pretty amazing but were lit up with all these different coloured lights so it felt a bit like you were in Disney land – but amazing all the same.

The rest of the group on our boat were really nice and had some great stories. I love people who have a story, in fact I might start vetting people I meet on the story they have to tell.

The one thing that had been worrying me about this trip was that it meant dealing with an annoying fear I had of drowning in confined spaces such as a sinking plane, or trapped in a boat while a sleep as it sunk. Luckily nothing happened although one of the guys on the trip cheerfully informed me that people did wake up to their boat sinking last year which was helpful.

The next day when we reached Cat Ba island we had a trek up one of the jungle covered mountains, which was pretty hard going – even more so because we were in flip flops which made it even harder not to fall off, but 2 hours later we made it!

In the afternoon we had free time but as the weather had turned miserable and there wasn’t much to do we decided to go down the pub and play drinking games all afternoon with some bottles of cheap vodka. It was all going well with me and Nikki kicking Chris’s arse until after dinner when we invited this Aussie guy to join us (he turned out to be a bit weird and didn’t really get the English sense of humor) and he took Chris’s side and every time we lost made me down the vodka.

Luckily being English we still managed to win with him breaking first. The next day back to the mainland the weather was really foggy which made it hard to see much and gave the bay and errie affect, but also made us glad we’d had some sunny weather on our first day.

Back in Hanoi it was time for us to part ways as my visa ran out the next day and so I was headng down to the Thai islands and the guys were going up to Sapa for some trecking before heading down to Cambodia.

It was pretty emotional but we may potentially be meet up again in Thailand so we’ll see, it just means I will have to start being nice to random people and making friends again – which to be honest I’m quite looking forward to altough it wont be the same as my Vietnam group, but we’ll see!

Cát Bà có bờ biển ngắn nhưng nước xanh biếc, những con tàu neo đậu bên những ngôi nhà cao tầng cạnh núi đá làm chúng ta liên tưởng đến những thành phố biển xinh đẹp như Vũng Tàu, Nha Trang… Ảnh do độc giả Vũ Trường Lâm gửi.

Một khu nghỉ yên tĩnh trên đảo Cát Bà.

Thuyền tấp nận đưa khách du lịch tham quan.

Phố đảo Cát Bà.

Con đường tơ lụa đến đảo.

Biển đảo quyến rũ.

Vũ Trường Lâm

Bài viết liên quan

Thành cổ Lệ Giang

Trái đất từng có loài giun dài bằng xe buýt

Con vịt tưởng mình là chó

Lễ hội xuân ở phố cổ Nhật

Nguồn: viencanh.com Phố đảo Cát Bà

Chris and I have been on a fantastic adventure here in Vietnam. We started in Hanoi, spent three days in Halong Bay, headed south to Hue (the ancient capital) and are now even farther south in Hoi An.

Vietnam is what I imagined South East Asia to be. Lush green jungles, rice patties, a crazy mixture of ancient and modern, and air that you can cut with a knife. Hanoi is a crazy busy city where crossing the street is an adventure every time. Bicycles, motorbikes, taxis and buses pack the streets with no consideration for the traffic lines on the street or the red lights. Hanoi Backpackers’ Hostel is a proper hostel that helped us make decisions about our trip. A special thanks to Rio, a fellow San Franciscan, who went above and beyond to help us out.

Our Halong Bay trip rocked. Because it was St Patricks Day only 9 people booked on to the trip. We had a great group of Germans – two of which we are still traveling with – one South African and a Brit. Kayaking through the fog with the karst landscape looming like ghostly monsters took us all by surprise. According to legend a dragon from heaven formed the island chain of diamonds and gold to protect Vietnam from the invading forces. Mind you there are no diamond or gold on these limestone islands.

