Halong Bay

From Sapa, we took the Sleeping Bus again towards Cat Ba Island. The overnight journey was hell: when we got on the bus, it was already overcrowded. Nana and Steffen had to squeeze into a row of five between unkempt men. I had a special experience: halfway through, I woke up and had to go to the toilet urgently. So I fought my way through the people lying on the floor to tell the bus driver about my need. After a short while, he stopped and I already felt relieved. However, he made it clear to me that I should pee behind the guardrail on the highway. On the verge of tears, I sat down in the middle of the road and watched the passing traffic...

After 9 painful hours, we finally arrived in Hai Phong and went directly to Cat Ba Island by ferry. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to book accommodation and tiredly and slightly tense, we first went to a café with WiFi. When we finally booked two double rooms, we had to kill time for another 4 hours until check-in. We lay down on the beach and Niels and I fell asleep immediately. As dark rain clouds approached, we made our way to the hotel and were more excited than ever about our own little kingdom. As it rained for the rest of the day, we had a lazy day in bed.

For the next day, we rented scooters again and drove to Canon Front: a remnant from the Vietnam War. In the small café with a view of Halong Bay, Nana and I were interviewed for Vietnamese television. In excellent English, we provided information about the island. After this little adventure, we headed to the national park. On a decommissioned installation, loud electronic basses were playing and we discovered a whole flock of butterflies. After this wonderful spectacle of nature, we headed towards the viewpoint. Since Nana and I are now seasoned national park visitors, we decided to turn around halfway and let our energetic men go up alone, which we regretted a bit in the end. The two came back proud and sweaty with stunning pictures.

The next day was eventful too: we took a boat past floating fishing villages, went on a canoe tour, and visited the monkeys on Monkey Island. It was shocking that the tourists fed them with sweets and two of them got bitten. In a moment of carelessness, Nana was robbed by a monkey.

The beautiful time on Cat Ba was now coming to an end. The next day, we took the ferry back to Hai Phong. Here, unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Nielsi, who was heading back to distant Germany :(... Nana, Steffen, and I rented a triple room with a beautiful terrace and a magnificent view of the city, where we seemingly were the only tourists.