Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island

Coming back to Hanoi from Sapa we felt like not entering the capital again. Having arrived at five-ish in the morning, we were lucky to find a bus to Halong City going at five thirty. After four long hours we were there (we already had spent ten hours coming from Sapa). In the beginning I was very negative on going to Halong Bay through Halong City. I thought it would be better doing it from Haiphong but at the end the tourist traffic in Halong City was not too bad. We immediately took a tour boat to Cat Ba as the only way to go to Cat Ba the same day AND see a bit of Halong Bay. The tour was beautiful. We were lucky with the weather and we arrived at Cat Ba, lying down on the sundeck drinking beer.

The classic Halong Bay

Cat Ba island is part of the National Park of the area in Halong Bay, thus under some protection by the government. So it served as both a place to relax (yes it had a very nice beach called erm… 2) and also for trekking purposes. Most of the days passed easily and happily and well… lazily. See it was the last stop to this beautiful country. The trek how the only exciting part. Usually people do it by entering the park and ending on the point of no return or returning from the end to Cat Ba town by boat. We found out that it would be cheaper and easier if we took our time. We took the boat to the “end” of the track were after walking a good 6km we were in a beautiful village in the middle of nothing. There we stayed one day at a home stay and off we went the next day. We tried to find the path ourselves in the beginning but finally we had to pay for a guide. A beautiful place altogether and a great base for exploring the Halong Bay area. Recommended to everyone.

Then it was back to Hanoi and from there a flight to Bangkok. Noemi was to fly back to Spain and another friend from Greece was to join me for a bit less than three weeks. Lucky me!

Sapa

It is a bit confusing to find a price that sounds logical in Vietnam. This time though we were lucky. We got the normal price for the bus to Sapa from Hanoi and after ten hours we were there after changing buses in Lao Cai. We were to stay here for a bit more than a week. Previously we had met a Dutch couple that they explicitly told us; “Go to Sapa, check-in in the Cat Cat View Hotel and ask for the room number 24”. The trick here was that it being the only room with a superb view of the mountains at the price of 8 USD it was not offered that easily by the reception. So we did.

Somewhere in the Sapa highlands...

Now, in Sapa everybody’s attention draws to the minority peoples. Of course you can easily skip that and just look out for those stunning views and mountains but the human/social factor has always been of great importance to the traveler. Thus some people deal with the minorities directly when it comes to tours and/or homestays etc. but most of them give their dollars to hotels. From the hotels just a few pennies reach the minorities. It is a shame but I reckon it is the same issue again with the “backpacking” community wanting packet holidays because they do not have enough time for their vacation. In any case, we were lucky to have a contact there. Her name is Su and if anybody goes up there, they can contact me for her email and mobile phone number. For some more information on the Sapa minority groups you can visit: Sa Pa, Hill Tribes of Northwest Vietnam (better seen with Microsoft Explorer).

Su - our friend and guide in Sapa

Around Sapa there are a LOT of things to see. The first day what many people do is go for the nearby Cat Cat village. It is a good introduction to the H’mong people but it is a very touristy kind of place. We did too and after this we went to Bac Ha market and other walks around Sapa town including Ta Phin. The highlight though was our time spent with Su. Su is one of this extraordinary women that being a single mother she knows how to show you around. We arranged a three day trek with her and saw beautiful landscape and even more beautiful people staying in homestays throughout the highlands.  I would like to thank her again for everything! I would normally spend months and months but we had to move on. It was back to Hanoi and to visit the symbolic Halong Bay area…