Empty Nest Trekkers: Cat Ba Island (Lan Ha Bay and Ha Long Bay)

On 1 October we left Hanoi and took a local train to the coastal town of Hai Phong. We stayed the night there and caught a morning ferry to Cat Ba Island. It was only around $3 for the train seats that reclined and had air conditioning...which seems to be our number one priority for travel days and hotels. The ferry was unlike any boat we had seen. I forgot to get a pic of the outside It was like a torpedo with windows. It was a speed boat that got us to Cat Ba island in under an hour. Once we landed we were shocked how deserted the town was. Compared to Hanoi it looked like a ghost town. Lucky for us it is low season so most of the tourist were backpackers like us. We love meeting and talking to other travelers. We are really surprised at how few Americans we have met. Other travelers have made comments to us that they have met very few Americans, as well. We meet mostly young European backpackers. We have quickly realized that there aren't too many travelers our age going the backpacker route Not sure why...this is Amazing!
Outside of the beautiful scenery that you can see in the pictures, there isn't too much to write about. We took an all day cruise on a Junk boat. There were only 7 other people on our boat. We had a crew of 3 that included a guide. We cruised through floating fishing villages where people live and work on the water. We also kayaked, and made a stop on monkey island where we saw obnoxious monkeys. We were also treated to a huge lunch on board the Junk boat.... which I later regretted eating. Figured the lack of refrigeration and sanitation would catch up to us sooner or later! Thankfully, it was short lived. The following day we rented a scooter and explored the island. We hiked up a very long and hot mountain which had great views from the summit! We also visited "Hospital Cave". During the war the residents of Cat Ba would take shelter there and that is where they would take care of the sick and wounded. The scenery around Cat Ba was really cool. We had never seen geography like this. The karst islands were everywhere and really scenic to cruise around. (Kas)