During the first day in Cat Ba Island, we did the boat tour to Halong Bay, so on the second day, we will be exploring the island itself a little bit. We thought of going to the national park as there was supposed to be a bus from the city center. We didn’t see the bus but instead, there was this kind of open bus too expensive for our wallets that day.
We didn’t have all day because we were moving to Ninh Binh in the afternoon, so it wasn’t worthwhile anyway. I think Cat Ba deserves a lot more time to be explored…
As there are no locals buses or whatsoever and we weren’t comfortable riding motorbikes, we decided to stick around and meet the surroundings on foot. The thing is the weather was very cloudy and the rain was threatening all the time.
Tung Thu beach
Still, we decided to walk until Tung Thu beach, about 20 minutes away from our accommodation. We could actually have spent a few hours at the beach, but it finally started to rain. I really pity the weather during our stay on Cat Ba island. We could have done more stuff without rain…
Tung Thu beach is beautiful and was empty. Nobody else was there so we sat on two lounges near the water. Surprisingly and out of nowhere somebody showed up stating that we need to pay to use those seatings. That was our excuse to leave the place and move on to another place.
Cat Ba market
The following destination was the Cat Ba market. It started to rain heavily but at least we have some shelter now so we stood inside the market building until there was no more rain. The market is actually quite big and you can find everything here, even meals. The rain was so heavy that some areas closer to the street flooded. There were barefoot women pushing the water away with their wooden brooms. Everyone was very agitated and the market went even louder than usual. It was a funny thing to see and how naturally they deal with the sudden flood. I bet this happens a lot so this is just a normal day. But not for us, so it was nice to see how they act in these circumstances.
Once the rain goes away we walk in the opposite direction. We followed the shore until Lepont bungalow. Walking here just next to the sea offers a beautiful view. There are many boats parked and some fishermen. It was a beautiful walk!
These walks occupied much of our time left on the island so then we didn’t have to wait for a long time for our bus out of Cat Ba island. I saw also some bicycles with double and triple seats and I think that would be a fun way to explore around either. I think I haven’t spent enough time on Cat Ba and I think the island is worth a few days of exploration.
You can’t miss the best sunset-watching viewpoint of Cat Ba Island HERE!
Where not so sleep
I usually don’t mention the places where I sleep, but this one I have to. We stayed at Anh Thuan Hotel 1 and it was bad. We booked a double bedroom but it smelled so much like mold that we needed to change the room. Plus, this bedroom had roaches inside. They were kind to move us to a way better room that barely had a smell. This one didn’t have roaches, so better not stick to the cheapest room if you book this hotel.
