Are Disney movies documentaries? ;)

I haven’t thought kayaking can be so much fun! We rented a kayak and went on a tour around the bay near Cat Ba island. On the way we’ve seen floating villages, small fishermen boats and pretty big tourist boats. We kayaked around limestone islets, exploring hidden lagoons. The sun was shining, the shimmering emerald waters were calm. We found a deserted beach with tons of beautiful, colorful seashells. Sitting there, totally alone (I mean with my new friend, it doesn’t really count though ;) soaking up every ray of sun and... having a smoke I had a thought that it was simply perfect (Robinson Crusoe kind of perfection ;) But seriously, it was one of those rather rare perfect moments.

We also got to the Monkey Island – apparently famous for.. surprise, surprise.. monkeys who live there. We haven’t seen even one. I don’t know maybe it’s like with the dragon of Ha Long - supposed to be there no one has ever seen it though ;) We hiked a bit there, but as I was wearing flip-flops and the path was pretty steep, I decided to return to the beach and go for a swim.

There are plenty of fish in those waters. Incl. small silver fish that jump above the water and look like there were flying. When I was swimming I got directly into a... shoal of fish. The fish were literally flying around my head, jumping around me, and getting tangled up in my hair (pretty cool ‘fishing net’ isn’t it? ;) It really must have looked like a scene straight from a movie - a Disney cartoon to be precise ;) Normally I would say it’s a bit too cute/ cheesy for my taste but being there I was simply enchanted and amazed by everything I saw. It was almost surreal. And the (I have to use this word again) breathtaking limestone seascape...

I wish I had more time to spend there, but well, it was time to head back to Hanoi.

***

We went back to Hanoi via Haiphong. To get there we booked a bus and a motorboat. To make a long story short – our bus broke down, in the middle of nowhere (nowhere in that case was Cat Ba island) with no network (mobile) coverage. Finally, the driver managed to call for help and after maybe 40 minutes we got on another bus. Luckily, the boat waited for us and so, we only had a small delay.

We decided to go to the countryside the following day and visit the so called "Parfume Pagoda". In the meantime I’ve also learned that in Vietnam you can eat a cobra and that traditionally the heart of a snake is eaten still beating, raw. I knew I had to try it. At the time I thought I was a daredevil and won’t have any problems with this kind of challenge... Well, it was not quite the case. But this adventure - in the next episode of my travel story ;)