Vietnam (Halong Bay > Catba Island) May 2007 D-3

This morning, we had to take a tourist junk boat ride to Catba Island. We were told to arrive at the boat dock at around 10.00am. We woke up early and had a morning walk around the Halong city near our hostel area. We had beef noodle (10,000d per bowl) for breakfast and also enjoyed a pot of local Vietnamese coffee (30,000d for 3 ) at a road side stall to get a feel of the daily life of the local people and the morning crowd.

After a 3 hour wait at the dock (most tourists were furious for this long delay), our boat finally departed at around 1.00pm for our trip to Catba. The junk boat had three decks - the upper deck had seats for tourists to relax and enjoyed the cool breeze. The middle had long tables and seats, glass windows for viewing and also a place where our lunch would be served. The bottom deck had lockable sleeping cabins for overnight stays.

The foggy weather at this time of the year had made visibility low as our boat moved towards the open sea. We were told tropical storms were quite frequent during the summer months.

At around 2.30pm, lunch was served and we had a great taste of various local Vietnamese cuisine on the boat. We spent most of time on the upper deck to capture a panorama view of various limestone islands as our boat slowly inching its way towards the Catba Island.

It was not possible for us to see the thousands of limestone islands at one go but what we saw so far was enough to appreciate and admire the beauty of this natural wonder of the world in the Gulf of Tonkin. Our tourist boat took us to visit the Dong Thien Cung, a cave which has "cauliflower" limestone growths as well as stalacites and stalagmites; and Loi Vao Tham Quan cave.

At around 6.30pm, our boat arrived at the Catba Island jetty. We had 8-10 tourists chosen to stay on board the boat's cabins and for us, we preferred to stay in the hostel (Giang Sun Hotel) in the Catba fishing village town. We waited for almost an hour for our hotel's van to pick us up. We arrived at the hostel around 7.30pm and joined up the rest for a dinner at the hostel.

After the dinner, we took a stroll to explore the Catba fishing village . There were a few stalls along the main street selling CDs & souvenir items. At the waterfront opposite a jetty , there was a floating restaurant catering for the tourists serving the best seafood in town. Price must be pricey too ! The restaurant had small boats to ferry customers interested in having their meals in the floating restaurant.

At around 10.00pm, we ordered two plate of fried meehoon & noodles at a coffee shop nearby our hostel and we paid 165,000d for this supper meal.

I had posted a number of pictures on this page ie the tourist junk boats, houses built on stilts, the boat people peddling fresh fruit for sales to tourists, grottoes and caves etc. Are the sceneries here quite similar to that of Guilin in Southern China or Krabi in Southern Thailand ? I had been to Guilin in 2005. Both places appeared to have a character of its own in terms of natural beauty !

" Lonely Planet has this to say about Catba Island - Rugged, craggy and jungle-clad Catba, the largest island around Halong Bay, is straight out of Jurassic Park. Catba has a few tiny fishing and farming villages as well as a fast growing town - so include Catba in your travel plan if you are visiting Halong Bay !

Vietnam (Catba Island, Vietnam) May 2007 D-4

After a good rest last night, we woke up early and took a morning stroll around the Catba village port. Here, we could see a number of small fishing boats anchoring around the port area. Others were seen peddling their small boats toward the coaster area offering their fresh seafood catches to local residents.

Catba town is fast growing and is now a popular summer destination for Hanoi residents. The amenities in the town and the main streets were well maintained. Cars from Hanoi could make use of the ferries and land via Cat Hai.

In the 70's, we were told that many wealthy Vietnamese from Catba, in escaping the harsh communism regime, made an exodus from the Catba Island and most landed as "boat people" or refugees in neighbouring countries like Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand. Many were perished in the open sea.

After the morning walk, we had our breakfast at the hostel. At around 8.00am, we departed Catba Island and headed back to Halong Bay for transfer to a bus to take us back to Hanoi. Bye bye Catba ! What a wonderful place to unwind and relax in this sleepy fishing village port !

