We had a plush private mercedes van for the 2 hour ride to Hai Phong where we loaded a smelly hyrdofoil craft that had seen better days which took another 75 minutes when we finally arrived in Cat Ba island where we waited again for 30 minutes for our boat to arrive.
Finally, we got onto our junk and felt the trip was all worth it
We have four person crew to cater to the two of us. Hung, 24 year old and the best English speaker of the bunch, Lao 22 year old novice, the cook and the captain.
Eco Friendly Vietnam takes off from another part of the island, away from every other tour boat company. Once we got underway, we were served tea from the top deck of the boat where the view was spectacular!
The rain began to fall so we retired to the inside cabin and inspected our accommodations. Our room has a toilet shower combination, one full and one twin bed, fans, and a safe. Comfortable.
After cruising for a bit, and stopping by the floating grocery store, we anchored in the middle of the bay, and were served a wonderful lunch!!
After lunch was siesta time! I found a spot on deck, though a bit breezy kit was still comfortable.
The flats make an appearance!
Sites around us...
They are encouraging us kayak though the weather is a bit cool. Donna is willing so we stopped at a floating station to pick up two kayaks. Other folks were already out before the rains and making their way in.
Our guys took a kayak out to pick snails for dinner!
It looks like Lao went out to pick these but indeed he did not! They were so excited about their haul, they went back out in the wind and rain to gather more. They looked interesting though pretty tiny. They didn't serve us these local delights, thinking they weren't in our repertoire of eating.
Instead, we had the following:
After dinner, we entertained each other with singing nursery rhymes for each other before turning in after 10pm and lights out around 11pm.
- Posted from a junk in Halong Bay, Vietnam
