Cat Ba Island (Part 2)

For the written extract of Cat Ba, click here.

For Part 1 of Cat Ba, click here.

Looking from the peak, it felt like Cat Ba as a trip was split neatly in two. The first part was definitely the adventurous half, with motorbiking, discovering places at our own pace and just enjoying the landscape. The second half was a much more relaxed affair with they odd wander.

Returning from the peak, darkness had fallen and we were using torches to find our way back to town. The bars may have only been 300 meters away, but getting back required a few kilometers of winding roads downhill. After finding the keys to the bikes, we were running dangerously low on petrol. To make do, I would be using all of my acceleration on hills and letting the bike coast downhill with the engine off. It was drastic but it did catch us off guard with consumption climbing up hills. The town was brightly lit up, welcoming us back with plenty of seafood stalls outside and bars open. It was a treat to see a smaller town celebrate a weekend, but it also seemed to have a lot more going on than a town of its size should. The large archway for Cat Ba harbour was lit up, as were two searchlights. I had to take it in while the others headed back to the hotel, only a few hundred meters away.

Returning to the hotel, I checked on Jon but again, he was not feeling the best and wanted rest. It was a real disappointment as this was one of the few times he was out of Hanoi and he just couldn’t make it out of his room. I was happy he had drank the juice and water I got him earlier, but he didn’t want me to get him more drinks or come out to the outdoor tables. While he had spent many weeks in his room sick, I think from that point on I felt his days on the internship were numbered. Fair dues to him though, he wanted me to have fun with the rest of House 5 that night, so that’s what I did.

To change the mood, I had a shower and got ready for an evening eating by the Oasis pool. I had a wonderful clam soup, easily the best seafood dish I had to that point. The lemongrass and spring onions in a clear broth really gave it flavour compared to the mysterious fish in the CWD that didn’t go down well. Following that, I joined the girls at a table right by the pool.

The night was excellent to start with. We just chilled out, had buckets and chatted away as the background music was set to an hour of chill trap music on YouTube that all the cool kids liked at the time. We didn’t mind as it wasn’t too intrusive, and the buckets were going down well. After a few Tigers I tried some of Rebecca’s bucket and it was strong! I would have considered the bucket to have twice the amount of vodka as I would have expected. It did catch up to her as she headed to bed at 10, along with Diane and Andy.

The night finished up in the Oasis club. It started out fun, with old 90’s tunes remixed with trap music, but then it got drowned out with trap house, and it was too much for myself, Sarah, Kristina and Alex. They still had balloons and we tried to get in the vibe, but it just didn’t click. We weren’t dancing our socks off to the trap house. We headed back before midnight like the aul ones we were!

I got up surprisingly early the following morning. By 7 I was staring at the rising sun over the harbour, and I decided that it was a good a time and place as any to write down stuff in my book. It had been a while, but the inspiration was flooding in with boats moving, the noise of passing traffic muted, and with space to myself while the others slept in. I also took some time to check out the town for postcards, but found little more than a quiet market. It was something, but not what I wanted. Cat Ba deserved its place in Vietnam’s postcard collection.

Following the groups plans of visiting the nearby beach, I backtracked past the hotel and on a short road up a hill. At the brow of the hill, a gorgeous beach revealed itself.

I joined the others at the beach and had a quick swim in. The limestone islands in the distance evoked something similar to the Beach, but far more exposed to the sea. If it wasn’t for the JCB and construction work on one side of the beach, it could have been top 5 Vietnamese beaches potential. As is, you have to wipe that out off your mind as you get in and swim in the warm shallow water.

I decided to return on the early bus back, so I left the others behind and got on, fearing the Monday morning grog at school. In truth its another instance of arriving in Hanoi perhaps too early. They got a bus that brought them back to Hanoi in the late hours, but it would have been nice to have a bus that departed at 2 or 3 to get me more beach time. Even so, it was a really enjoyable weekend. A day where you can have the sun and sea, and at the same time the jungle adventures is always welcome. Not quite Ha Long, but it was still a worthy use of my time, and worth another visit.