Sapa to Cat Ba Island: A blog worthy journey - Sapa, Vietnam
Sapa, Vietnam
When we booked our tickets from Sapa to Halong City, we were told we'd leave at 5pm and be in Halong Bay by 5am. This was a lie. Upon clarification we discovered we'd be departing for Lao Cai at 5pm, and after a wait in Lao Cai, we'd leave for Halong City at 8pm, and arrive by 8am. Although this would be a longer journey, the timing would be far more sociable and we'd still have plenty of time to get to Cat Ba Island before lunch. Or so we thought. The first stage of our journey involved a speedy descent down winding travel sickness-inducing roads in a minibus. In Lao Cai we found some food, which Jenna struggled through as a result of doxycycline anti malarials playing havoc with her oesophagus. Boo. At 8pm we were marched to a bus, and shoved (literally) on board by a bus attendant who was clearly in a rush to get going. We settled into two upper berth sleepers which were too short for Dave by approximately a foot, so Jenna curled up around both day bags while Dave did his best not to kick the head of the man in front. For a couple of hours we rested, attempting to fall asleep amid telephone rings and bumps in the road. Approximately 4 hours into the journey, we still hadn't had a toilet stop. On asking the driver, Jenna was told the next stop would be in 5 minutes - he held up five fingers to illustrate his point. This was a lie. An hour and a bit later, we were still driving. Upon asking again, the driver help up three fingers. '3 minutes.' "But you said 5 minutes over an hour ago! So actually three minutes or three hours?' "Three hours" "Three hours?!" Eventually, after lots of hanging around at the front of the bus, and unrelenting hassle from Jenna, the driver made an impromptu stop on a dark, windy road, and Jenna was able to borrow his flip flops and venture into the darkness. Finally, we both settled down to sleep. Five minutes later, we pulled into a service station. After a half-hour stop which allowed the rest of the bus to get refreshed we pulled away, both feeling very tired. For an hour or so we managed broken bus sleep, until the bus came to an abrupt stop in the middle of nowhere. 'Bus is broken' was all we could glean and '10 minutes' as some indication of time scale. 10 minutes (or ten hours) until what we didn't know, until another bus of the same company pulled up in front of us. This bus was already full. Locals shoved each other out of the way in an attempt to get on the bus first, while tourists, looking slightly bewildered, all hung around waiting for bags from underneath the bus. The decision for Jenna to get in the queue and Dave to collect the bags proved to be a good one - we secured a space in the middle of the bus floor - until the attendant decided everyone needed to move up, and kicked us all to convey the message. We therefore spent an uncomfortable 5 hours crammed onto the floor with the other tourists, feeling incredibly tired but not being able to sleep for more than a few minutes due to accidental kicks and shoves, or cramping up of limbs. At one point, we pulled into a garage - quite what had happened to the second bus we never established - we were too busy taking advantage of a non-bumpy bit to get some shut-eye. Finally, as dawn approached, some Vietnamese got off the bus and we progressed to having more floor space, until finally we were able to move back to some sleeper seats. We managed a few hours of sleep before arriving into Halong City bus terminal feeling grubby and tired at about 11am. We managed to negotiate a taxi to the port with two of our bus companions, Stephanie and Astrid, for 10000 each. On arrival, the driver tried to charge us on the meter, received short shrift from us and a conveniently placed boat tout, who after helping us with the taxi situation, tried to charge us 320 000 for a tour of Halong Bay and a drop off at Cat Ba. We declined, sensing a scam, and scoped out several other options before electing to go with a 200 000 pp tour. We boarded the boat, and found ourselves some seats up on deck with our German friends and Francisco, a guy from Chile. The cruise through the bay was wonderful. The scenery was simply stunning; limestone karsts jutted out of emerald green seas while eagles floated on air currents over head. We passed floating villages, where ramshackle huts perched on frames composed of bright blue barrels and wood. At one point we stopped at Thien Cung Grotto and spent 45 minutes exploring the mass of stalagmites and stalagtites within the caves. Unlike the rest of the people on board however, we weren't entitled to either lunch or kayaking, so instead made the most of the sunshine and the cheaper-than-our-boat beer at the kayak station, much to the annoyance of our boat crew who told the ladies at the stall to stop serving us. We