March 21 - Hi and Bye to Halong Bay

The hotel was not only run-down, it also had a very disappointing breakfast, at least what the selection was concerned, the view was quite nice, overlooking the bay. I was still debating whether to stay on Cat Ba and go for a full-day boat ride on the Halong Bay, as I had not seen a lot of the bay as yet, or just leave for a different place. With someone heavy heart, I decided on doing a boat ride, so last minute, just before departure, booked a day-trip with the Cat Ba Express company, for $20, lunch included. I made sure it did NOT stop on Monkey Island, the tourist trap.

There were only a few minutes till departure, so I secured my bike and did the trip to the port - this time in a comfortable minibus (as vs. on a rattling, small motorbike). The boat had room for some 40 passengers, we were just 8 of us - this ensured a very pleasant mood. I took a comfortable deckchairs on the deck (where else...), I took the one at the front and had a wonderful view of the surroundings. It turned out to be a very nice, relaxing trip - I saw a lot more of the beautiful bay than the day before. There were two highlights - at one point, we stopped and were allowed to go in for a swim in the blue waters, and then the kayaking. I was in a double with a young French guy, the limestone in many places was washed away by the water, leading to caves and narrow passages - the place we stopped at was abundant in such formations - it was real fun navigating the waters and sliding through the tunnels. At one place, we entered a long tunnel, some 50 meters long or more, the other side of which opened up to an isolated inlet, surrounded by green peaks. Even lunch was pretty good - there was plenty of food for us. Later, we stopped at the floating village, where they were farming for fish.

This is the "real" Halong Bay

Small patches of sandy beaches

Someone must have cut this cliff

How on earth does this not fall?

Navigating through a tunnel

Floating village - fish farm, with our boat in the background

Close to 4 pm, we got back to shore, when I got back to my bike, I saw the fast boat pull in and decided to ride it back to Haiphong (for about Eur 10). It was a hydrofoil, nice from the outside, rather battered on the inside. I never thought it'd be allowed, but then it was: I saw a mechanic sitting on a step outside the passenger cabin, he allowed me to sit next to him - it turned out to be a very pleasant ride, which departed and arrived exactly according to schedule. On the way, we passed quite a few larger ships, then rode along the new bridge I had taken yesterday. The economic growth in Vietnam is one of the highest in the region, with 7% to 8%, there is also a lot of construction going on.

Containers

Vietnam coast guard

View of the new bridge I had taken to the island

Construction going on for yet another new bridge

We arrived to Haiphong, I collected my nicely-washed clothes and tried to leave town. "Tried", as there was a lot of traffic, it was probably the most packed city I had seen on the entire trip.

The side street had the smoothest traffic (no kidding, the main road was a lot worse)

I saw a large pagoda and then headed south. This time I rode into the dark, according to Google Timeline (I don't recall), it was past the city of Tien Lang that I found a small motel. My track says I had only covered 25 kilometers that day - it appeared to be a lot more, probably due to the difficult navigation out of Haiphong. Oh, everything is well.