Day 291 - Bus, Speedboat and Bus from Hanoi to Cat Ba Island, Ha Long Bay

Wednesday, April 24, 2019.

Today we followed a guy who took us from our hotel to the corner to catch our bus. It was a small bus and I thought it was the ride to a big bus but I was wrong. That was our bus to Haiphong where we would catch a boat to the island. The ride wasn't bad, it only took around 3 hours but the bummer was that the seats were narrow and we didn't have enough space for our legs. Poor Daniel had to put his legs sideways. Definitely, a bus made for Vietnamese people.

When we arrived, we had to get out of the bus, grab our suitcases and walk to the jetty to take a ferry to the island. I guess we missed the first ride waiting for our suitcases. I told the driver and he told me to wait five minutes. We saw another boat pull up and a bunch of people got on but they wouldn't let us on board. I started to worry about how we were going to get to the island and how long we would have to wait. Well, a few minutes later, another boat pulled up. It was the same one that had all the passengers from our bus. I guess, they came back to pick us up! Oops, I felt guilty. [Gregory's note: the boat had left at least 4 other people, it wasn't just our family. Everyone on board got a free harbor cruise for the same price.] The ride was pleasant and luckily we had bought the whole trip because once you get to Cat Ba, you still have to take another bus to the town, which is about 40 minutes away. 

When we made it to town, the bus driver was supposed to drive us to our hotel but he didn't. He told us that the bus only went on the main road and that our hotel wasn't far away. Well, it wasn't but it was up to the hill and we had our big suitcases. Gregory tried to get Grab but they don't have enough drivers so he couldn't get one. The bus carts, which were like long golf carts, charged 10,000 per person, but wouldn't go up the hill. A guy on a motorbike kept insisting that he could take us and we kept refusing because there were 4 of us and 4 suitcases. [Gregory's note: his heart was in the right place, though. He even got one of his friends. But even with 2 scooters, 4 bags and 4 people up a hill is tough, even for Vietnamese riders.] We ended up walking up the hill, wheeling our suitcases and sweating like pigs. I wasn't feeling well and I just wanted to lie down. I had a major headache. When we made it, the manager told us that our room was on the 5th floor with no elevator. I wanted to kill everybody! Luckily they offered to take our suitcases and I just fell asleep on the bed the moment we got in.

We ate what we had brought with us for lunch and we headed out to the beach. It was hard to decide what to do for such a short period of time but we were there to visit Ha Long Bay and mostly for Sunshine, who had insisted on coming. 

We bought a boat tour from the hotel, Gregory splurged and got the "fancy" cruise for $25 everything included, lunch, kayaking and a drink!

After arranging the tour for tomorrow, we went to Beach 3, where people go swimming. The beach within walking distance from our tacky hotel was just for boats. We took an expensive taxi to the beach. It wasn't that far away but it was really hot! The resort on that beach is beautiful and we only know this because we saw the inside when Sunshine and I were looking for a bathroom. Sunshine and I love to pretend that we are staying at those hotels and we memorize a room number in case we get stopped. Fortunately, that has never happened. Most of the tourists are Westerners and they don't ask questions.

The beach itself wasn't that pretty. The water was cold and dirty. The kids went in and out in a second. We sat on the sand to rest and read. We noticed that the Vietnamese were sitting on one side of the beach, while the Westerners were sitting on the other side. We also noticed that the locals wore clothes for swimming while the Western women wore bikinis! [Gregory's note: a lot of Vietnamese men noticed that, too.]

We spent a few hours there and afterward, we walked to town looking for a place to eat. We found a cute restaurant that had pizza and hamburgers. I can't believe that I ordered a cheeseburger and French fries but they were amazingly good. The kids and I were getting tired of rice and noodles! After dinner, we walked by the bay and saw the brightly-lit, floating restaurants out in the bay. We also noticed that a lot of the restaurants on land had fish tanks with all sorts of fish, mollusks, and crabs! I agree with Sunshine, it just seems wrong to eat fish at the beach (plus we don't like fish, ha ha). [Gregory's note: yes, you do.]

We walked up to our tacky (wannabe fancy) hotel, up five floors and finally made it to our rooms. I mean, what can you expect when the room is only $10 a night! Believe it or not, it wasn't bad at all and most important it was clean but the taste in the decor left a lot to be desired. [Gregory's note: the lobby was a bit too ornate, a little like the Paris hotel in Las Vegas, but this was a small beach village in Vietnam. The rooms were large, modern, and clean, with good AC and lighting. And breakfast was included, so...]

For pictures please click here

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uxXTzdBpsEpTBtnF7