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We came to Cat Ba Island we intending to stay maybe 4 to 5 days. After our less than warm reception we immediately changed that plan to leave first thing next morning. Then we discovered what lovely people we had bonded with during the fracas, what a great family hotel we had checked into and realised what an excellent place this is to just “hang out”. We eventually stayed for more than 3 weeks.

It’s relatively cheap to stay here, our spacious room is just $8/night, includes A/C, TV, mini bar and a view to die for. There are some simple things to do on the island that we can achieve without lining the pockets of the scummy tour operators and the seafood is as fresh as it gets.

We started our stay by doing very little, sussing out the options for sightseeing, getting our bearings for the beach, how to get back to the mainland and having dinner with our new friends. In the mornings, whilst drinking strong Viet coffee, we spent a long time just watching the view of the harbour from our bed as it changed, boats coming in here, boats going out there and the sun getting higher as the day gained momentum. How sleepy can it get?

Our first trip out was to take a local bus to Cai Vieng jetty. Not much here, in fact, absolutely nothing. However, it was a pleasant and cheap sightseeing trip of the island whilst “enjoying” the company of a bus load of kids on the way home from school…..ear plugs recommended!

One evening at dinner in the hotel we decided to share a large Grilled Red Snapper in Lemongrass. The hotel doesn’t have tanks for the fish so dinner was secured by Mr Tuan heading off on his moto to purchase our dinner. A couple of minutes later he reappeared only for Neil to spot something fall off the back of his bike about 30 metres down the road. The large object began flapping manically in its attempt to escape back to the sea. “Oy, that’s my fish!!” shouted Neil as one of the waiters legged it up the road, dodging the rest of the traffic, to retrieve our dinner. Despite the roadside incident the fish was delicious and, as we now know, it was very fresh! Watching our fish flapping around in the road being passed by motorbikes was one of the funniest things we have seen in a long time!

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Our next trip was to The National Park where we had a hike through the jungle and a climb of around an hour up to the top of a hill 225 metres high. The views were excellent and it was a great place to have our picnic. We sat for about an hour and met other travellers and exchanged stories including similar “welcoming” receptions at the northern jetty.

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We also started to chat to Mr Tuan’s brother in law, Mr Anh the hotel manager, about the benefits of the hostel booking sites, Hostelworld and Hostelbookers. He’s very much “front of house” as he speaks very good English so he was pleased to give it a go. We use these on-line booking agencies all the time for reviews, information and bookings and, surprisingly, not a single establishment on Cat Ba Island is registered with either of them. So, it’s back to work for us and over a period of a few days we gave some free ‘consultancy” to help him get set up. In exchange, Mr Anh fed us some excellent food and beers so, all in all, it was a very fair exchange.

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Friday was Cheryl’s birthday, and we took another trip by local bus to explore the Hospital Cave. This is a 3 storey, 17 room building carved into a cave in 1963 with help from the Chinese. It was used in the war to house up to 300 soldiers, and was in use as a hospital until 1975. The rooms are now bare, except for a light bulb, but the excellent local guide, Ba, showed us around, and told us a little of its history. He took great pride in showing us where Ho Chi Minh stayed for the night, as well as the cinema, the swimming pool and the ping pong room!

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We took a picnic including chocolate mini birthday cakes from the bakery and enjoyed our lunch whilst waiting for the bus back to town.

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Neil planned a surprise birthday cake and asked Mr Anh if he could help him buy a small one, about the size of a tea plate. Mr Anh said no problem and asked how to spell her name. Neil’s intention was to have him bring out the cake after dinner. All this planning happened several days before Cheryl’s birthday and then, on the day, Mr Anh came up with his own plan. “You be in your room at 7 p.m. and I will bring cake and flowers with the two children”. OK, Neil thought, I can’t argue as he insists on paying so we’ll go with it. It was something of a close shave getting Cheryl showered and fully dressed, without appearing too pushy or spoiling the surprise, before the family arrived with a huge cake and some beautiful flowers. Dinner was excellent and the whole restaurant sang Happy Birthday as Cheryl blew out the candles and cut the cake.

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Mr Anh continues to show his appreciation for our “consultancy” and the fact that we’re now also “touting” his rooms to any traveller that we see looking for rooms with a back pack. So far we must have introduced half a dozen new guests and in exchange we have been invited to eat with the family several times. Take a look at the pics to see what great food we’ve been fed. We’ve also tried a couple of the hotel home brews, Snake Wine and Sea Horse Wine. Basically, they are home rice spirit with a little extra in the jar to provide that added touch of “mystique”. Take a look at the pics of the snakes in the jar.

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We’ve also had good fun with the family playing games. Ludo with Mr Tuan’s youngest son who is 7 years old (yes and he did whoop Neil’s arse) and card games such as gin rummy with the staff. These guys are cards mad but we’ve yet to even remotely understand how to play any of their games. Other than playing games we’ve spent a long time re-planning our trip due to the body swerve in the direction of Sri Lanka and also finalising visa dates to match flights home.

Blimey, what a day December 3rd was. Booked tickets to New Zealand for next year’s trip, got Mr Anh live on Hostelbookers, made E-Christmas cards and bought tickets for several games at the cricket world cup in Sri Lanka. Phew, time for a rest followed by a journey from the island to Ninh Binh and southwards.

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