By Marla D · Nov 20, 2016
Early November. November is the start of low season in Cat Ba which corresponds to cooler temperatures and less rain than in the hotter months. January is the coldest month of the year. The weather was a bit of a mix the few days I was there, which luckily matched each sport I was doing perfectly. The sunniest day, around 22 degrees celsius, was when I went deep water solo and kayaking, it was cool but dry the day I went top rope climbing, and there was a light, misty rain the day I went trekking. During the nights the temperature dropped down to the low double digits which was really refreshing.
Direct flight from Singapore to Hanoi in just under 3 hours and spend the night there. Early morning bus ride to Hai Phong city (about 3 hours) where you hop on a 40 minute ferry to Cat Ba Island, then another short bus ride to Cat Ba town. Same in reverse to get back.
Deep water solo climbing, kayaking, top rope climbing, trekking
The first day I arrived in Cat Ba town I happened to go to a small, street-food, style restaurant at the far end of the main strip called Phung Nhung. I had chicken pho and tomato and cucumber salad and was hooked. The chicken in the soup was breast meat with all the fat trimmed and I couldn’t taste any msg in the broth. The tomatoes in the salad were among the best tomatoes I’ve had.
It was a super basic place but the utensils were clean and the food was cooked fresh. They also had good wifi. I went back here daily during my stay. A full meal here generally cost around $5 USD or less.
The main thing to do in Cat Ba town is eat fresh seafood at one of the many live seafood restaurants on the main strip. Generally I love seafood, but seeing the water that it came from really turned me off. I was also told by one of the locals that there is a high amount of mercury found in a lot of the fish caught in the bay.
Bring a lightweight, fast drying travel towel. They’re not cheap and might seem like an unnecessary expense, but mine was really handy. Pack a good conditioner for your hair so it untangles easier at the end of the day. Bring a nail file (a must for climbers!). Bring a rain coat (or buy one of the North Face knock offs in town). Consider leaving your wedding ring at home. My room in Cat Ba didn’t have a safe and they can also make you a target for street thieves.
I had a few free days alone leading up to my birthday and wanted to book a “healthy” holiday. I did a fair bit of research to shortlist places I could reach with a direct flight from Singapore and narrowed it down to the following:
I ruled out hotel experiences this time because I wanted to be out in nature doing activities I love as opposed to following a set fitness program. Still, I did come close to booking with Absolute Sanctuary because they had a great promotion running. Ikan Kayak required a minimum of 4 people and trekking sounded fun but I preferred to mix it up rather than repeat the same activity every day (During my trip I got feedback from travellers who had gone trekking in Sapa that they hadn’t enjoyed it as much as they thought they would because there were loads of people doing it and the local village visits along the way had that ‘staged’ feeling. I don’t know which tour company they went with).
So, I booked my activities with Asia Outdoors online and then planned my trip around it. A quick plug for Asia Outdoors because the people there are awesome - they’re one of 2 licensed tourism companies on Cat Ba Island, however every restaurant and person on a bicycle will sell you a tour to anywhere you want to go. Asia Outdoors is the real deal and runs well-organised, safe and fun sport-based experiences with good quality equipment and very well-trained and passionate staff. The staff were from all over the world - mostly young, climbing types, smart and unaffected. Having chatted with a number of them, the theme of leaving the corporate world or at least the daily grind to do something that they actually loved was a common theme, and it showed. Caroline was our guide for deep water solo and she was a fabulous cheerleader and hold spotter. Monty was our kayak guide - a very funny guy full of interesting facts and genuine appreciation of our surroundings. Arjan was my climbing guide for the day and he was incredibly patient and dedicated to getting me to the top! Toan was our local trekking guide - very respectful of nature and considerate to different needs of the group, like my phobia of spiders!
One of the things I liked most about Asia Outdoors is that they didn’t have a minimum group requirement. As long as there was one person they would run the activity which is great for someone who is travelling solo. They also have a comprehensive website which helped with arrival logistics and the activities were good value for money. I would definitely book with them again.
My itinerary looked like this:
Sunday night - land in Hanoi, stay 1 night at La Beaute Hotel in the Old Quarter (the Sunday night street markets were open as was entertainment around the lake so it was a great way to spend a short couple of hours in Hanoi).
Monday morning - 7am bus pick up at my hotel with Good Morning Cat Ba company to head to Cat Ba island
Monday evening - check into Le Pont Bungalow Hostel in Cat Ba town for 3 nights
Tuesday - half day deep water solo, half day kayaking
Wednesday - full day of private guided top rope climbing in Butterfly Valley with the resident crag puppy, Beener.
Butterfly Valley (with butterflies galore) has grades to suit every level including lead climbing. Bolts aren’t titanium but the ones on our route were well maintained.
Thursday - half day trekking and then 4pm bus to start the trip back to Hanoi
Thursday night - 1 night at Hanoi Meracus 1 Hotel in the Old Quarter, dinner at New Day restaurant, facial at the spa of Vietview Hotel just around the corner. It was heavenly, nothing fancy though.
Friday morning - 6am transfer to the airport
A few tips:
Unfortunately, the only reason I wouldn’t recommend it is because there seemed to be poor drainage in the bathroom pipes and the smell wafted through the room, despite leaving the windows open. It wasn’t a sewage smell, but it was unpleasant nevertheless.
Most of the people I met in Cat Ba were backpackers and were spending about $6 USD per night on hostel accommodation which in most cases seemed to be a private room with shared bathrooms. Dorm style sleeping cost even less.
In total I spent $750 USD on this trip, of which, my flight was a third of the cost. All of the activities I booked with Asia Outdoors came to $150 USD which was really reasonable, considering I did a full day of top rope climbing with a private guide. They also give 10% off repeat bookings. Food was ridiculously cheap and very tasty, but the quality varies from place to place.
Gender & Age Range
Female, 35 - 40
I’m from
The Canadian Rockies
Occupation
Entrepreneur
My favourite trip as of late
A long weekend in Byron Bay
Travelling Style
Book the important stuff, but leave some flexibility in the schedule.
I like to go on the following types of trips
Culture, sporty, beach, gourmet, relax
It’s a dealbreaker when
Fatty meat. It’s a weird one, but it’s true and it makes enjoying meat around Asia a bit of a challenge. So if I ever recommend restaurants, you can bet I ate nice, lean, tasty meat there!
Continent I know the best
Asia
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I’m from Perth, Western Australia
My favourite trip as of late is New Zealand, solo travel in lots of nature for a soul-refresher.
My travelling style is to Book the first night, then wing it from there!
It’s a dealbreaker when I’m stuck around large groups of package tourists.
Continent I know best is Asia.
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