Vietnam Day 7: Cat Ba Island (Part 2)

We spent about half an hour in the hotel room playing card games and resting before heading downstairs for lunch.

View of Cat Ba coastline from the 6th floor balcony

Hotel room

Lunch

We had lunch and went for kayaking next! The bus brought us to a jetty about 15 mins away and we were whisked off in a boat to a floating kelong renting out kayaks.

We split into pairs and started our 1 hour kayak around Ha Long Bay. We were not issued with life jackets but proceeded anyway. The numerous limestone formations protruding out from the sea ensured calm waters within the bay.

We did not stray too far from familiar territory as the bay is huge and we can get lost easily among the identical limestone formations. We had a good time kayaking but we did not bring our cameras to capture all these as we did not want our cameras to get wet.

The trip to Monkey Island next was cancelled due to the rain and we headed back to our hotel.

After washing up, we headed back out to explore the shoreline of Cat Ba Island.

Water Park near the beach

Hundreds of motorists waiting for passengers

People flooding the popular beach

Picture of the beach

We got ourselves a hotdog each

Side view of the beach

We walked along the boardwalk which led to a further beach and the scenery along the way is beautiful.

At the less crowded beach

Huts along the beach

Islands and the dark clouds

As it was drizzling lightly, we headed back to the hotel area after staying at the beach for a short while.

Ferries anchored near the jetty

Gloomy weather but nice photographic effect

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant soon after and it was rest and relax for the rest of the night. It was raining cats and dogs soon after and there was a power failure in the midst of our dinner. Luckily, we had finished most of our food and proceeded to accompany Terence to a nearby internet cafe to book an earlier flight back home.

Then, we had more card games back in our hotel and watching tv shows while waiting for the rain to stop. After the rain stopped, we took a stroll by the bayfront and it was very lively with many people dining, shopping and walking around.

Bustling night life

By several roadside stalls

Vietnamese signboard near the jetty

End of Part 2 (12 noon to 11 pm)