Cat Ba island

So, it took a day to get the leisurely 'tourist' boat, a traditional Vietnamese junk, over from Ha Long Bay (in mainland Vietnam) through the Tonkin Gulf to Cat Ba island. The boat literally had 'Tourist' written on the side of the it. As if it isn't bad enough that you can see lots pale skinned people on it, they had to go and write a big sign too! There are hundreds of islands in this region, with Cat Ba being the biggest. The islands look like huge rocks and they jut right out of the water. It's as though an angry giant has just smashed one massive rock with a hammer into lots of tiny shattered pieces. Most of these islets have vegetation growing on them and from afar it looks like moss.

We passed a floating village of people who live on houses built on top of big blue drums. People do their shopping by buying things off ladies on their little rowing boats. 

The beauty around here is breathtaking and it would easily take months to explore everything in the region, finding new and exciting things each time. However and much to my great disappointment, humankind continue to ruin nature's wonder. I saw rubbish floating on the sea's surface, oil carelessly being spilled into the sea and the boats chuck out disgusting thick black smoke. This has disturbed me as I thought most people were aware of the consequences of such actions, but it seems that these people either know and don't care, or just don't know. Western countries have been pushing hard to educate people, to change their attitudes and thinking towards their actions regarding the environment; all such changes take generations to become effective as I learnt during my Psychology degree. If it takes so long to change people, why does it seem that governing and influential bodies are not doing anything about this already?

Thoughts aside, Cat Ba itself has provided us with a very pleasant and relaxing stay. We made some friends on the boat who we continued to spend time with whilst on the island. Our hotel was great and super cheap and gave us some amazing views of the bay. 

Cat Ba has a few beaches which we have spent most of our time on. They are all in bays of tall rocks looking out to other islets and the occasional small fishing boat that may pass by. 

We also hired some scooters for the day (Mum, please don't stress!) to explore the island. Hey, if you can't beat the things, you gotta join them! No way would I have done this in a city, but because the island roads are so quiet, it seemed like a good independent way to explore, and true, once out of the town I only saw a handful of other people on the roads. 

So now the rest is over. We are waiting for the boat this afternoon to get back to main island Vietnam to Hai Phong where we will then head south along the coast. There is not much between Hai Phong and Hue, so I imagine it will be a tough two weeks of hardcore riding to get to the good bits in the south from Hue onwards. And so the sweat begins...