Return Boat journey from Catba Island to Halong Bay

" Ho Chi Minh visited Catba Island in 1 April 1951 (during the April Fool day !) - so if you ever visit Halong Bay, take a junk boat to Catba Island and you will never regret coming here ! "

Vietnam (Hanoi) May 2007 D-5

After the Halong Bay and Catba trip, we were back in Hanoi for the next two days.

By now, we were addicted to eating Vietnamese beef noodles (10,000d per bowl). So we had this meal for our morning breakfast. As we had a full day in Hanoi, we took our time to explore the Hanoi city especially the Old Quarter, roaming the back streets with hundreds of stalls selling all sorts of merchandise making us poorer by the time we finished shopping here.

Next, we walked to the Hanoi railway station. Tourists who are keen to travel north or entering China, may consider taking a train to Lao Cai , a small town near the Vietnam and China border. From Lao Cai, you may take a motorbike and do the border crossing to Hekou , 468km south of Kunming. From Hanoi to Lao Cai , the distance is 294km. I hope I could take this route to China in my future travel plan.

In the central city, we visited the Hoan Kiem Lake. There was a legend story about this Lake - something to do with a magic sword , a golden tortoise etc . We visited the Ngoc Son temple and the Tortoise tower and the surrounding area around the lake .

We took a taxi (32,000d) from the hostel to the Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. There was a long queue at the Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum when we visited this place in the late morning. I had to leave my day pack and camera at the reception before entering. Batch by batch of visitors was allowed to enter due to a large crowd. The Mausoleum was heavily guarded as we walked past the Ho Chi Minh's embalmed corpse placed inside a glass showcase. There was a complete silence inside the resting place.
We also took a picture of the Presidential Palace, an old colonial building in bright yellow color near the Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House

We paid 5,000d to enter the Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House. Uncle Ho lived here during the 1958 to 1969 period. There was a garden and a pond nearby. Due to a big crowd, we had to queue up to enter the stilt house. We had a quick glimpse of the Uncle Ho's office and resting room

In the vicinity, we also visited the famous One Pillar Pagoda which was built by Emperor Ly Thai Tong who ruled from 1029-1054. The pagoda is built of wood on a single stone pillar resemble a lotus blossom, symbol of purity, rising out of a sea of sorrow.

Next, we took a taxi (40,000d) to West Lake (Ho Tay). This lake is big and the southern side has a number of seafood restaurants. We also visited two Chinese temples and a pagoda , not far from the West Lake.

After the West Lake, we took a taxi (55,000d) back to the central city area and continued our walking tour. We came across the Water Puppet Theatre and bought a ticket each (40,000d) to see this interesting puppet show, which took an hour of performance.

" Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda and the water puppet show - you never get bored in Hanoi "

Vietnam (Hanoi) May 2007 D-6

Today is our final day in Hanoi.

After taken our breakfast at a beef noodle stall in a wet market, we made use of the morning to visit the Army Museum (20,000d per ticket). The museum had a great display of pictures on the Vietnam War during the French and US occupations. Documentary films were also shown on the famous battle at the Dien Bien Phu.

Outside of the museum, there was a display of an American tank, a wreckage of a US aircraft F-111, weaponry used during the French and American wars. The hexagonal flag tower, flying a red flag, is located next to the Army Museum

As we entered the Army Museum, a statute of Ho Chi Minh and a red Vietnam flag greeted us. It was really worthwhile for us to spent the two hours looking at most of the exhibits in this museum.

At around 12.00pm, we checked out our hostel and took a taxi (US$9) to the Noi Bai International Airport for our flight back to Kuala Lumpur. We paid a departure tax of US$16 each before leaving.

Good bye , Hanoi ! I hope to come back to visit Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) in my next visit to Vietnam.

" Franco-Viet Minh and American Vietnam wars, US jet fighter F-111, Russian MiG-21, Battle of the Dien Bien Phu, Saigon - if you are a war history junkie, come to Hanoi "