Bus to Cat Ba

We booked a bus to Cat Ba. They were to pick us up at our hotel. The thing is the streets can be narrow and the bus wasn’t able to come down the road in front of our place. A guy ran in to get us and we grabbed our bags and followed him out the door. As we turned the corner we heard an overwhelming amount of honking only to see that our bus was blocking all traffic. We were still a way off down the street when the driver caved to the pressure and slowly started driving off. Our guy called him on his mobile and we turned around to head the opposite direction to meet them as he circled the block. As we approached the bus a second time it slowed down but kept rolling to avoid enraging all the other drivers on the road. Our guy threw our bags in and we hopped on as the bus continued to drive. I was fairly confident he’d come to a complete stop when it was time to get off. Otherwise it was going to be a hard tuck and roll with our bags.

Once we were on the bus it was an easy drive to the main street in Cat Ba. I enjoyed the ride because there was so much lush green scenery and tons of goats along the road. I’m always excited to get to a place where there are goats on the roads! We hadn’t booked a room ahead of time so we checked out four different places before settling on the last one. It was the only accommodation on the strip that wasn’t a tall narrow building. It had a pleasant resort feel with leveled bungalows and a poolside restaurant to hang out at, although it was too cold to swim at this time of year.

40th Stop

Cat Ba was our 40th stop on our adventure and we did absolutely nothing here. Not because there weren’t things to do or that we’re incredibly lazy, but because we were both feeling terrible. We had both started feeling unwell in Hanoi. Maybe as a result of the air quality and overall cleanliness of the place… Okay I have to stop being so hard on Hanoi, but it’s just so easy to talk trash the place.

Anyway, Andre felt sick first with a sore throat and started a round of meds right away. By the next day I felt the same and so I started taking pills too. Hanoi was no place that I wanted to feel unwell and even more cranky in. Our sore throats disappeared fast but by the time we got to Cat Ba we were both suffering from horrid head cold symptoms and endless croupy coughs that just wouldn’t let go.

It was incredibly quiet in Cat Ba which was a much welcome change of pace. December to March is the winter season in Vietnam and the weather is obviously a lot cooler. Much like in Pai, Thailand the little markets were selling puffy jackets and warm hats. I almost broke down and bought a jacket but seeing as we were only going to be there 5 nights I figured I was better off just using whatever I already had to layer up.

I Had Grand Plans

I figured we would feel better after a few days and I had really wanted to go on a boat tour through Ha Long Bay. All the pictures and videos I had seen looked breathtaking but every day we got up to a misty foggy sky. There were no clear blue sky days which meant the beautiful view was masked… and it was cold.

I also wanted to see the floating fishing village, the bioluminescent plankton at a nearby beach, and go for a ride in a basket boat. But as each day ticked away, and I continued to feel like crap, I made peace with the fact that these things wouldn’t be happening. I probably would have rallied had the weather been beautiful, but I wasn’t keen to go out on the water when I was already cold on dry land, and I definitely didn’t want to lengthen my recovery time by pushing my body. So we just spent the 5 days relaxing at Catba Oasis Bungalows. Not at all a bad place to recover. Plus they had two for one cocktails. We drank chili margaritas for medicinal purposes. You know, to clear up the airways.

Living Vicariously Through The Brits

We met some awesome English ladies one evening when we were sitting out by the pool. They had been traveling for around 6 months at that point and had been through Africa, India, Japan, and Cambodia. Since they had already gone through India we were excited to ask them questions and hear their stories. And their stories were fantastic! First off because they were great story tellers, and secondly they were the kind of people that interesting things are going to happen to because of their outgoing and fun nature.

Alyssa and Eilish gave us some great advice about visiting the Taj Mahal and they shared information with us on their favorite places. There was an extraordinary tale around attempting to see the traditional funeral pyres. They had arrived in Varasni right after a monsoon, so the Ganges had flooded and they were told there would be no cremation ceremonies taking place. They then ran into a local guy who told them that this wasn’t the case and that he could take them to a place where they could see the cremation ceremonies. Alyssa said she started to wonder what she had gotten everyone into as they followed this stranger for what seemed to be quite a long time through winding roads, people’s homes, and graveyards in the dark. They eventually got to their destination and were led up through groups of people (all local) to where the bodies were laid out waiting to be burned. It sounded very full on. They said it was a lot to process, but an amazing experience to observe this age old tradition.

They also told us about posing for photos with many Indian families. I have read about Indian people wanting their photos taken with foreigners, but it was interesting to hear the girls describe a time when after an hour of being surrounded and taking one photo after another, the police finally arrived and had to escorted them. I can’t imagine being swarmed by people like that. I guess we will see when we get there!

We got to hear about their experiences in China as well and I nearly died laughing as Alyssa read us her “coded” messages from the notes on her phone. She said she wrote things in code in case someone ever got hold of her phone. She explained that they felt like they were always being watched and that there were cameras EVERYWHERE.

One of my favorite stories was about Alyssa injuring her back. Normally of course you wouldn’t laugh about someone having a slipped disc, but when they tell you they did it while performing a reverse worm on the dance floor. Come on! I should also mention at this point that she is a doctor. Come on! It’s just too good. I loved this chick! I so wish I had been feeling better because I can’t imagine a better bunch of ladies to adventure with during our time in Cat Ba!

Oh, and when I asked her if she had gone to see a doctor about her back she said. He had tested her patellar reflex (knee-jerk reflex) and confirmed that she was in fact not paralyzed. This assessment did not inspire confidence. He was a young guy who told her he hadn’t actually done that test since he was in school.

We also learned from Eilish that mixed dorms have changed quite a bit in the last decade. I haven’t stayed in one since 2008 and after hearing her stories about people’s behaviour I don’t think I’d care for it so much now. I shouldn’t say people’s behavior. I should say guys’ behavior. There generally isn’t much privacy in a dorm room, but they had stayed in one place that had curtain partisans between the beds. Very thin curtains. Curtains, that when the lights were turned on behind them became the perfect stage for a puppet show. Do you see where I’m going here? All I’ll say is she was in a bed flanked by guys on either side. The saying “stuck between a rock and a hard place” would be applicable here.

Around Town

Cat Ba is a quaint little fishing village and one of the highlights for me was simply wandering down to the docks where all the fishermen were at work. There was nobody else down in that area just off the strip except for workers and we got lots of big smiles as we walked around. At one point some men waved at us to come get on their boat, while another two men jumped off and removed their large rubber gloves to shake our hands.

Near the end of this industrial area there was a conveyor belt that carried out huge chunks of ice that eventually went through a crusher which was fun to watch.

It was amazing how many fish were laying out on trays drying in the sun.

 

We also came across a great little rooftop coffee shop. I ordered an iced coconut coffee. It was unreal. I could only imagine how many calories I had consumed but I didn’t care. It was totally worth it. And the view was fabulous, despite it being foggy.

I think if I were to go back to Vietnam at a later date (and warmer time of year) I would return to Cat Ba and love it. I felt bad that I missed out on some of the fun activities this place had to offer but you can’t expect to go a whole year and never get sick or miss out on things. I am super glad we met the ladies. Having them to hang out with made a rather uneventful few days very enjoyable!

171 days in…

Heading to Hoi An.