Day 64 of The Big Adventure. 
The 7am alarm went off and we all trundled downstairs in our pyjamas for breakfast again. This time Parker and I had banana pancakes (that looked more like crepes, but still deeeelicious) and Freya had the standard fried egg with baguette dowsed in soy sauce. 

Then our bus came to pick us up and take us to Halong City where we’d board a boat. It was a four hour long journey and the aircon was not the best. 

We stopped off at a service station and I had the best cornetto of my life. 

Then we were back on the bus and heading to the coast. 

When we arrived it became clear that we were joining a tour group for the first part of the journey and they would be staying on the boat for 3 days and 2 nights. Whereas, we were disembarking after the tour of Halong Bay and staying on Cat Ba island. 

We boarded the boat and nabbed some of the sunloungers on the top deck.  

We set sail towards the limestone casts on the horizon and everyone else on the boat headed down to the dining room for lunch. We, however, did not get lunch because we’d only booked the transport side of the tour.

We were RAV. 

We sailed in amongst the stunning scenery for an hour or two and then moored in an open space of water. The guests on the tour were going kayaking. We were not. 

Thankfully, a lady in a rowing boat full of snacks (unlikely, as it sounds) came up to our boat so we bought some questionable potato crackers and some Pringles.

Parker and Freya jumped in and had a swim and even managed to sneak themselves onto a kayak! Cheeeeky. 

Then we were setting sail again, and after about half an hour we pulled up to Cat Ba island. 

We said our goodbyes and disembarked. I couldn’t believe the other guests were staying for 3 whole days! After just an afternoon I felt like I’d pretty much seen it all. 

We were transferred onto a bus that took us to Cat Ba Town on the other side of the island. The drive took in some pretty spectacular scenery and we all stared out the window. 

We arrived and walked to our hostel, which was basic but clean and the shower was powerful so we were happy. 

We showered and unpacked a little and then headed out to see what the town had to offer.

Walking around it felt like a ghost town. It was pretty developed; with two lane roads, lots of shops and bright lights, the streets were lined with empty restaurants but no one was there. The usual whiz of traffic had been reduced to a scooter every now and then. 

We couldn’t help but ask where was everyone?! 

Some later research informed us that the town had been over developed in preparation for a big tourist boom that never came. 

We settled on a restaurant that looked pretty busy and were shown to a table upstairs. Parker ordered a watermelon shake and proceeded to get very feisty when it didn’t show up after 5mins. I ordered a lemon, honey, ginger and rice wine drink because I could feel a cold coming on (this was not my week) and Freya ordered a Fanta (Mav). 

We ordered , some Spring rolls to start and then Parker and Freya had seafood noodles and I had a chicken curry. 

The noodles came out before the Spring rolls, and the watermelon shake for that matter, and Parker was furious. 

Asians just don’t seem to have a sense of order when it come to meals. 

It was delicious all the same and we left very content. 

We went in search of some peanut m&ms for dessert and it was surprisingly difficult to find confectionary in this town. I almost couldn’t wait to be back where there were 7elevens on every corner. 

We finally found some chocolate and headed home to bed.

On the way past reception, Parker went to ask what time breakfast was served as our booking had free breakfast included. The man looked puzzled and said ‘there’s no breakfast included’.

We went upstairs to double check our booking and it did indeed say that we were entitled to a breakfast. 

Parker went back downstairs to show him and made it perfectly clear she was very unhappy about the state of affairs.