OK let's get this over with now. We decided to rent a motorbike and why not? Everybody rides them here-grannies, young kids... To play it safe we rented an automatic what could go wrong?Doug did the mandatory thirty second training ride, put me on the back of the bike and away we went. We chose a mountain road instead of a flat one. All was well to the top of the mountain and we even had a hike. Then on our return with the motorcycle pointing downhill Doug overacelerated and almost simultaneously put on the brakes. This caused the motorbike to skid sideways and sadly left bike and occupants sprawled on the side of the road. To quote the young Vietnamese park attendant-"Be very careful very dangerous" We got back to the Hotel, cleaned up, iced the swollen parts and did not let the incident spoil our day. This was a book end to our5 day excursion to Cat Ba Island. It was an interesting 5 days on Cat Ba. This was an opportunity to explore the Unesco Heritage location of Halong Bay. We kayaked, swam and the boat took us to Monkey Island. Unfortunately the beauty of the island is marred by human activity. Your first sight off the boat is monkeys eating garbage left by tourists and drinking beer from partially empty cans.There are a few nice beaches that we enjoyed on a a couple of afternoons. There are good hikes between the beaches along the cliffs and a national park that we did not have time to visit. One of the downsides of the Island is the lack of decent restaurants. Cat Ba is OK but we feel that if we were to revise our itinerary we would book a book tour to Halong Bay with a reputable company and give Cat Ba Island a miss.
We returned to our favorite hotel- Charming Hotel in Hanoi - and we wre greeted with open arms.we completed our first month of travel at our favorite restaurant in Hanoi - the Garden.
One of the most important aspects of our trVelis the people we meet from Scotland, Germany, Sweden, Holland, England, USA, and Australia. Hopefully we will keep in touch with many of these folks.
Summary
Weather damn near perfect!
Hotels Legacy Suites - recommended ($80) - Bangkok, Charming Hotel - highly recommended ($25) - Hanoi, Ngoc An. - recommended ($35)- Ninh Binh, Sapa Luxury - recommended ($30) - Sapa, Duc Tuan Hotel - not recommended ($18) - Cat Ba Island (manger tried to scam us)
Cost of the trip for 30 days (2 people)was $115 per day. This trip includes all expenses and the proportional share of the return ticket to Vancouver.
We are summarizing this information for anyone who may be considering a similar trip. At the end of each month we will give an online account of our expenditures.
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