Middle-aged flash packers

Our drive from Ninh Binh to Hai Phong (where we caught  the ferry) confirmed my views that this part of Vietnam is a fairly unattractive part of the world. I know it was cloudy and wet and that doesn’t help matters at all, but the views were either row upon row of concrete service buildings, muddy paddy fields or rubbish strewn waterways. 

On arrival at the port, we saw the ferry departing so settled down for an hour’s wait. 

A huge cable car system has been built at the port connecting Hai Phong to Cat Ba in order to cut down waiting times and congestion for the ferry. Seems sensible until you realise that most people travel to Cat  Ba by motorbike, bus  or car, foot passengers are the minority of the ferry  traffic. How is everyone else going to get to their homes/businesses/resorts? How will produce etc be delivered? Maybe electric carts? Hopefully there is a plan…

The ferry eventually arrived and it only took 20 minutes. Our taxi driver was there waiting and drove us to our hotel – home for the next 5 nights.

Wowza! What a place! This was originally meant to be a “super complex” with apartments for sale, a shopping complex, a yacht club etc etc. It would appear that for one reason or another, these ambitions were not fulfilled. Probably for the best. However what is here is an unspoilt beach and some nice facilities, albeit some a little strange to the western “foreigner “, (I love how political correctness has not arrived here.) at very cheap prices. I wonder what it would have been like though if the grand plan had materialised? And what was here before?

We have been upgraded again and again I don’t  want to be ungrateful but I really wanted  just an ordinary room with a balcony. Now we are in a deluxe suite with great views but no balcony. Ah well, it’s not hot enough to sit out anyway. Other than that, all was good.

We had a potter into Cat Ba town for a very late lunch and a bit of an explore. Cat Ba town has a nice feel about it but the whole of the sea front is being developed and it looks terrible. It’s a mega construction site and will eventually cover the whole of the bay and be what looks like a very expensive “eco village” , fake beach and shopping centre. Makes the Flamingo look like a homestay. Don’t think Cat Ba will be backpacker territory anymore , it’s all about getting the Chinese Yuan and providing high end facilities. I’m not certain what will happen to all the little restaurants  that line the road but I can hazard a guess and it’s not looking good for them.

Being a complete hypocrite, instead of making a stand and rebooking our accommodation for something much more modest in the now ruined seafront, I spent a good hour pampering myself in the onsen I mentioned yesterday. It was great. 

Dinner was at the Hungry Kitchen in town. It had a good atmosphere with people actually talking to each other rather than having very loud conversations on their phones which we can all hear and are not the slightest bit interested in. (Tam Coc was particularly bad for this.)This infuriatingly ignorant behaviour transcends nationality but for some reason when it’s in English it’s even more annoying. One conversation I overheard (I try to shut it out but it’s impossible because it’s so loud) was so banal I wanted to rush up and shout in her silly ear (it’s usually women I’m sorry to say) “at least talk about something interesting if we’ve all got to listen to it!” Even her friend was so bored she walked off. 

Rant over. Peace and love everyone.