We had breakfast as early as 7.00am at the lobby of the hotel. They will serve you bread, with selection of your jams with hot drinks - coffee or tea. We shared the table with travelers from Switzerland. They are husband and wife, took a three months unpaid leave and then travel to this part of Asia. They were into 2nd month of traveling by that time. So we were like so jealous with them.
After breakfast we get into the bus heading to Cat Ba National Park for some hiking nature sight seeing. The bus ride took about 30-45 minutes from our hotel in the city. I'm not sure about the entrance fee because it was included in the package. We were given about 2 hours to hike until Ngu Lam Peak and back. So we wasted no time, start to hike.
The trail is relatively easy at first but after you find this junction it will get harder as the hill is getting steeper. So have to be careful. There was this one old lady have problem with her knee and back so she couldn't hike until the peak.
We reached the peak after 1 hour hiking. The view? Greenery. And a bit misty. It was relaxing and satisfying as you able to reach to the top of the hill.
We hiked down through different route. It was not that difficult but still need to be careful. Reached at the bottom around 11.30am. Got into the bus and head to the hotel for lunch.
As for lunch the menu is the same, rice with vegetables and fish cake with some other same things. We've been told that we have free time until 4.30pm. That's a lot of time for small island.
As soon as we had lunch we walk around the city of Cat Ba. You can see there is fishing village nearby, and some fisherman can rent you a boat to go around the island. We didn't want it, but tried to negotiate with him, we eventually got around VDN30,000 for three person. We can still go lower than that because we actually leaving him and he still try to negotiate with us. I feel bad though. Anyway, we walked around and found a wet market nearby where local people buy some fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.
We walked for awhile then stopped at a grocery shop, found out that Malaysian products were selling there. Bought some bottles of water, Creamo biscuits and Pringles for around VND40,000. Then we walked back to the hotel. Time check, still have 1.5 hours left.
After quick google I've found there are cannon fort nearby, like really nearby. So my friend and I decided to go really quick, while another feeling not so well decided to take a nap at the hotel lobby. We rented a motorbike in front of the hotel, we were bargaining for $USD4 plus $USD2 of gas, actually can go lower than that. Me, without license and wearing non-compliant helmet, driving the motorbike with 100kg++ weight behind me. Plus, going to cannon fort it's actually very steep.
The entrance fee for Cat Ba Island Cannon Fort is VND40,000 per person for adult. The fort was built to accommodate fort, helipad and bunker during war with China. We were actually surprised there was a small airport there but since its for helicopter than it all make sense. There is also a U shape underground tunnel. They also have some history gallery there so do check them out. You need to keep the entrance ticket because there will be person to get ticket from you.
After and hour spent we quickly go down as we were running out of time. As we go down we saw locals walking up to the fort, be it kids and grannies for quick exercise.
4.30pm we boarded on the bus, to jetty because we are going to sleep in the boat! The sun goes down as early as 6.00pm. We boarded onto the boat at 7.00pm. They asked us to be ready by 7.45pm for dinner. Same menu, white rice with some fish cakes, vegetables and other things. We headed straight to the room after the dinner because all other people started to drinking, I didn't feel comfortable around it.
We hit the sack early that night...
...To be continued
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