Cat Ba Island is the largest of the 367 islands spanning 262.41 km² that comprise the Cat Ba Archipelago, which makes up the southeastern edge of Lan Ha Bay in northern Vietnam and maintains the drastic and rugged features of Ha Long Bay. The Cat Ba archipelago has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2023. The history of the island is so fascinating too!
The restaurant owner in Hai Phong, whom we met, recommended this place, and we had already started to consider visiting. They told us some nice spots to go and how to get there.
In reality, it was true as the breathtaking sceneries of the archipelago and the stunning limestone islands floating in the ocean. However, I must say there were so many rubbish not only on the sides of the roads and the beaches, which destroys this incredible nature and would cause unsanitary conditions, so we gave up swimming. We must pay more respect to Mother Nature to live together.
Rubish by the beach. We must keep it clean!!!!!
Day cruise tour
We took a day boat tour, cruising around major lookout spots, which were not our way to explore our journey, but we decided to take it because many places we wanted to visit were not accessible or too difficult to access. Some of them were already closed down due to COVID, or others were just no way to take except for entering from the other side of the beach, etc So we were happy to go on the cursing tour!
The boat stopped at the fishermen's village, where fish were kept in the divided cages, and they were just in there to lay eggs. The fishers live in houses on the boats, and I heard someone had never touched their food on the ground, so some people live on the ocean their entire lives.
We could enjoy swimming this time because the cruise stopped in the middle of the ocean, so we dived in!
The limestone cliff was mind-blowing. Honestly, I wanted to take some to export to our house in Japan and Australia. This spot was easy to access, and some local tourists were enjoying trailing like us. It wasn't hard to walk and took about 30 minutes or so.
We were cruising by a rental motorbike and spotted the long bridge in the lake heading to the small temple, which we didn't know what it was. It was steady, but some floor panels were a bit wonky and wobbly, so I was scared to go through, but I was so peaceful at the temple, so we had a short break from the ride.
So many colourful butterflies were flying around in the mountains, so I googled why there were heaps in the island, which said the tropical climate and untouched nature were the best conditions to inhabit. On top of that, a various of spieces, such as yellow and blue, caught our eyes while cruising through the wild nature. The photos shown above are near Butterfly Village, where the reflection of the lake and the cliff was gorgeous.
It was 5 out of 5 for us to stay in Cat Ba as a quiet location, affordable, clean and friendly. The restaurant at this hostel became our go-to because not so many eateries around there, since it's a bit away from the centre, and it had a friendly diversity vibe to interact with other travellers. On the first night of our stay, we chatted with a couple from Spain, apparently they were not a couple in a romantic way but travel buddies, knowing each other through online. Well, the world has changed how to meet up...
Our time at this hostel was very comfy, thanks to the friendly and supportive owner who kindly offered us Banh Mi for lunch just before leaving and arranged a bus ride to go back to Hanoi. There was a foot bath service every night, which I was looking forward to because it was so refreshing and relaxing. It was a very aromatic fragrance of lemon grass, according to him.
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