A leaky bus
I began the morning with a traditional Vietnamese backpacker breakfast, a pancake. It was a strawberry pancake to be exact, and we sat in the shop looking out onto the busy Hanoi street early in the morning. After our brief breakfast, we sat down in hostel and waited for our bus to Cat Ba Island. Once the bus arrived nearby, we took our pick of the seats as it was pretty much empty. Not for long. Soon after, after we’d picked everyone else up, it was jam packed with more backpackers, all heading to Cat Ba Island.
It was a tight fit to say the least, and not the sturdiest of buses. In fact, when it rained the water was leaking in through the roof, and dripping onto people beneath it. I personally found it quite funny, despite also getting a tad wet too. We had a short stop at a service station where people got refreshments, before we continued on towards the ferry. At around noon, we managed to board the ferry and waited for our short voyage across the sea.
On the island
After our bus to Cat Ba Island had taken us to the ferry, another bus was waiting for us on the island itself. Once everyone was loaded up, we began our way towards the main residential area on Cat Ba Island. By this time, it was blue skies with bright sunshine, a lovely sight to behold, I was very much looking forward to this short chapter of our journey.
Thankfully, since the town was quite small (but the biggest on the island), we were able to get dropped off at our hostel. Our hostel was called the Trang Toan Hotel; it was nice but very quiet. You can find more info about it here. After we had dropped out things off in the room, we headed out to withdraw some money. There was actually an ATM on the harbour front which was pretty handy. While we were in the town, we decided to book a boat trip around the area and Ha Long Bay, as well as a bus to Sapa, our next destination.
Helping the local economy
This tourist town on Cat Ba Island is, for the most part, one long street. We took a walk down to the end of it before finding somewhere to eat here. The food never disappoints in Vietnam. After our meal, we returned to our hostel to gather our laundry. There was a hostel further down our road that had slightly cheaper rates than ours. You should know me by now, cheap is always the winner with me!
After dropping our laundry off, we decided to get our first massage in Asia. There were quite a few parlours here, but most were the same price. For only 180’000 VND (equivalent of £6!!!) for a one-hour full body massage. I had an old and experienced lady perform my massage. Her strength did not reflect her stature. This could have been Captain America giving me a massage for all I knew. When she grabbed and rubbed my thighs and calves, I tried my hardest not to laugh. It’s just such a weird feeling when they’re pressed down hard, it makes me squirm a bit. But I still like it.
After being beat up by an elderly lady, we returned to our room to recover, and prepare for an awesome boat tour tomorrow.
