Cat Ba Island - Blogabond

The morning we woke up on the boat, I took advantage of the fact they obviously don't check or clean out the furniture very often, to leave my first bookcrossing.com contribution: I left Paddy Clark ha ha ha in the drawer above the vodka bottle in the hope that another (English-speaking) traveller would find it and take it with them (http://www.bookcrossing.com/6924642). We were treated to "eggs" again for breakfast. I was starting to worry about my cholesterol.

View from the top of the tower at the top of the hill

We docked at Cat Ba just after breakfast and the boat picked up the people who had spent the night in the hotel. We set off into the Cat Ba nature reserve, where we were taken on an unexpected hike up a small hill.

Us at the top of Cat Ba Island

The going wasn't too bad, but there was a couple of about 60 years old, who the Vietnamese guy in front of us repeatedly referred to as "old people", telling the guide to take it easy so the "old man" could keep up. I imagined how my parents would feel being referred to in this way.

The view at the top was very nice, although I wasn't at all sure about the steel tower they had built there, presumably to improve the view; it reminded me of the fire escape at our flat, which we needed to have taken down due to its instability. The top step before the platform was particularly fun. It was nice to get a bit of exercise, and very nice to see the sun again.

Joanne paddling the kayak

Then it was back to the hotel for the same rubbish again for lunch. Vietnamese food so far had been very disappointing, except when we had bought it from street vendors. "Included" Vietnamese food is terrible though. I think at some point someone has told them what westerners like and they've just stuck with the "winning formula". We got chatting to an older French couple sitting next to us in the hotel, who decided that they were going to join us for a bit of sea kayaking after lunch. On the way to the kayak place, we had our first first-hand experience of the mopeds in Vietnam, as we were taken by "xe ôm" to the harbour. It wasn't at all bad, but there wasn't that much traffic on the island. The kayaking was very pleasant, although my arms felt like they were going to be very sore afterwards. Team Shedden easily outstripped the Team France and we reached Monkey Island after about 30 minutes, well ahead of the competition. On the island we saw no monkeys, but had a chance to sunbathe, for the first time this trip, and swim in the sea.

The arms held out OK and suffered no ill effects afterwards, although the hangover from last night's vodka was still lingering on, so we resolved to cut down on the alcohol consumption. Same rubbish for dinner.

written by

The Happy Couple on February 3, 2009 from Cat Ba, Vietnam

from the travel blog: Michael's Round-the-World honeymoon

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Fear not!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7882850.stm

written by JW on February 14, 2009

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