Destination: Cat Ba Island & Lan Ha Bay

The journey to reaching Cat Ba Island and the less touristy area of Lan Ha Bay started off rocky.  To capitalize on our time we decided to take a sleeper bus from Sapa to Hanoi before immediately hopping on another bus to Cat Ba Island but little did we know that we would be thrown off the sleeper bus at 3:00AM in Hanoi. We were under the expectation that the bus would arrive at 5AM and we would be allowed to stay on the bus until 6:30AM. However, we were abruptly awakened at 3:00AM and our bags were tossed on the side of a eerie dead road in Hanoi. I am always up for new adventures and thrills but something about this felt uneasy and being stuck with all your belongings on side of the dark road in the early AM is not fun.  We positioned ourselves slightly away from an outdated street lamp to provide a sense of safety and as roman soldiers patrolling the walls of a fort, we each pulled sentry duty to keep a watchful eye for danger that might come our way.

In some odd way this was a rewarding experience sitting on the side of the road alone in the dark watching for danger. Naturally at 3AM we were able to watch the young local adults (20s somethings) speed on their motorbikes as they made they way from nightclubs, some rode in groups of single men racing pass each other, while the more successful males had a woman hugging their backs as they zoomed pass paying us no attention.  Maybe it was our ninja skills of using the shadows to hide us but we enjoyed the night races from the drunken youth. As the hours continue to slowly roll by we were able to observe the city center slowly awake with the movement of old timers beginning to stroll around the lake for their 5AM daily exercise. This was quickly followed by street cart vendors racing around pulling their food cart to claim the best piece of pavement in the city. Finally, 6:30AM the city has fully awake and the sound of roaring motorbikes resume the normal course of action.

And thankfully we are able to hop on the next bus heading to Cat Ba Island.

–LAN HA BAY–

We jumped on our ‘junk’ boat and headed into a world of 300 or so karst islands and limestone outcrops surrounded by alluring waters and the salty sea breeze. Its a majestical and mysterious location, inspiring and imperious but I fear my simple words will never come close to doing justice for its beautiful setting.  The karst island and limestone outcrops tower out of the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, which becomes the inspiration of a number of canvas paintings sold all over Vietnam and an iconic symbol for the country itself. It’s easy to lose control and find yourself deep in thought about the mysteries of this land and what is was like 500 years ago when fishermen roamed these waters.

Only an expert captain can navigate these waters due to the collection of islands forming a maze at every turn.  As we sailed between the karst islands we observed floating fishing villages with a number of families living, working, and playing on these buoyant communities. This reminded me of a movie called “Water World’ but to actually witness real people living daily lives on the water is unbelievable and not to mention the dogs I saw living on the same platforms.

It is mind numbing to think that it is absolutely possible to live life in such a way. I read several articles where sustainable sea platforms are portrayed as the future communities of tomorrow as we continue to outgrow our land resources and over-populate our existing infrastructure. Maybe a more sustainable approach to living on the sea is not a bad idea. We have all the technology and knowledge…just imagine….we could harvest energy from the sun, wind and tidal movements of the ocean, we could be just like these Vietnamese fishing communities maintaining fish farms under the platforms which they naturally eat the waste and other fish within their nets and so many more possibilities. Its likely a reality in the near future.

Lan Ha bay is a stunning place to explore and I am grateful for having the opportunities to see it, swim in the chilly sea water, and kayak through caves within the karst islands.

-Jason R.