After a day and night on the bay 7 people continued for on to Cat Ba island. Chris and I spent the day rock climbing with Slo Pony. The climbing was picturesque, up amazing limestone cliffs with a variety of levels of difficulty. Our guide Tim helped us through 4 climbs. The first two were within my skill level, the third was hard and required a lot of help from Tim and encouragement from Chris. The last climb nearly killed me, it took me more than 30 min to finished it and was well above my skill level especially because I was already tiered but I made it and was so proud. Chris, who has been climbing on a somewhat regular bases, did much better than me on all the climbs. By the end we were both hot, stinky, and full of adrenaline and endorphins.

After our Halong Bay tour, we paired up with Kathrine and Mattious from Germany and headed south by over night train to Hue. I lost my tracking SPOT device on the train and had a very hard Friday. Between losing my SPOT, being away from Scoutt and unable to call him on our 6 year anniversary, my mildly upset stomach and painful hips I was CRANKY PAINTS!!! The gang was great about it, and French pastries that could end wars they were so good.

Pictures and more updates to follow when there aren’t four people waiting for the internet.

The view from our hotel room on Cat Ba Island, nr Halong Bay.

Source: Vietnam Beaches

Cat Ba island, the World’s Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam’s Pearl Island, a surprising heavenly landscape!

Belonging to Cat Ba Archipelago, which includes 367 islands, in the south of Ha Long bay, Cat Ba Island is only 30 km from Hai Phong city centre and 25 km from Ha Long city. Not at all is it a random thing when Cat Ba is also called Pearl Island (Dao Ngoc in Vietnamese). With a 70m altitude, and the post to overlook Lan Ha lagoon, Cat Ba lures tourists by its heavenly captivation. With an area of 140 km² and population of 9000 people, it is proud to be the biggest island among the 1,969 islands in Ha Long bay. If you are considering a fresh-air and beautiful place to travel, just pack your stuff, stand up and fly to this magic land of blue Sky and Sea!

The Biosphere reserve of the world!

The archipelago has a global significance thanks to its plentiful species found nowhere else. It is home to the golden-headed langur (Trachypithecus poliocephalus), one of the top ten rare primates in the world due.
Besides, visitors can find several precious habitat types here, including fringing coral reefs, mangrove forest, sea grass beds, willow swamp forest and tropical limestone forest. Many of those are fiercely endangered.
With a major coastal fishing zone, and a karst seascape of outstanding beauty, a tremendous potential for agri-aqua culture and tourism is open to the area. Thanks to the special values, Cat Ba was acknowledged as the World Biosphere Reserve in 2004. So, are you curious to go? Then…

… Take a visit to its caves and grottos, now?

Cat Ba boasts many beautiful caves and grottos such as Trung Trang, Quan Y and Thien Long…

Trung Trang is the largest valley in Cat Ba Island with the total area of 300 ha, from 10-30 meter lower than the sea level, which is 15km northwest of the island. It is about 300 m walk. Beautiful with glistening stalactite & stalagmite it is! Visiting Trung Trang, one has learnt that it is deeply a thousand-year great work of Nature!

Quan Y grotto. “Quan Y” means “Army medical care”. This special name derives from the Wartime against American Air force, when Vietnamese people built a hospital with hundreds of beds inside this grotto. Today, visitors can easily reach it as Quan Y Grotto is on the main way along the Island, only about 13 km from the Island’s centre.

About 2 hours traveling by boat from Phu Long wharf is Thien Long grotto. It has just been discovered since 1997. This is one of the most beautiful caves and grottos in Ha Long bay. As wide and deep with miraculously various shaped & colorful stalactites and stalagmites, and tree roots from the mount to the bottom, Thien Long grotto is admired by any tourist stepping inside. One even said: “It looks like a pretty and peaceful fairy land on the sea..!” after her tour here. Also, people can feel free to contemplate the coral system, salty lakes and ponds in and around, which are definitely rich of marine bio-diversity.

Go swimming & entertain yourself, or you might regret!

