Middle-aged flash packers

We spent our last full day in Cat Ba making use of the hotel facilities and wandering about in a leisurely manner. A welcome relief before hitting the chaos that is Hanoi. 

Should you decide to visit Cat Ba at this time of year I would definitely recommend the Flamingo. Go for a sea front room where if you leave your sliding door open a tiny bit at night, you can hear the sea lapping the shore and not much else. Low season means cut price rooms and offers galore. It’s away from all the construction which is a huge plus. 

The construction. What a nightmare for tourism here. It’s apparently going to take 5 years to complete.  Bonkers. 

Our journey to Hanoi has been interesting. We decided to save some money and also hassle (we had issues with getting a taxi) and take  the limo bus to Hanoi for the princely cost of £22 for both of us. A minibus picked us up from the hotel and after collecting a load of other people (a full bus is of course essential in all Asian countries) we were then taken to the port and put on what was laughingly termed a “speedboat “. Imagining something akin to a James Bond style Sunseeker , we were a bit disappointed to be put on a  knackered refugee boat, full to the brim with luggage and gap year students who had nabbed all the seats and life jackets. Ninnies. We stood up the whole way (7minutes) without life jackets like the travel veterans we are.

On arrival we had to climb onto broken  concrete steps with our luggage while the boat bobbed about on the sea. It was like some horrible reality tv show task except with no safety net. Luckily we were assisted by some kind Vietnamese people who grabbed our bags for us and pointed us in the right direction for our next bus that would take us all the way to Hanoi. The rest of  our journey was great. A comfortable minibüs, nice people , a stop at the services and delivered straight to our hotel’s door. What more could you want for £22?

Unfortunately Hanoi is even busier and more chaotic than when we left. It really is difficult to  negotiate and enjoy. Sorry Hanoi, but I won’t be sad to say goodbye. 

We wandered down to the lake, had a coffee and I bought some clean clothes in Uniqlo. Hurrah, I can at last change out of my trousers that I’ve been wearing for almost a week. 

Tomorrow we have a day to kill then we have a night flight back to Blighty. Can’t wait.