Cat Ba Island and Lan Ha Bay- doing Halong Bay for half the price and tourists!!

Thursday 20^th August 2015

We didn’t have to wake up early this morning but since I haven’t slept much since I broke my arm I was awake. I got dressed and lingered a little too long over breakfast meaning packing was a rush.

By the time we had all checked out the taxi was waiting for us so we piled in with all our bags and made our way to the bus station. We tried unsuccessfully to sell our extra ticket (but got almost half of the money back from the conductor on the bus!)

The bus ride was ok taking about four hours but we did have to change buses once not that we were told and bags almost ended up returning to Hanoi without their owners! From the bus we got a 30min ferry and then another bus to Cat Ba Town.

In town we had a late lunch and the found a hostel and went to the beach we got there in time for sunset which was pretty beautiful. We returned to the hostel and showered before finding a place to eat I had pizza as I felt like I needed something big and it did the trick. Back at the hostel I pretty much just headed to bed.

sunset!

the beach!

Pizza dinner!

Friday 21^st August 2015

We needed to be up early for our boat trip today but that wasn’t a problem as I no longer seem to sleep. We had breakfast and then at 8am walked to the jetty and got on the boat. It was the prettiest boat on the water, painted white with beautiful furniture which made us happy.

We started off by sailing through Lan Ha Bay which is the smaller less touristy version of Halong Bay but has the same limestone rock formations which are so iconic to Halong Bay. The boat cruised at a steady pace for a few hours before stopping so everyone could kayak through some caves. Of course I couldn’t get off the boat and so I sunbathed and took photos from the top deck.

About an hour later everyone came back and we had lunch on board. The vegetarian selection left a bit to be desired and although ok tasting there just wasn’t enough (except for rice we had enough plain white rice to feed a village)

Once we had eaten we drove again to a swimming spot where a few guys tried snorkelling but the visibility was shit of course I was still stuck on the boat. Thankfully on Monkey Island I could go down on the beach which was beautiful I sat in the water with my arm above my head.

Back on the boat it was home time. We had been on the water since 8am and by 5pm we all felt hot sticky and hungry after showers it was food shortly followed by bed

Saturday 22^nd August 2015

After yet another bad sleep I was up and ready for the day early I had breakfast and we said goodbye to a couple of the group who needed to head back to Hanoi and then sat around all morning relaxing.

In the afternoon we walked to the beach. There are three and we were told the second one was were it’s at so we set up camp there under an umbrella. It was scorching so I sat in the sea a while but the current was knocking me about and it was hard to keep my arm up so I got out.

We hadn’t been sat for long when this terrible music came blaring out from the speakers behind us we couldn’t even talk to each other and it was defiantly ruining the peaceful relaxed vibe we were searching for. Thankfully pouting gets you everywhere and we were moved to the third beach which was music free and was far prettier anyway! We got some food and chilled out for a few hours.

In the evening we walked up to cannon fort to watch the sunset it was cool exploring the fort and the views were pretty stunning.

Hanoi

Tuesday 18^th August 2015

I got up at 6am this morning feeling exhausted and threw o some clothes and headed for the bus. All I wanted to do was sleep but I was sat next to a very chatty girl. The conversation was great but all I wanted was sleep. We arrived in Hanoi at the My Dinh bus station which is ages from anywhere. The taxi was expensive and wasn’t a great welcome to the city.

I arrived at the hostel and checked in before making my way to the hospital which was ages away. Annoyingly I had to wait an hour to see the Dr who promptly told me it was fine no surgery needed. He changed the cast to a fibreglass one and gave me a real sling which is much more comfortable than a piece of string. And it was all billed to insurance.

Back at the hostel after yet another taxi ride I spent the afternoon chatting with people in the lounge and trying to stay awake later on I met a bunch of people from my room and we all went and had a meal together at an Indian place.

Wednesday 19^th August 2015

I got up feeling frustrated with my arm which makes me so slow. I had to sort out my insurance claim and try and change a flight but it was all going nowhere and getting me down so I went off to spend the day sightseeing.

There were eight pf us on bikes but we didn’t really see much as everywhere seemed to be closed. I did find an organic shop that has farm projects over Vietnam and spent some time talking to the woman who worked there. We went to a temple of literature but it was so hot and my arm hurt so much I didn’t really take much in.

After lunch which I didn’t eat and a delicious mango shake that I did drink we drove about getting lost in pursuit of the bus station which we eventually found and booked tickets to Cat Ba Island which is in Halong Bay.

On the way back to return the bikes we got lost again and took a huge detour across two bridges which was pretty beautiful. Once the bikes were back I headed to the post office to post my insurance documents and the later we all had dinner together.

hospitals hospitals hospitals

Friday 14^th August 2015

After a sleepless night I got up with my arm bulging out of my splint and my fingers all looking like fat little sausages they were so swollen. I got myself sorted for the bus to Hue which was three hours of painful bumpy roads I arrived in heaps of pain and hearing all the horrors people were telling me about fucking my arm permanently I was seriously considering moving my flights and coming back to the UK early.

