12th March: Cat Ba, Vietnam

I had a lovely generously sized pancake for breakfast, with a whole mango sliced inside. The less said about the coffee though, the better! Instead, I walked around to the hostel we’d been to for dinner last night as they have a roastery. As expected, their oat milk coffee was amazing. I had a lovely chat too with a few of the staff who are currently working there for a few hours per day to stay for free. Eventually, Muoi appeared and miaowed at me for a cuddle. He didn’t seem too bothered today though and slinked off. Perhaps he was holding a grudge for getting chased off last night!

It started to feel quite warm by late morning and I changed in to shorts to chill in the garden at the hotel. It was a lovely, peaceful day here, although there were a few giant bugs flying around, which caused Kaja to run in and hide whenever they erratically buzzed past. Sitting back with the forested karst peaks rising over the cabins was a lovely way to spend most of the day.

The temperature remained a steady 21C with 95% humidity and cloud cover. As we left to head into town, a milky sun broke through. The buses along the main road aren’t very regular, so we asked the hotel to book us a taxi. There is no Grab on this island (officially anyway), but apparently sometimes it works regardless. Consequently, the taxi cartels hold, and it costs way over the odds to get anywhere.

For most of the journey to Cat Ba town, construction was ongoing along the entire coast. This was nothing though compared with at the town itself. Astonishingly, the entire bay between the spectacular karst peaks had been filled in and a whole new beach town was being constructed. Looking out from what was until recently the promenade of this small town, a sea of dust, cranes, and piling rigs sat where the ocean should’ve been. It was one of the most extraordinary sights I’ve ever seen and felt like being on the front line of an investigative documentary into unsustainable development. The town felt like a shambles. I wonder if any local people will benefit from this scheme at all? Plenty will suffer from the pollution and impacts on the coral reef, water, and the desecration of their hometown. I suspect the money brought in by these massive developments will likely stay on site as tour groups are bussed in and out. There is little confirmed information on the schemes, but allegations of bribery of local officials and of UNESCO committees seem widespread online. Official reports and environmental expert recommendations were repeatedly ignored. Local people are furious but powerless to prevent it.

We walked out on the only road which wasn’t caked in construction dust, hoping to get away from this madness and find the views we’d come for. Fortunately, on the other side of the headland it was like another world. Dozens of karst islands could be seen out to sea, past the end of a cove with a wide golden beach. We watched tiny crabs roll balls of sand away from their holes before darting back in. Kaja found lots of coral on the beach and wanted shells too, but each was home to a small creature so was left on the sand.

Up to the east, there was a pathway around the headland which we decided to follow back to town. With the rocky coastline below us on this temperate cloudy day, it felt like it could be somewhere in southwest England. That was until we looked out to a sea dotted with limestone islands. The path eventually led to another quiet sandy beach and a hotel. The beach bars were all closed and the guests wearing jackets rather than swimwear.

Back in town, with small-scale building work also taking place all over the low season streets, this felt a most unwelcoming place. Of course, much of this building work is to repair the damage from the devastating Typhoon Yagi and it’s important to support local businesses in their recovery. Still, if we’d stayed here, I think I’d want to leave today. On our bus in yesterday, we were the only ones dropped off before the town and it felt like a rogue choice. I’m very glad of that decision today though and we won’t be coming back into Cat Ba town if we can help it! Before leaving today, we had a hearty meal of rice with lemongrass tofu and sweet and sour vegetables. Finding a taxi back in the dark was tricky, but Kaja managed to wave one down and haggle a bit. Still, we paid over the odds to get back out of this currently hellish town back to the tranquillity of our cabin.