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Brenton Kovacs's Travels
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Location Date Europe 1460847600 North America 1433890800 Asia 
1429225200 Africa 1420156800 South America 1359072000 Oceania 1291766400 -
25th
We arrive at the bus station on time, and the bus evens departs on time. The route from Hanoi to Cat Ba involves Bus, Bus, Ferry, Bus. Takes just over 5 hours to get to Cat Ba. Not a really scenic drive, but as we have met some Americans on the bus, the trip doesnt seem to talk long as we are talking most of the way.
Our hotel is right next to the Cat Ba bus stop, great. We drop off our luggage, unpack and head straight out for some food as Shaua is famished. We do not get back to our room till 11pm.
While we are eating i notice a young fella sitting by himself. I ask him to join us and he does. Patrick is from Switzerland and has some amazing travel stories to tell. Its not long before some people walk past that have had dinner with Patrick the night before, so they stop and we get to know the 2 young American guys. Next we are joined by 2 more Americans we met on the bus, guy and girl.
So we all head down to the Oasis bar for some more food. Its a 2 minute walk along the seafront to the bar where there are more people know to our group. What a great night of story telling and listening. Half of the party are leaving tomorrow, so we say our goodbyes.
26th
The day is quite cloudy and we dont get any sunshine. Its still a nice mild day, so we just wander around the small town of Cat Ba. After lunch we take a rather strenuous walk up to Cannon fort for a great view of cat Ba.
27th
We are hoping for a nice sunny day, but dont get one. We are up early to do the baot tour to Ha Long Bay. We leave at 8am and its not long before we are motoring very slowly past the floating fishing villages. Its not long before we are surrounded by the Islets(small island) of Ha Long Bay. What an amazing place. Our boat stops and we are going to kayak into some lagoons. There are 12 of us on the boat, but only 10 of us go into the kayaks.
We access the first lagoon through a 300 metre long cave, which has very shallow water. We are given torches to light the way, as it is pitch black.
Out the other side we paddle into a huge lagoon surrounded by high cliffs covered in tropical flora and perfectly still water. Truly amazing. We even get to see some large monkeys on the side of the cliffs.
We paddle back through the cave tunnel and head off to another cave and lagoon. This one is just as impressive with coral along the edge of the lagoon, plenty of fish swimming close to us, and pristine rain forest. We have arrived in another world! Our group padles around without making a noise as we are all trying to take in the beauty of this place. I could have stayed there for hours, but after 30 minutes our guide tells us to head back to the boat for lunch.
Lunch is a huge spread of food, way to much food. Tuna, fried tofu, spring rolls, rice, stir fried cabbage, stir fried squid, shell fish. All cooked to perfection. So after lunch the boats takes us to another remote place for some more kayaking. We sit this one out with and Italian couple. Its a little choppy and windy in this spot, not ideal for kayaking. The people that went out came back very wet.
We arrive back at our hotel at 5.30pm. Time for a shower and back out to meet up with some people for dinner. Another great night that lasts past 11pm.
28th
Today looks like it would have been a better day for the boat tour, as there are glimpses of sunshine through the clouds. But we are going to rent a scooter for $5 for the day and head out to the National park. The ride is really great through small villages and rain forest. I am very careful on the scooter as Shauna is on the back with me.
We arrive at the NP and take the walk to the summit of Ngu Lam Peak. Its a long and arduous climb. We arrive at the peak after about 1.5 hours. We are drenched in sweat as its a very steep climb of around 400 metres up. Te views are breathing, and worth every drop of sweat.
We take the coast raod bak to Cat Ba, back its under construction, so we get rather dusty. The scenery is not as good as i expected. We give the guy back his scooter and we are done for the day. Tomorrow we are taking the bus to Ninh Binh, about 5 hours by bus.
We arrive at the bus station on time, and the bus evens departs on time. The route from Hanoi to Cat Ba involves Bus, Bus, Ferry, Bus. Takes just over 5 hours to get to Cat Ba. Not a really scenic drive, but as we have met some Americans on the bus, the trip doesnt seem to talk long as we are talking most of the way.
Our hotel is right next to the Cat Ba bus stop, great. We drop off our luggage, unpack and head straight out for some food as Shaua is famished. We do not get back to our room till 11pm.
While we are eating i notice a young fella sitting by himself. I ask him to join us and he does. Patrick is from Switzerland and has some amazing travel stories to tell. Its not long before some people walk past that have had dinner with Patrick the night before, so they stop and we get to know the 2 young American guys. Next we are joined by 2 more Americans we met on the bus, guy and girl.
So we all head down to the Oasis bar for some more food. Its a 2 minute walk along the seafront to the bar where there are more people know to our group. What a great night of story telling and listening. Half of the party are leaving tomorrow, so we say our goodbyes.
26th
The day is quite cloudy and we dont get any sunshine. Its still a nice mild day, so we just wander around the small town of Cat Ba. After lunch we take a rather strenuous walk up to Cannon fort for a great view of cat Ba.
27th
We are hoping for a nice sunny day, but dont get one. We are up early to do the baot tour to Ha Long Bay. We leave at 8am and its not long before we are motoring very slowly past the floating fishing villages. Its not long before we are surrounded by the Islets(small island) of Ha Long Bay. What an amazing place. Our boat stops and we are going to kayak into some lagoons. There are 12 of us on the boat, but only 10 of us go into the kayaks.
We access the first lagoon through a 300 metre long cave, which has very shallow water. We are given torches to light the way, as it is pitch black.
Out the other side we paddle into a huge lagoon surrounded by high cliffs covered in tropical flora and perfectly still water. Truly amazing. We even get to see some large monkeys on the side of the cliffs.
We paddle back through the cave tunnel and head off to another cave and lagoon. This one is just as impressive with coral along the edge of the lagoon, plenty of fish swimming close to us, and pristine rain forest. We have arrived in another world! Our group padles around without making a noise as we are all trying to take in the beauty of this place. I could have stayed there for hours, but after 30 minutes our guide tells us to head back to the boat for lunch.
Lunch is a huge spread of food, way to much food. Tuna, fried tofu, spring rolls, rice, stir fried cabbage, stir fried squid, shell fish. All cooked to perfection. So after lunch the boats takes us to another remote place for some more kayaking. We sit this one out with and Italian couple. Its a little choppy and windy in this spot, not ideal for kayaking. The people that went out came back very wet.
We arrive back at our hotel at 5.30pm. Time for a shower and back out to meet up with some people for dinner. Another great night that lasts past 11pm.
28th
Today looks like it would have been a better day for the boat tour, as there are glimpses of sunshine through the clouds. But we are going to rent a scooter for $5 for the day and head out to the National park. The ride is really great through small villages and rain forest. I am very careful on the scooter as Shauna is on the back with me.
We arrive at the NP and take the walk to the summit of Ngu Lam Peak. Its a long and arduous climb. We arrive at the peak after about 1.5 hours. We are drenched in sweat as its a very steep climb of around 400 metres up. Te views are breathing, and worth every drop of sweat.
We take the coast raod bak to Cat Ba, back its under construction, so we get rather dusty. The scenery is not as good as i expected. We give the guy back his scooter and we are done for the day. Tomorrow we are taking the bus to Ninh Binh, about 5 hours by bus.
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