Halong Bay, Lan Ha Bay & Cat Ba Island

Travel Day to Cat Ba Island

We enjoyed our last breakfast in Hanoi and had a couple of hours to kill before being picked up by our bus. We walked by some pretty street murals that showed some of the history of Vietnam.

We walked to what was one of the most unique and entertaining coffee shops of the trip so far. To access Coffee Nang, we had to enter through a tiny alley, go up lot of mysterious and sketchy stairs, until we arrived at the neatest little balcony overlooking a busy intersection. We tried egg coffee and coconut coffee and were seriously entertained watching the chaos on the intersection below.

A few last sightings around Hanoi. I especially like the mix of old and new as the woman carrying her baskets was examining her smart phone.

We got on the bus to Cat Ba Island and enjoyed the two and half hour drive in air conditioning. I was amused by this guy's little cell phone umbrella on his motorcycle.

Just before the island, we had the opportunity to take this nifty cable car instead of the ferry. This cable car has the tallest tower in the world and just opened in 2020. I didn't even know about this so it was a happy surprise and a pretty neat way to arrive to an island!

Once we got to the island, we got on yet another bus and drove another 25 minutes to our hotel. It was very pretty on the outside and had a neat pool on top. Unfortunately the AC didn't work quite well enough to cool down the room. We managed but were pretty happy with it being a one night stay.

We walked up the road to a yummy banh mi spot and enjoyed sandwiches for a quick lunch. We found a place for the cheap local keg beer once again. This time is was only 85 cents for two glasses. Crazy!

We cooled off as much as we could in our hotel room and decided to check out the town and the beach. It was Saturday and the town was mobbed with Vietnamese tourists. It was incredibly hot and we were sweating through our clothes. Gross! Still, it was a beautiful town and a little taste of the Halong Bay cruise ahead.

The town was full of seafood choices and we had a delicious soup for dinner, among a few other things.

We got to bed somewhat early eager and excited for our cruise tomorrow.

Lan Ha and Halong Bay. Wow!

We started off with a hearty breakfast. The mango pancake and omelets were especially good.

We were picked up at our hotel and began our journey to the cruise boat where we would sleep for the night. After the van ride, we took a small boat to our big boat and were so happy to see our beautiful bedroom.

It wasn't long before we headed out across Lan Ha Bay. The scenery was stunning right from the start. We were on a boat with 15 passengers and 4 crew members. The passengers included families from Connecticut, England, and Germany. There were five teenagers so DD#2 fit right in. She made friends and played card games and swam with the other kids. We enjoyed eating family-style for all our meals on the boat. It was really interesting seeing some of the floating homes and villages where people made their living fishing. It looks like a very hard life but with beautiful surroundings.

After lunch, the crew dropped anchor in a pretty area where we could jump in off the boat for a swim. Everyone gave it a try. DD#2 was even doing backflips off the boat! After the swim, we continued on to a beautiful area where we set off on kayaks. Our wonderful tour guide took us through caves to hidden lagoons only accessed by a small cave opening. Absolutely stunning! Even better was the fact that our boat seemed to be the only one around. Our tour company was known for avoiding tourists and so far, I was impressed.

We kayaked to a beautiful beach where we swam some more. It was incredibly hot but luckily the scenery was distracting. What a workout it was to kayak and swim. We loved it. It was still hard to imagine that here we were swimming in Halong Bay. We got back on the boat and enjoyed more scenery, a beautiful sunset, and a lovely dinner. DD#2 tried to fish for squid in the evening. We could see the bright lights of squid fisherman in the distance.

It was an amazing day that I will never forget. I fell asleep so easily. We were all exhausted from all the fun in the Vietnam sun.

More Kayaking, Swimming and back to Cat Ba Island

We awoke early for a 7:30am breakfast. Vietnamese crepes, fruit, and eggs were on the menu. We got moving pretty quickly to an idyllic spot for kayaking. Our amazing guide, Quyen, took us through a roped off closed area through a cave to an amazing lagoon. From there we went through a few other secret openings to reach more private lagoons. They were surrounded by high limestone cliffs and we could spy on jellyfish and birds on our journey. This kayaking session lasted nearly two hours. It's exhausting in this kind of heat. Even in the morning.

The boat moved on to a secluded beach where we swam and jumped off the boat. I found a few neat shells to bring home. It was all just so beautiful.

We had our last meal on the boat and slowly journeyed back to Cat Ba Island. There were some other beautiful ships we saw along the way.

We cruised by candle rock which may collapse at any point. Check out the skinny base!

Last picture before we set shore.

We checked into a different hotel in Cat Ba town and were relieved with the great air conditioning. It was so humid with a heat index over 105 in the afternoons. It was rough. After we cooled down, we took a walk up to Cannon Fort where we saw the bay from a higher vantage point.

This little goat was up there hanging out too.

We found a nearby restaurant for dinner where we shared more fresh spring rolls, another glass noodle dish, and beverages. Many of our meals are averaging between $10-12 for all of us. Incredible value here! We were completely entertained by the two restaurant kittens. They were playing like crazy!

Our cruise was unforgettable. Surely it will be the highlight of our trip to Vietnam.