After our scooter tour, we traveled to the island of Cat Ba by bus via Hanoi. After the cold north, we wanted to relax on the beach here and enjoy the sun. Of course, there is also something to see here. We rented scooters and drove to a viewpoint to get an overview of the bay. Cat Ba is the largest island in Ha Long Bay, but it is not as crowded as the mainland in front of the famous bay, where hundreds of boats depart daily.
The rented scooters were the worst. Wölkchens raced down the mountain like crazy, one misfire followed another. Marius and Cerina shared another scooter. At first, everything was fine, but then 20 km/h was the maximum speed. Probably some fuel line was clogged. But back to exploring the island: We visited the 'Hospital Cave'. During the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese built a three-story underground hospital bunker in a cave here between 1963-1965 and used it as such until 1975. At the same time, it was a hiding place for the Viet Cong leaders. It was interesting to look at, but unfortunately, there were no text boards or anything on-site, only bare concrete.
A few minutes away by scooter, the Cat Ba National Park begins. Here, there is a hiking trail through dense forest to a viewpoint on a mountain. What a beautiful view from here! Everything is green, hilly, and beautiful. On the way back to the city, we stopped at another cave. The Trung Trang Cave is definitely a real highlight for someone who has never seen a cave before. We were not so thrilled, as we had visited the Lung Khuy Cave in Northern Vietnam just a week before (see blog entry), and it is much more impressive!
In the evening, we had dinner at a restaurant. There was a larger group sitting at the neighboring table, and when they wanted to leave, we wished the man with the vodka bottle in his hand a nice evening. He seemed to like it. He sat down with us, ordered glasses, and bam! He split the bottle into 5 glasses. Cheers! It turned out that he was a well-known Tai Chi master in China, and all the other guests were his students. They were here for a competition or something. We finished eating, drank the vodka, which luckily wasn't that strong, and were then invited by him to another bar for beer. You can't say no, so we followed. Whoever has ever said that Chinese people can't handle alcohol or can't drink has never drunk with Chinese people. There are many rules and traditions that must be followed. The glass of the guest must not be empty (a missing sip is promptly refilled), it is a great honor for the host if you drink the glass in one go. Then he does the same. This means that the glass is empty, so refill it again. Oh dear.... Eventually, the master almost fell asleep and went to his room. That was our chance to leave too, we had enough! The younger ones then invited us, and only with many apologies and respect for their culture and traditions could we leave. Wow, that was tough.
At 07:00 in the morning, the alarm went off mercilessly, we had booked a trip to Ha Long Bay. The ship took our small group past floating fish farms, markets, and houses to impressive rock formations in the water of the southern Ha Long Bay or the Lan Ha Bay. Our guide let us disembark at a floating fish farm (a residential house and many square breeding ponds). The largest fish was kept under the planks of the 'veranda'. It is supposed to bring good luck and was not for sale. It's fascinating how superstition is lived all over the world.
The journey took us deeper into the maze of rocks, and we dropped anchor. Some jumped into the cool water, while we enjoyed the sun deck and the sumptuous lunch. Then we switched to double kayaks and paddled through caves, saw the rare (and almost extinct) Cat Ba Langur (a monkey), and reached a lagoon that was wonderfully quiet.
The ship anchored once again in another bay, where some guests went swimming, and then we returned to the harbor.
While we were in Vietnam, the SEA Games were being held. This is an under-23 football championship of the Southeast Asian states. Sound unimportant? It wasn't for the Vietnamese. The team made it to the finals, and the support from the nation was tremendous. We watched the final against Indonesia in Cat Ba at the public viewing. Vietnam won 4:0, and the people were ecstatic. There was an hour-long scooter parade, Vietnamese flags were everywhere, there were a few flares, families rode on their scooters (scooter, singular) with vuvuzelas in their mouths through the streets, anything that can make noise was used to make noise (lid, cover lid, the scooter in idle with the throttle open, and of course the horn and your own voice) VIETNAAAMMM!!! We stood at the roadside and let ourselves be infected by the boundless joy.
We actually spent a day at the beach. In the noise from the construction, as a huge hotel is being built right on the beach.
Before we returned to Hanoi, we treated ourselves to cocktails.
Then we went back to Hanoi. We also want to get to know the capital of Vietnam. We walked to the Temple of Literature, a temple dedicated to important teachers and Confucius (~500 BC) and at the same time representing Vietnam's first university. In the past, the Vietnamese elite was taught here. The Temple of Literature is definitely worth a visit! Several gardens are separated by large gates and pagodas. You have to go through all of them before reaching the main building. Here you will find large statues of the teachers and Confucius.
We continued to the mausoleum of the national hero Ho Chi Minh. Strictly guarded by armed uniformed men, the revolutionary rests in a huge block of concrete here. Right next door is the One Pillar Pagoda. Amidst the noise, we made our way through moped-filled streets to the markets of the old town. Hanoi is shrouded in thick smog. All the mopeds, trucks, and cars make the air in the city really bad. We are looking forward to taking a deep breath of fresh air again soon!
On our last evening, we went to the water puppet theater. Accompanied by traditional music (played and sung live), the life of the Vietnamese is portrayed in a sometimes funny way with puppets in the water. Definitely worth seeing too!
After 18 days in Vietnam (and 9 days in Bali before), we've had enough of fried rice or noodles with chicken. Together with Nicole, we drove to the airport and flew home. We will spend the holidays with our families. In early January, we want to hit the road again, we don't know where yet, but we'll figure it out. Now some equipment is replaced, exchanged, washed, friends and family are visited, doner kebabs and German bread are eaten (you can't find them anywhere else!). We'll be back here when we hit the road again! :-)
