Memorable time in Ha Long bay, Cat ba island one we won't like to relive

dusty road to Ha long bay

waiting for the ferry transfer this one was over capacity

It was a short but dusty 60km's from Cam Pha to Ha Long and our adventure was just starting. In Ha long we found the ferry to Cat ba island but what they didn't tell us we would need to transfer 2 times and we would arrive on the opposite side of the island about 40 km's from town. We rode for an hour of hilly roads and arrived at a fork in the road. We asked an old man, which way to Cat ba town, he told me with some body language that both roads lead to our destination but one was less hilly and we all agreed that less hilly was for us. We all got excited with less climbs but 30 minutes in we see a long steep hill. Half way up we spot a sign for the national park of Cat ba when we finally reached the park, it was getting dark and we meet the nice guy at the gate that spoke english. We asked if we could camp the night and see the park in the morning, he offered a basic room with 3 beds and hot shower for only $5 each and that included entry fee. He even arranged us to have dinner at his place because there was no restaurants around a simple dinner of rice, vegges, eggs and fish for $1.75 each.

up hill on the Cat ba island

now our down hill smiles

steep climb to the top of the mountain in Cat ba national park

taking in the views on top

Next morning we enjoy the park and rode the final 20km's to Cat ba town. The town was lined with restaurants, bars and accommodations. After finding a place to sleep $8 for a 3 bedroom, we decided to ditch the bikes and rent some scooters to see the hilly coast and beaches. What a horrible experience. The guys renting them all try to rip us off and they managed to with the gas, making us pay for filling up the almost empty tank, we believed they would fill it up and we would just return it full out another $7 bucks. The bad feeling quickly faded to smiles while riding a gas powered bicycle, after about 2 hour of riding and site seeing the gas gauge had not even moved. The sun was setting and we had to return the bikes before 7:30, while on our way back the transmission on my bike failed and we where almost 30km's from town. A passer stopped to help tow the bike back behind his Honda motorbike we paid him $5 for his help, after we asked the guy that rented us the bike to pay us back for the tow or even discount the rental because of the mechanical trouble and he just laughed in our faces. Not an overall great service experience, but thats enought of Ha Long bay for us, next day we are taking the ferry to Haiphong. 

beach 2 was a cozy cove with nice views of ha long bay

scooters was fun while it lasted but we got ripped off 

getting dark and scooter broke down, just enjoying the views

cat ba harbour

snake wine anyone?

view from our hotel room

Got our Vietnam visas while in Nanning and got stranded on our first day in Vietnam

playing around one of the many parks in Nanning

climb to the top of the pagoda 

Our China visas are about to expire so its that time again, we have to move on and Vietnam is up next. We took the morning bus out of Yangshuo for Nanning that took about 6 hours and cost us $12 each, they didn't charge us extra for the bikes. We arrived late afternoon had a booked a room in a hostel not too far from the bus station, but it was a little hard to find because it's in a condo high rise. Was contemporary, new and cheap at only $11 bucks a night private room with shared bathroom. We even had them processes our visas saving us looking for the Vietnam embassy, the hostel did it free as long as you stayed at the place. Visa's for Canadians cost $60 bucks for 30 days.  It took 3 days to get our visas and surprisingly their wasn't a shortage of things to do in Nanning. A delicious night food street, loads of modern shopping malls and great parks to visit. A big bonus was Nanning city spoke and understood Cantonese a big plus for me.

last kilometer to the boarder

first hotel we checked out was closed

first meal in Vietnam Pho and beer

narrow homes in Vietnam

With visas in hand we head for the bus station to take the bus 200kms to the boarder town of Pingxiang. Its a hilly 30km ride to the boarder from here. Crossing was very simple and fast had a bank to change our rmbs to dongs. In Vietnam we ride for another 25km to the town of Lang Son, first impression its pretty dusty. Lang So is a tinny town with not very much but everyone on the streets were very helpful in helping find a place to stay for the night.

Next day we decided we didn't want to ride the bumpy road to Ha long, so we headed to the bus station and after a long negotiation with the bus operator we agreed on $23 to take us to Ha Long bay. After about 2.5hrs it was apparent with the help of a Chinese Vietnamese passenger that the bus was not heading to Ha Long, the operator planned on dropping us off midway and flag down another bus to take us the rest of the way. They were unable to get another bus to take us the last 80km's but again with the help of the Chinese lady, she got the bus operator to give us back $10 for not delivering on their promise. It was getting dark and no place to sleep so we set up fast and started the ride as we rode off not long after we had company, Jaeuk a young Korean touring around the world. It was dark now and we decided to stop in Cam Pha about 30kms outside Ha long. We found a great place in town, large room with 3 beds and only $7.50 for the 3 of us. The owner was an unbelievable nice lady that gave us free bottle water and even a red bulls when left. Not too bad after getting abandoned in the middle of no where the day before.

decided to put our bikes in the back because the roof is for chickens 

very tight bus standing room only

we got dropped of here in front of a Chinese Restaurant with the owners family

kind hotel owner in Cam Pha

Here we come Ha long bay!