Cat Ba Island

[Feb 10-13]

Hoping to put the chilly weather of Hanoi behind us, we headed off for the northern coast of Vietnam. We pushed through an early morning, hard-seat train journey to Haiphong, where we caught a Russian hydrofoil to the lovely Cat Ba Island.

The town was pretty much deserted when we arrived. Although it's set up for continuing development, and already has a slew of guest houses and hotels, it's still a small town. During Tet, it felt even smaller, since everyone was indoors with their families.

What to do in an empty town? Well for one, our room was warm and comfortable, and the TV screened some amusing, if forgettable movies. Domestic comforts aside, the island is really known for its proximity to the limestone karst formations in the Halong Bay, and for the scenic greenery of Cat Ba National Park. We took a day trip boating around the islands under overcast skies, and although 9 hours was a bit long to spend on a boat, our trip covered some pretty scenery.



The highlight of the boat trip was the set of caves half-way into the trip. It's usually difficult to get a sense of space and shape in unlit caves, as flashlights seem unable to provide the light or angle necessary for definition, but these caves were made much more enjoyable by the addition of colored lights. In a way, the lights were a bit cheesy, but they made for terrific viewing and gave the place a Fraggle Rock feel.





We spent the rest of our time on Cat Ba exploring the land. On a bike ride to the various deserted beaches, we stumbled across the Tet tradition of human chess games. At these games, two men play Chinese chess on a board, while others beat drums and bark at young "pieces" to mirror the moves on the board. The players were deeply involved in their game, but since our presence seemed to distract the human pieces, we moved on.



A hike through the forests in the middle of the island proved amusing for a morning, but it wasn't much for views -- the entire island was enveloped in clouds and fog. Still, nice to get some exercise.



One other highlight worth mentioning was the Green Mango restaurant, a culinary oasis among the identical menus we'd seen elsewhere on the island. Here, we found mouth-watering descriptions of the food, creative plating, and flavors to back it up. It was more expensive than anywhere since, but well worth every Dong.