A boat ride through Lan Ha and Ha Long B

Of course no trip to Cat Ba, the biggest island of the famous Ha Long Bay would be complete without a boat trip. It is a UNESCO world heritage side and one of the new 7 wonders of nature. Its jungle covered jagged limestone karsts look like Ha Giang mountains submerged into the sea. It’s really a one of a kind beauty. We intentionally chose to go to Cat Ba and not to Ha Long city because Ha Long Bay there is incredibly busy with tourists and there are usually so many boats you can’t even enjoy the view. There were many tour boats leaving from our Harbour but our group was pretty small and we did have some peaceful ( boat free) time. It was really sunny with few clouds which made for nice pictures but was also really hot. We stopped for kayaking which was a great way to see everything up close, a workout with a view. We went through 3 caves, one in which you had to lay down all the way to get under the narrow ceiling. The water was beautiful and refreshing when getting splashed. After we had two opportunities to swim which was really fun. Charly enjoyed a jump off the side of the boat, a video we will addd later. We could swim to monkey island, which has - did you guess it - wild monkeys. It’s actually prohibited now to enter, to protect wildlife and guests, but it seems they don’t take it so seriously. We did see some people get scratched and bitten after antagonizing monkeys so maybe the authorities have a point. After a long day we were happy to have made it to our beds…although we did dream of nice soft European mattresses. Charlys least favourite moment was discovering that a cockroach was taking a break on her toothbrush. The next day we switched hotels, to one more downtown, and with more comfort. We tried to see the bioluminescent plankton at a beach but unfortunately were not successful. Then it was time for our last trip with our trusted bikes to Ha Noi and onto a plane to Da Nang.Read more