Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island

Do you remember the Moomins? Halong Bay looks like the place they went to where the freaky wee hippo things sailed around in the funny wee boats. Remember? All those pointy blue islands?

We went to Halong Bay for a few days and took a boat to Cat Ba Island. There are over three thousand islands in the Bay – kayaking around a few of them is only enough to get a taste of what could be hidden there. At low tide you can kayak under gaps in the cliffs and explore hidden lagoons in the centre, surrounded by sheer limestone walls. The limestone caves are also really impressive – ‘Amazing Cave’ is just as its name suggests, though instead of telling us geological facts, the guided tour consisted of “can anyone think what this rock looks like? No? It looks a bit like a bear. And this one looks like a turtle and this one looks like a penguin and this one……” Amazing.

We spent a night on the boat and two nights on Cat Ba Island. The night on the boat was cool, very romantic - the sound of the waves lapping against the side of the boat, the scrabbling of rats trying to get into your room, awwwwww. Cat Ba Island is the only inhabited island in Halong bay. We spent the first day exploring the island by mountain bike. We visited ‘Hospital Cave’ which was used as a hospital for high-ranking officers during the American war. Our guide was an ageing officer who served there as a lookout for enemy planes flying overhead. We were ‘treated’ to a rare rendition of Vietnamese military songs when he had us trapped in the depths of the caves, very surreal.