I spoke with my insurance and they needed a full medical report so off I went to the hospital. Thankfully it was only 20mins walk away but it was hard to find the right place and after walking around dazed for a while a security guard picked me up on his scooter and drove me to the right place.

I arrived five minutes before they closed and luckily Dr Hu agreed to see me (he is my new favourite person) he took one look at my x-ray which he declared crap then said the splint was crap (and was mortified a Dr gave it to me)

Soon enough I was having more x-rays which confirmed a radial fracture. After some hideously painful manipulation my arm was wrapped up in a pop cast and will be for the next 8 or so weeks!!!

I headed back to the hostel but had to return in the morning to check the cast and collect my medical report. Once I arrived back I went and got dinner with a few others and then crashed when we got back.

Saturday 15^th August 2015

I was happy that I slept well last night and woke up feeling pretty good. I got dressed which took an age and I couldn’t do up my shorts one handed luckily I don’t care what I look like as I can’t tie up my hair and look like medusa.

I headed to the hospital and got a muffin along the way as the hostel said I couldn’t have the free breakfast because my room was too cheap… I got to the hospital and didn’t have long to wait before the Dr saw ne he was happy with the cast and issued instructions to wriggle my fingers and thumb and to keep an eye out for swelling.

Then I had to wait for more than an hour as the card machine was broken but eventually they had it sorted and I was free to go. I walked back to the hostel via the post office for stamps and then went and got some food before walking around the imperial city.

I didn’t get much out of it as it was superhot and my sling was cutting into my neck so after a couple of hours I retreated back to the hostel.

In the evening I booked a night bus to Ninh Binh for tomorrow and went to an Indian restaurant with some friends

Sunday 16^th August 2015

Today was a write off I pretty much woke up and hung out in the room until checkout then went and ate a long lunch before heading back to the hostel to sit and wait for a bus to Ninh Binh. Whilst I was waiting I received a call from the medical team responsible for accessing my insurance claim. They believe that my arm requires surgery and so I need to cut short my time in Ninh Binh and head to Hanoi for yet another medical assessment.

I got on the bus feeling pretty low about the turn of events and to make things worse I got really travel sick and didn’t really sleep.

beaches, bicycles and broken arms

Wednesday 12^th August 2015

I had a bus to catch at 8am this morning so was up and stuffing my face full of eggs and pancakes far earlier than I wanted to be. I checked out and then headed down the road to the bus which bizarrely was a sleeper bus but this time I was on a bottom bunk.

The drive to Da Nang only took about 45 minutes so I was there before I had a chance to think about it. I got off the bus and walked for about 15minutes to the hostel which was tiny with just two rooms but the rooms are huge. I chucked my things in a locker and then set about trying to find a bike to rent.

There was only one at the hostel and as there were two of us we needed another we ended up going on this wild goose chase to find bicycles only to end up back at the hostel after giving up so that we could hire a scooter instead. We walked into the hostel and there were two bikes there but no staff.

We waited an age and eventually the girl appeared it seemed she had been asleep somewhere. We hired the bikes and headed to the Lady Buddha statue which is huge she stands at 75m tall and is 17 stories high apparently each level is dedicated to a different Buddha but unfortunately they wouldn’t let us inside other than on the ground floor.

The cycle there took about 40minutes thankfully only the last part was uphill as I had a flat tyre and it was proving difficult to get moving upwards. At the same place there is also a beautiful pagoda with many statues and bonsai trees as well as a fantastic view.

We stayed there for about 90minutes and then free wheeled down the hill and stopped at the beach for the remainder of the afternoon. It was still really hot but the sun was behind the clouds which made laying out a bit more pleasant. We stayed there until about 6pm laughing at the hilarious music booming out of the loud speakers and watching the scores of people out for an early evening swim.

Back at the hostel we showered and then walked a few blocks over to a vegan place I found on line the food was pretty fantastic and we had the whole place to ourselves so service was quick.

Back at the hostel I spent time uploading ever more pictures and reading before heading to bed.

Thursday 13th August 2015

This morning we set out on another adventure on the bikes first of all we stopped off to sort out bus tickets and then cycled about 12km to the marble mountains which aren’t really mountains but rocky outcrops. We paid to get in which for once was cheap as chips and then walked up the 100 or so steps to the top.

At the top there are four caves and a bunch of pagodas which I spent about four hours exploring it was super beautiful and I took a ton of photos. I climbed back down and got back on the bike and cycled back into town and out the other side to the other beach where we sat in chairs reading for several hours

On the cycle back disaster struck when I got knocked off my bike and wrecked my arm, knee ankle and shredded my foot. The arm was the worst. I walked back to the hostel where the girl got me ice and her dad who is a Dr before he even looked at it he said I needed an x-ray which was right around the corner it showed it was broken so he arranged a splint for me.

Once that was down I got some food and headed to bed in agony