A peak mountain in the shape of a turtle divides the beach into 2 small beaches, Cat Co One and Cat Co Two. On the right hand is fabricated rock mountain, while on the left hand is the clear and blue sea water, white and smooth sand. The beauty of the beach has been changing side by side with the flying time. Yet, never would it lose the natural luring power.
In the morning, after enjoying the sunrise on the sea, tourists will visit Monkey Island, conquering Hai Thanh mount, Hon Thot mount or Hon Guoc mount, and swimming in the pure sea as much as you can to feel how fresh a “heaven” can be!
In the afternoon, you may discover the area’s original beauty by renting a kayak to paddle to the bay. Then, should you are still well enough, perhaps we join some sports on the beach, such as valley ball, boat racing, and so forth. When night falls, the whole team would lie down in the cottages near by the beach to relax for a while, listening to the sound of rough sea waves. A romantic & relaxation experience!

Lan Ha Bay

Lan Ha bay is situated in the southeast of Cat Ba Island. It takes about 30 minutes to go there from Cat Ba by boat. The bay is large with arched shore. Getting inside, a number of islands and beaches are welcoming tourists.
Not only is it famous for beautiful beaches, but also for the imposing caves and ideal place for fishing. A lot of visitors who are fond of fishing do not want to come back once staying here for a while!

Viet Hai village

To switch into a new atmospheric space, tourists should now get to Viet Hai Village. It captures attentions by the precious retained hundreds-year traditional cultural values of Cat Ba. Viet Hai people still live in the simple house, built in bamboo, wood, leaves and soil.

If it gets late, we may stay overnight in the village in a simple and guest house at very reasonable price. You might be surprised as being treated in a friendly way, and served with special local cuisine seafood by the honest and hospitable local people. Believe me, you may not want to go back soon!

How to reach Cat Ba Island?

Visitors can reach Cat Ba Island by two ways. One, by ferry from Hai Phong city, Binh ferry station or Dinh Vu ferry station. And two, from Ha Long bay. After visiting this Natural World Heritage Site, visitors can keep staying on boat and getting to the Island.

Hier wieder mal eine kurze Mitteilung von uns aus dem schoenen Vietnam. Durch Emails und SMS haben wir mitbekommen, dass in Deutschland anscheinend viel ueber die ausgiebigen Regenfaelle in Vietnam, besonders Hanoi, berichtet wurde. Also, zur Beruhigung aller, wir schwimmen noch obenauf. Natuerlich haben wir die Ueberschwemmungen gesehen. Das waren Bilder, wie wir sie nur aus dem Fernsehen kannten. In Hanoi haben wir in der Altstadt gewohnt, die liegt ein wenig hoeher (die alten Vietnamesen wussten schon, warum) und blieb so verhaeltnismaessig trocken – bis auf den Regen von oben. Und ausserdem haben wir den Beistand von ganz oben:

Die Glocken dieser Kathedrale laeuten natuerlich die Zeit, wie es sich gehoert. Leider sind die Vietnamesen auf einen perfiden Trick verfallen, den Hotelgaesten das Leben schwer zu machen. Die Glocken laeuten naemlich meistens mitten in Nacht und dann gerne zu folgenden Uhrzeiten: 23.15 Uhr, 23.45 Uhr, dann mal wieder Pause und gerne wieder um 05.15 und 05.45 Uhr. Wer immer noch nicht wach ist, wird mit vollem Gelaeute zur Fruehmesse geweckt (je nach Tageslaune gegen 06.30 oder 07.00 Uhr). Das ist ja schoen, denkt sich der Tourist, dreht sich um, um noch einmal ein paar Minuetchen schlafend gutzumachen. Aber da schlaegt das Imperium jetzt voll zu: die Messe wird mitsamt Gesaengen, Orgel und Gebeten live nach draussen uebertragen, Lautsprecher auf dem Kirchenvorhof sorgen dafuer, dass niemand ohne Segen durch den Tag muss…

Da wir dann einige Male von oben ordentlich nass geworden sind, haben wir die Flucht an die Kueste angetreten und 4 wunderbare Tage in der Ha Long Bucht verbracht.Hier muessen die zarten Vietnamesen die leicht uebergewichtigen Europaeer mit ihren Kajaks durch die Gegend fahren…

