Cat Ba - Houseboat

One of our highlights in Cat Ba: spending the night on a houseboat in Lan Ha Bay!

After a hearty breakfast and a packing session that varied in speed (guess who's the neater one.....?), we headed to the port!

Our host had already given us the contact information of a couple who would organize a taxi boat for us, so off we went. The speed was rather slow, but we could enjoy the view again.

After half an hour, we arrived: a small and cute houseboat in the middle of the sea! It was absolutely fascinating and a truly beautiful place! The sanitary facilities as well as our bedroom were relatively simple, but we didn't mind at all because of the breathtaking view!

The houseboat consisted of a small part with bedrooms, two "pavilions" with hammocks, two toilets, a shower, and a kitchenette of the host. The shower water and water for brushing teeth, etc. were collected in a rain barrel. The house on the sea had electricity from a solar system, which charged large batteries. There were also plenty of canoes for exploring the sea, bays, and hidden beaches!

But first, it was time to chill and sunbathe! (Of course, with sufficient sun protection - we've learned our lesson). In this beautiful environment, we could relax incredibly well.

Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones on the sea, and as we went further, the waves got higher. They were caused by the wind but also by different ships. Since we promised our families to come back safely, we decided to turn around and take a small paddling break at the plastic beach. When we arrived there, the amount of trash was really shocking. Once again, it became clear who the true romantic was: Emilie found the washed-up things on the beach "so exciting" and explored the island, while Anna was rather shocked and couldn't open up so easily...

Since it was already afternoon, we had to start our way back before it got dark. We could take a short rest, but paddling was still very tiring. Although Emilie didn't navigate well in any city, she was surprisingly good at navigating on the sea, so we quickly returned to the houseboat, despite Anna's brief panic attack.

Before dinner, we enjoyed an incredibly beautiful sunset. The play of colors in the sky was breathtaking!

For dinner, our host cooked traditional food for us, which we had already eaten a few times (almost every day), but it still tasted delicious. The water spinach, in particular, tasted really good and was fresh (unfortunately, Emilie couldn't taste the difference, damn post-COVID).

In the evening, we sat together with the group, had a lot of conversations, and got some more tips for our onward journey. A couple had taken an orangutan tour through the jungle in Indonesia, which is definitely also on our list!

Then it was time to go to bed. According to the other guests, the ship was very soundproof, and you wake up with the beautiful sunrise. However, this was only partially true. It was actually quite noisy, and we were fully awake by half past seven. However, the sunrise at half past six (which Anna briefly managed to get up for after someone in the next room let their alarm ring three times) was cloudy and hardly visible.

For the start of the day, the host served us a delicious breakfast. However, it was very unusual for European standards: glass noodles with tofu and spinach :-D but it was very tasty!

After being able to relax on the boat for a few more hours, we took a taxi boat back with a Belgian family to catch the bus at 4 p.m. from our hostel to Ninh Binh. One last time, we had the delicious avocado salad and fries from our favorite European restaurant, and off we went to Ninh Binh.