finished our journey playing cards and drinking with our new found friends as the sun was setting over karsts around us. As journeys go, a boat ride through a World Heritage Site certainly ranks among the best of them. On arriving at Cat Ba, we were shepherded by our tour guide (Black Shirt Man) to a waiting bus. White Shirt Man, who was approximately the same height as Jenna, was shouting loudly as everyone got on the bus, berating those who hadn't realised they should leave their big bags at the front on seats. He appeared to be drunk or stoned or most probably, both. Thankfully, he turned out to be the attendant rather than the driver, and we pulled off. White Shirt Man then set about asking everyone for our tickets. Stephanie had had the sense to insist on our ticket from Black Shirt Man as we walked to the bus. However, most of the other people on the bus weren't in possession of their ticket, having handed it over as they got onto the tour boat. Cue White Shirt Man giving everyone 2 minutes to produce their ticket. Two minutes later we stopped on a bridge. The engine was turned off, and we sat for a couple of seconds in the dark until torches were produced. "This bus not for free" was shouted several times while people insisted they'd paid Black Shirt Man. White Shirt Man then asked the four of us to collect our bags, and threatened to throw everyone else's off the bus. We declined. When he made a move to touch a bag, several of the men on the bus made moves towards him. He thought better of it and we drove on. A bit further up the road in the middle of nowhere we stopped again. Here, we were told that the 'bus was broken' but if we all paid 50 000 each, it would be fixed. We decided to humour him, so at this point, one man said he was a mechanic, and offered to 'fix' the bus. At the same time, everyone was getting mobile phones and cameras out to video threats and take photos of the perpetrator. After the battery was reconnected, we moved again, but White Shirt Man had acquired a large stick. He made verbal and suggestive threats to a number of individuals on the bus, and insisted we all kept silent, smashing his stick on several chairs and bags at the front of the bus. Further on, our driver shouted something, and the two men spoke in panicked voices. For a while, we thought the bus had hit a human. However, it turned out that the bus had hit a snake, black and yellow, and over a meter long. White Shirt Man ran around for a while, and then began bashing the snake with the stick before asking the bus if anyone had a small rope. Someone obliged, although on reflection I'm not sure why. White Shirt Man then battled with the snake, half playing with it, half trying to thwack it with the stick, and it became clear he was going to bring it onto the bus. Although most of the lads on the bus went outside and attempted to discourage such a practice, White Shirt Man was adamant. The snake was a game changer. We had no idea whether it was poisonous or not. White Shirt Man would have had us believe a bite would kill in 10 seconds, although an Australian in the bus assured everyone that this was not true. So the snake, still alive at this point, was bought onto the bus. Everyone immediately jumped onto their chairs. Our position at the front of the bus was not a good one. The snake was soon tied between Dave's armrest and that of Caisa, a Swedish girl sat opposite. Jenna moved to sit on the back of the chair, so Dave could put as much distance between him and the armrest as possible, and we all sat and watched White Shirt Man have his fun with the snake. He put its tail in his mouth, and when it had eventually died, appeared to be playing with its fangs and mouth. He then began telling people to touch the snake, parading it round the bus for people to 'feel how warm' its tail was. Some people were clearly petrified of snakes, and to these people he behaved in an even more pushy manner. Thankfully though, the snake proved to be somewhat of a distraction, and the driver managed to get to Cat Ba Town without stopping again. On arrival in Cat Ba Town, Dave was swift to exit the bus with his bag, and asked the waiting touts to speak to White Shirt Man, who was stood in the doorway of the bus, snake in hand, making a last ditch attempt to extort 50 000 from each passenger. They refused, even though people were leaving the bus in tears, clearly frightened of this figure from Hanoi. Eventually, everyone managed to leave the bus save for two people booked on a longer tour, who bizarrely chose to remain on the bus as everyone else left. After settling into our hotel, we joined our fellow passengers for a much needed drink and some food at the front of our guesthouse. Although shaken and bewildered, everyone was ok, and we actually managed to have a pleasant evening with our new friends. Every cloud....