Wir waren auf einem Schiff und sind die letzten beiden Tage auf der Insel Cat Ba gewesen. Hier scheint die Sonne ein wenig und das Wetter ist meist trocken. Auf dem Schiff haben wir uns die Ha Long Bucht genauer angesehen und auch sehr schoen uebernachtet. Den naechsten Tag waren wir dann mit dem Kajak unterwegs und haben uns die alten Steine mal genauer angesehen (die Chinesen sagen ja, dass sie die schoeneren Karstfelsen haben, denn diese liegen schon “trocken”; die Vietnamesen seien noch nicht so weit, wahrscheinlich in 1,5 Millionen Jahren) . Dann waren wir auf Cat Ba, wo man eigentlich nichts tun kann als Rumhaengen am Strand oder auf dem Hotelzimmerbalkon oder am Pool oder an der Strandbar. Das hat uns gut gefallen.

Heute geht es wieder zurueck nach Hanoi. Fuer die naechsten Tage ist dort Sonne angesagt. Mal sehen… Aber wir wollen sowieso in den Sueden von Vietnam. Das geht im Moment am besten mit dem Flieger, weil es in der Mitte von Vietnam wohl doch ein wenig harsch ist mit dem Wetterchen…

We’d left the Pinter Cruiser mid-morning on a smaller boat that was our landing craft for Cat Ba Island, the largest island in Cat Ba National Park. The trip only took about an hour or so through the formations of Halong Bay.

We reached the secluded bay where our 2 hour trek started from. There wasn’t much room to manouvre as the bay was small and the tide low. A plank was hastily arranged and we were all told to be quick. We either weren’t quick enough or the captain hadn’t apprecieted just how low the tide was; either way, we were beached!

We pressed on with our guide, Duke, and “Team Malaysia” as Duke referred to the Malaysian contingent, leaving the crew trying to lever the boat free from the shore.

The trek was very cool and one of the reasons we picked the tour. It was on a trail created by the company owner who grew up on the island. It weaved up and down, through thick undergrowth and heavy forest. We came across a tranquil lake and then a small holding where an old couple had retired to. It felt like we were in the middle of a lost world.

We eventually punched out onto a single track concrete road and headed down to our rendevous point at the nearest harbour (a rather grand word for what was a concete jetty). The boat wasn’t there though. Duke made a quick call and the boat was still beached and would need to stay there until midnight for the high tide!

Another boat was scrambled and after about a 45 min wait we were being taken for lunch on a secluded beach on one of the formations on Halong Bay, or so we thought.

Our new captain was a little more cautious than our former and so an executive decision was taken to have lunch on our emergancy craft – a honeymoon boat.

After lunch, another enslaught of food, we headed to to the maim harbour at Cat Ba Town. We were staying in the lovely Sun Rise Resort , along with a grand total of 2 other guests! There must have been 10 staff to one guest.

After a relaxing afternoon on the beach we had a stroll around to the next bay before heading to dinner back at the hotel.

During dinner I was feeling quite content with life (check out the picture here and you may be able to understand why) when my phone buzzed with a SMS from Slinn (fellow Director at Rockshore). It was a txt to tell me one of our major projects, and one that I had led for almost 2 years, had closed out. I was a very happy man at that moment, in that place. I celebrated with another Tiger and made sure I gave myself a few minutes on our balcony to saviour the moment. Well done boys.

The next morning we were picked up by our rescued transfer boat to be ferried back to the Pinter Cruiser for the final leg back to the mainland, or so we thought!

We very quicky found ourselves in a serene mist and were Lost At Sea!

We didn’t make it back to the Pinter Cruiser as when the mist cleared we headed straight back to the mainland.

For some unknown reason we moored at a seemingly random point on the mainland and then walked for 3km to our minibus in the heat of the early afternoon Sun; not a great end to a fantastic few days, but after a complaint back on the mainland we suprisingly got a 20% refund. Laura was most pleased with my negotiation skills!