Wednesday 22nd February

(Cont. From Page 1).....My first words of Vietnamese become BIA HA NOI; it’s ok too and cheap just 15,000 dong per bottle. I get nothing suitable at the station so it’s back to the hotel to fall back onto the internet. At least today I’ve had my initiation into the Vietnamese way of life.

Thursday 23rd February

Destination Cat Ba Island........Overnight I consider my options and decide to head for Luong Yen bus station. I settle up with Minh Toan Hotel who neglected to tell me there was a 10% service charge and jump in a taxi. At the bus station Hoang Long bus company offers transport to Cat Ba town on Cat Ba Island, the largest of the 300 odd islands that occupy the Ca Ba island chain. The rate is 190,000 dong plus the taxi fare from the hotel. I guess the 300,000 dong the hotel would charge would have been easier and on reflection use the more scenic route to the island to compensate. Certainly the service Hoang Long offers takes you into Haiphong and, after a change of bus, into the congested container port area made worse now by new road construction. At a rather small and uninspiring pier the occupants of the small bus pile onto a ferry boat. It really doesn’t help that the weather is overcast, the gray skies offering little in the way of views of the islands that are an icon for the Vietnamese tourist industry. However on reaching the pier at Phu Long things do start to improve. I similar bus is waiting for the fourth and final leg of this journey; to Cat Ba town.
Ticking Many Boxes……..The route across the island skirts the rocky coastline occasionally traversing the salt marsh and mangrove swamplands while the limestone karsk mountains rise majestically all around. It gradually feels like a step into another world. The small bus heads into the town then along the sea front to the company’s office. You at once get into a comfort zone with a more familiar feel; you could be on the Costa Brava or even on Brighton Pier. This is ‘holiday land’. As the passengers alight an inevitable frenzy of activity around the bus is created by eager hoteliers all anxious to convince you they can offer you the best deal. (Cont. on Page 3)