Let’s just say this morning was rough. Last night antics have taken there toll, one too many Vodka/Rum and cokes.
Didn’t have the best of starts either I set my alarm to wake up for breakfast and thought I’d set it for 8am and it was actually 9am (when breakfast finishes)…..so we missed out.
After attempting to lift the heads of the pillows several times we decided we MUST find a bank today to get money out as we spent every penny we had left drinking last night. The ATM machines in cat ba are empty so we headed to the bank with our passports.
The bank allowed us to withdraw money (woohoo!) Though she did look suspicious when we both signed the form as Becky’s signature is on the back of my bank card. As we missed breakfast the next stop was to find somewhere to enjoy a tasty meal with didn’t have rice or noodles in it.
After walking along the sea front we found a nice cafe which had a decent menu. Becky went for the tomato soup with a baguette plus a fruit salad (claiming she wasn’t that hungry!) Id gone for the pancakes with banana smothered in caramel sauce…… unbelievable.
Our next challenge was to start planning the Philippines as we fly out there tomorrow night and also start looking towards Borneo. I became distracted by looking at 5 star hotels in Koh Tao looking for the most luxurious one!
Heading back towards the hotel we managed to book our bus for tomorrow to take us from Cat Ba to Hanoi…..a cosy 300,000 dong each. Lucky the bank was open or I would have been washing the dishes tonight! As we walked past another travel company they were advertising a yoga session tonight. Becky enquired as she’s wanted to do one out here for the experience. Turns out it was in a studio up the stairs from an Australian (not very Vietnamese) we decided against it as it was quite expensive.
Our next stop of the day was to the viewing point at the top of the mountain for the sun set. Lucky for us it was a smooth road surface only downside was we were still wearing our flip flops.
Once we arrived at the top it was probably a good 20mins walk up it was definitely worth it for the views. You could see round the whole island and across to monkey Island which we visited yesterday. As we sat down for an ice cream and Fanta (avoiding alcohol at all costs today) we were swarmed by Chinese tourist. Trying to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet with amazing views destroyed by some mutant people taking photos and shouting to each other.
As we reached the view point for the sunset it was quiet so we managed to bag a seat. Realising it was the back of 4 it would be at least another hour before the sun started to set I decided to do some of my homework for the scuba diving course in the Philippines.
The view point started to fill up which was good created a bit of atmosphere and the view was incredible the only negative would be the choice of music from the small snack bar……Westlife! don’t know what it is about over here and cheesy boy bands but they love them. Becky was in her element.
The walk down took only 10mins as Becky was desperate to get back as she was cold and now we’re heading back to that small cafe to enjoy another delicious meal that doesn’t contain tofu, rice or noodles 😁.
South East Asia 2019 