11th March: Hanoi, Vietnam to Cat Ba, Vietnam

We were awoken by operatic music, announcing our imminent arrival into Hanoi. I checked my phone, thinking there must be time to sleep for a bit longer but it was 5:45 and outside the city was rolling past. We pulled into Ga Ha Noi on time and our final sleeper, and indeed final train journey in Asia, for this trip was over. This was not the end of our journey for today, however. We will fly out of Hanoi in 8 days’ time and will therefore return to finish our trip with a few days here. Today, we still had quite a journey ahead of us.

We began by searching for coffee and breakfast. Walking through the maze of streets, I was already excited about being back here next week. We walked up the west side of a lake, with the morning haze visually separating the temple on the middle island from the background buildings. We perched on the balcony of a little restaurant, looking down into the alley as various women on bicycles peddled their wares. It was a good spot to spend a couple of hours watching the street life whilst drinking tea and coffee. I had a healthy bowl of fruits, nuts, and chia, but Kaja chose better by ordering a moreish vegan quiche and chocolate brownie. I popped out to take a few photos and exchange some money and before long it was time to walk the rest of the way across the old city to our bus.

Waiting outside the bus office (each company has its own office here), the neighbours kept shouting at people for being on ‘their part’ of the wide pavement. There was nowhere else to go, as motorbikes were blocking much of it. One exceedingly grumpy old woman physically grabbed a young girl and tried to push her. That was counterproductive because, as a result of her being an arse, everybody else refused to move. It was all very odd and completely out of character with what we’ve generally experienced in Vietnam. I think they probably dislike having a bus company, and therefore bus stop, next door, and they think it will go away if they cause enough problems. Thankfully, the bus turned up before anything else could happen!

We boarded and passed over the vast Red River before joining the highway towards Haiphong. This journey to the coast included many further river crossings across the delta landscape. The new deep water mega port and other industry came into view as we bridged a busy shipping channel to the huge area of reclaimed land in the East Sea. Our way across the water was found down a dusty back street, on the margins of this massive trade node. Today’s third mode of transport was a speedboat across to Cat Ba Island.

We piled our backpacks onto the deck and found a seat inside. The journey only took around 10 minutes, the vast majority of which was anything but fast as we crept up a muddy inlet at low tide to dock on the island. What was presumably typhoon damage was immediately evident. This area suffered a direct hit from the Category 5 Typhoon Yagi last September, devastating Cat Ba and Haiphong Province. The eye had passed directly over where we now stood and, six months later, snapped trees and boats tossed upon the land sat as reminders of the power of nature. Mangroves lined the shore, providing a natural protection to the communities beyond.

A second bus took us onwards past shrimp farms and limestone mountains covered in rainforest. There also seemed to be a fair bit of construction, as we passed various coves where barges brought in materials to concrete batching plants. We were the first drop off, on the side of the dusty main road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We were both doubting our choice as everybody else headed on to hotels in town. We’d booked a place away from the hustle and bustle in a little cabin set in a garden. On arrival, we were greeted by a white cat and a French bulldog – both pregnant – who welcomed us into their space. The people were very welcoming too and I immediately felt at peace here. Aptly on Cat Ba, more cats came to say hello as we sat outside. A 4-month-old kitten introduced me to her needle-sharp claws by jumping up to say hello and refused to be peeled off of my trousers!

There’s one other hostel in this little village, which happens to also have some vegan food options. We walked around the corner, past the Vietnamese flag bunting and loudspeaker announcing something to the village. This place also had cats! I’ve never really been much of a cat person, primarily because I’m allergic to them. However, when little animals are so cute I can’t really ignore them! One cat here really took a shine to us. He was called Muoi, meaning salt coffee in Vietnamese, which matched his black colouring with dappled white and brown spots. Muoi came over for a scratch and then jumped up to put himself to sleep on my lap. I got him down once, but he wasn’t having that and curled up again on my other leg! As it began to drizzle, we retreated inside, and Muoi followed. I was delighted to see they had a pool table! Kaja was disappointed to see they had a pool table. Wherever, I put my drink, Muoi would go and sit on the table beside it and watch me until I came back over to stroke him. I was now owned by this cat.

We sat down to eat a veggie burger and curry with our mango and avocado smoothie, Muoi watching of course. He left when we did, and I thought that was the last we’d see of him. Then, around the corner he was stood waiting on the road and miaowed whilst running straight at me as if he’d not seen me for weeks! He didn’t leave our side all of the way back to the hotel, where the resident dogs and cats all had a thing or two to say! The white cat and Muoi stood a metre apart staring and not flinching for 10-minutes whilst we chatted with the hotel owner. As we went to walk past them, Muoi took his chance to run away! We’ll go back to see him tomorrow. We finished our night sat outside of our room having a special treat offered by the accommodation. This was a pleasantly hot herbal foot bath, from a local recipe, which is meant to help relax you before bed. I definitely felt chilled, although I’m not entirely sure if that was down to the bowl of water my feet were in!