Sunday 26th February

(Cont. from Page 6).....The fort itself is not big but has bunkers, redoubts and quarters for the small garrison. Rapid reinforcement would have been possible with the provision of a helicopter landing pad. Today a visitor can view one surviving anti-warship cannon, a French 138mm but as it is off its mountings probably left in situ being unserviceable. In the gun platform there is storage space offering easy access to ordnance. There seems to be provision for some form of re-enactment with the ammunition cases stacked near the gun as if preparing for action; maybe this happens in peak season. There’s just a little more time to view the small museum which contains some weaponry, radio sets, war paintings and other contemporary equipment. It’s time to head back.
Cat Ba Island to Hanoi……..The sleeper bus from Hanoi to Lao Cai (Chinese border) and Sapa leaves at around 7.30 pm. I consider Huong Long’s 1.15 afternoon service sufficient but it appears that foreign tourists who seemed to arrive on Cat Ba in droves have either returned by a different route or increased their options by taking the earlier service. The shuttle bus which again fails to avoid chaos in Haiphong’s port area does not retrace its route exactly but instead it heads for Haiphong bus station. A German couple who seem to have mirrored my movements so far are heading south, presumably on a Huong Long overnight service. I am directed to a company tour bus but it soon becomes clear this is no tour. It is a local bus heading for Hanoi’s Huang Yai bus terminal. It stops at every opportunity to pick up passengers that flag it down. Coupled with the incessant blaring of horns on a highway crowded with motorbikes with trucks and other vehicles insistent on using the outside lane, progress is slow. By half distance the bus is full or so I thought. Whether by regulation, certainly there is a police check point, or courtesy the conductor produces small plastic stools. This effectively adds another row of seats. Soon the boy opposite me is fast asleep on the back of the lad in front. While these recollections I‘m sure will cause amusement later I’m anxious to get my connection in Hanoi. Unbeknown to me this experience will set up a chain of events which will cause me to question the whole Vietnam experience, continuing on arrival at the bus terminal at dusk just after 6 pm. I need to get to the northern bus terminal at My Dinh, but I don’t know where it is or how far. I have no option but to take a taxi. My experience now only reinforces what you will read elsewhere. The taxi driver explains his taxi is metred so I won’t have a problem. (Cont. on Page 8)