Amazing Cat Ba Island
Trip Start
Dec 01, 2011
1
32
48
Trip End
Mar 02, 2012
Cat Ba, Vietnam
Thursday, January 5, 2012
As we were the only ones doing the 2 nights we had a private tour ;)… Our tour guide was Kenny although we didn't know it at the time this would be the first time they had tried this tour and that Kenny was actually the owner of the company. Our private bus took us first to the hospital cave, named so as it had been used as an covert hospital during Vietnam War. It was really amazing inside, and hard to imagine the small concrete rooms being used as operating theaters. It was also really humid inside the cave which made it hard to take photos because the lens kept fogging up.
Our next stop would be to a small zoo owned by a wealthy family, where we saw a small bear, monkeys, porcupines, deer and crocodiles all native to Vietnam. When we asked Kenny if we would see any of these animals in the wild here, he said, with deep regret that conservation is not a high priority in Vietnam, and that if locals see any of these animals in the wild, they try and kill them for food. He then pointed out that there was very few birds around, which we hadn’t noticed before.
As we walked back towards the car, there propped up next to the car were three mountain bikes ready for us!! We had a nice scenic ride along the amazing coast line, through the mountain areas, up some very steep hills, and along some backroads leading past lazy water buffalos and rice fields, until we eventually made it to, Cat Ba Eco-Lodge (http://www.catbaecolodge.com/ ...check out the front page for a photo of yours truly!) an eco lounge were we would have our lunch. Surrounded by nothing but Karst mountains, we wished we were spending the night here, as it had rooms with million dollar views, on top of some great local food at the open air restaurant. Here we were greeted by a laid back American named Tony who gave us a great run down of the area, and told us he was here to help develop the eco-tourism business.
We found it sweet that they offered us a room to have a sleep in after lunch, if we needed it, but we declined the offer and decided to have some tea with the locals and Tony.
After tea, we took a trek through the jungle with Tony and Kenny, who explained that the path we were on had been used by the locals for generation to reach the only fresh water spring on the island (close to the Cat Ba Eco-Lodge), in fact, Kenny said that our driver for the day had used the very trail as a boy, and recounted a story that we had once made it to the top of the mountain after collecting water, only to fall down, losing as he had carried. He was then forced to trek back down the mountain alone, with the sun setting to collect more water, crying the whole way.
Kenny also took the time to explain much about the uses the locals had for some of the plants found in the forest (i.e. eatable plants, thorns from trees used to protect homes from thieves, seeds used for cleaning hair, etc). There were multiple routes we could have taken, but we opted for the easy route, which was great. Although Tony raved about a more difficult route with some awesome views…we told ourselves that Cat Ba Island is on the must come back list!
Our trek through the jungle concluded with a walk through a small village, with Kenny once again being a wealth of information. At the conclusion of the day, we went back to the pier to wait for the boat. While we waited Kenny introduced us to a great new card game, which we played for the better part of an hour, with a few locals and Tony. We left the island, wishing Kenny (Blue Swimmer Adventures http://blueswimmersailing.com/ ) and Tony Farwell, and thanks for making the trip to the Island so good. This excursion was by far the best part of the trip to Halong Bay, and we recommend booking a tour through Kenny at Blue Swimmer, and going to Cat Ba Eco-Lodge) and catching up with Tony, and spending a few nights relaxing in the jungle
Upon arriving on the boat, we found a new group of people, headed up to the top deck to enjoy the views before the sunset.
The next day we did a cooking class, where we learnt to make fresh spring rolls, and cut a tomato to look like a rose (Rob got top marks for this). After lunch we were ferried back to land, and caught the bus back to Hanoi.
