Test drive in Cat Ba Island

After making the decision to book all tickets ourselves to go to Halong Bay/ Cat Ba island with Elise and Jasper, we were in for a rude awakening once reaching Halong Bay. What we thought was a nifty way to save some money and build up on experience (which we certainly did). Turns out you are better off steering clear of both, all-inclusive organized tours (based on what we heard from other travellers) and trying to book all the tickets by yourselves. I mean, let’s face it; Vietnam is the king of ripping of tourists. The way to go would be to book a ticket from a to b with a tour organiser. This way there will be someone to help you transfer from vehicle to another without the next one always trying to rip you off.

This is how it works:

You go to any hotel or hostel in Hanoi (or anywhere in Vietnam) and ask for tickets or information on how to get from a to b. They give you misinformation especially on the local buses because everyone want’s to sell their overpriced and -crowded tours. Example from later on when we were asking around Chao Doc with my friend Antti, no-one seemed to know about any local transport to reach the Cambodian border, until Antti spotted the bus on a random street. Needless to say the ticket was close to ten times cheaper than the tourist shuttles we were offered earlier.

…anyhow, long story short, we had to take a private big-ass boat to reach Cat Ba (overpaid) only to find out they dropped us on the wrong side of the island (30 km from where we were going) and it was already dark. So we overpaid again to reach our final destination. 🙂 Live and learn I guess.The boat ride offered some decent views though.

Needless to say once we reached the cat ba city, we were a little exhausted and a little pissed, so, we decided to get a little bit more pissed with some newly met people from south africa.

Next day it was time to try out some motorbike action. Inspired by so many stories I’ve heard from other people an especially after talking to free renegade, born-to-be-mild -riders Jyri (FI) and Ben (USA) in Hanoi.

Neverminding the slight hangover, I bravely jumped on the first motorised bike ever rode in my life. And I’m loving it to this day. (still ride like an old lady and I’m pretty sure that might insult the old ladies, so sorry)

Cat ba is one of the most beautiful and different places I have been. And at this time of the year, the temperature was very ok for me as I wasn’t quite adjusted to hot-humid climates yet. We rode around the island checking the scenery and stopping for a beach-break.

Also visited a smaller, fishing village, which had a very nice atmosphere and the nicest people!

Like paintings!

Afterwards a well-earned good night drinks at the bar. Btw there was a promotion inviting us to participate “the bucket’s taking over Cat Ba” (buckets are those, well, buckets filld with alcohol and red bull). Needless to say we passed on this great honor.

For the last day in cat ba we hiked on top of hill 177, where an old air defence base lays. On the way we met this mezmerizing matrix-mirror!

Posed with some old war-machinery

Saw some war memorablia

Caught a stunning view

Spied on some tourists on monkey island

We got tickets to go back to Hanoi from our hotel and got an all-the-way ticket for a fraction of the price we paid to get here.

Even though I tharshed local people trying to rip you off all the time, I have to say. Once things get rolling here, no matter how chaotic it may seem, everything just works out! We took like three busses and two boats to reach the destination and all the exchanges were handled by a random person giving the next guy sufficient amount of money and we were taken care of.

Heading back it was quite dark already.

One of the craziest things ever happened to me on this trip. We were waiting for a new bus and I really had to piss. So I went to find a toilet, knowing that I risk missing the bus. After a while I found one and when running back, people around were waving in the direction of the bus’s backlights. Before I knew it, the lady in charge of putting us on the right bus starter cursing at me in Viatnamise (whilst grabbing her cell phone to call the bus driver, I imagine), yelling something at a nearby moto-bike driver while showing me on the bike. The moto-driver then started to speed to catch the bus, driving on the wrong side, making really dangerous manouvers, shouting at the driver to slow down. Eventually he did, just enough of me to get of the bike and jump in the moving bus. So, in the end I made it. Can’t complain!

I wish things worked this well everywhere!