Cat Ba Island.
We are not great fans of organized tours but we decided to give it another try. We got a cruise tour around Cat Ba Archipelago and should admit that it wasn’t that bad idea. Price for the tour 310.000 dong (12.90 €) per person. Chill ride with couple of stops to stretch our legs and kayaking was a nice way to spend a day. Unfortunately at our first stop there were no monkeys on the Monkey island so we just walked around the island and the water wasn’t that inviting for swimming either. One of the advantages of organized tours is that you can meet a lot of nice people there. Of course we took advantage of this possibility!
Cat Ba island is not just hundreds of small islands but inland hiking trips as well. We checked Cat Ba National Park (40.000 dong entrance fee) with it’s biodiversity and beautiful trails. There are different options for hikes, you can even get to the seaside through the park (for that the best bet would be to get organized tour). We climbed one of the picks and enjoyed the view from above.
Kayaking can be really good alternative to organized boat tours so we decided to gain some independence and rented one. Paid 160.000 dong for half a day (after some reflection it seems quite pricey).
We went again to the Monkey Island and had more luck this time. Gang of monkeys was waiting for us. We managed to check closer floating fishing village with its over 4000 inhabitants (barely saw any people there thou), just barking dogs welcomed us there.
The island is relatively small so you can explore it in no time. Basically we explored every corner of it in one day. Our conclusion is that you can skip some of the industrial areas to the west. It’s easy to move around so renting a scooter can be good idea!
After couple of days of delicious seafood hot pots and scenic views we are ready to change scenery again. Ninh Binh this time!