Sunshine and rain in Ha Long Bay

 My destination in Ha Long Bay was Cat Ba Island. I took overnight boat to get there. Obviously on the way I wanted to see the actual thing what Ha Long Bay is famous for, the limestone islands.

 Too many tourist boats for my taste, but overall everything was well organised. Food was good and staff friendly. We went to see floating fisherman villages and a massive cave on the way to Cat Ba. Got a chance to do some kayaking as well. Weather was warm, but misty cause of a raging storm in the area past few days. Cruises on previous days were all cancelled cause of the weather conditions. I got lucky with my time planing.

Cat Ba Island National Park

 Cat Ba Island itself was small and beautiful. It was a quick busride from the small harbour to the otherside of the island to the town. My trip to Cat Ba unfortunately was short cause of an accident with a scooter.
 But before all the hassle, I had time to enjoy some nice jungle trekking in the National Park, learning some war history in the old Hospital cave what is a three floor real cave what was used as a hospital during the war time. And of course lets not forget Cat Ba is an  island so obviously I had a chance for some swimming in the beautiful beaches.

    

Hospital Cave

At Cat Ba

 Renting a scooter is the easiest and most convenient way to get around the island. I strongly recommend, but be careful with your speed on the small roads. I made a rookie mistake and long trousers and proper shoes would have saved me, but wearing shorts and flip flops caused me a small wound. Without proper hospital care and antibiotics it got infected faster than I got to Hanoi. It took one day to get back there. After few days running in and out of hospital, alone with my backpack and not being able to walk, the doctor strongly recommended me to fly back home before the wound would get worse. Shit happens sometimes, but at least my flight home was pretty comfortable being heavily drugged and having four seats all to myself!


 After all the whole trip was awesome and I have no bad memories even though I had to unfortunately come back home earlier than I was supposed to. It took over a month for the wound to heal and now I got a scar to remind me of what happened. But no fear, Im ready for the next adventure!