[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 9 June 2013. Minor edits have since been made from the original post to update some links and info.]
29 March 2012, Thursday
Morning Call: 7:00am
Good morning, sunshine! Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be the case, as it was another gloomy morning out on Halong Bay. The weather was exactly the same as the previous day, with overcast skies but no threat of rain. As one of our Aussie shipmates told us, we were already considered lucky this time, as she had actually attempted to go on this Halong Bay boat trip the week before, but had no choice but to abandon it after strong winds and rain lashed the bay and rendered it impossible to set sail. She ended up making a wasted trip from Hanoi to Halong City and back again. So this was actually her second attempt visiting Halong Bay.
After a light breakfast on board, we packed our bags and got ready to disembark the ship. We arrived Cat Ba Island at 9:05am and took a 45-minute minibus ride to another harbour to board a small boat to our first destination – Phu Long Cave. It was a very slow-moving boat, with a speed of maybe 10km/h, and we finally arrived at 10:15am.
Our guide, Sang, had told us that Phu Long Cave is one of the hidden gems in the Halong Bay region, and Kangaroo Café is the only tour operator that brings tourists to the cave. Most people visit Hospital Cave when they go to Cat Ba Island, not Phu Long Cave. Hospital Cave was where they treated injured Vietnamese during the war. Sang also said that the stalactite and stalagmite formations in Phu Long Cave were even more amazing than what we had seen the previous day at Hang Sung Sot. So we were quite excited about exploring this little-known cave.
When we arrived, we found that we were the only visitors. And there was no sign or markings outside to indicate that there was any sort of cave beyond those rocks. It got a little troubling when Sang told us we needed to wait a while for the local guide to start the generator, so as to power up the lights within the cave. So we waited for about ten minutes or so before we could enter.
Phu Long Cave is much smaller than Hang Sung Sot, and it is steeper and deeper as well. True enough, the stalactites were quite impressive, but at the end of the day, stalactites are stalactites, they’re all about the same. After seeing the ones at Hang Sung Sot yesterday, it was hard to be really wowed by them today.
Sang then led us to a secret chamber, accessible only through a small opening about 40cm high, just about enough for a person to squeeze through. He told us there were even more amazing stalactites inside, but it was optional if we wanted to proceed.
I wasn’t too keen at first, because the hole was really small, and I would have to get on all fours to crawl through, and get myself dirty in the process. But most of my fellow tour mates did it, and seeing that they were bigger sized than me, and also because I didn’t want to miss out on anything, I relented. Darn, those stalactites!
The interior of the hidden cave was very small, and there were no lights inside, so we all had to use torchlights or our mobile phones to illuminate the place. There were a few bats flying around. The temperature inside was also cooler, and the ground was slippery. The amazing thing was that we could clearly see the formation of the stalactites and stalagmites up close and in progress. Water rich in calcium carbonate and carbon dioxide dripped from the low ceiling, and droplets hung from the tip of the infant stalactites. The water droplets felt sticky to the touch.
This was probably the highlight of the trip to Phu Long Caves. All the other stalactites and stalagmites we had seen were already formed and hardened, while these were works in progress, and we were witnessing Mother Nature doing her job.
At 11:35am, we boarded the small boat and departed Phu Long Cave for the Cat Ba Island mainland once again. At 12 noon, we transferred to a minibus and arrived Green Mango restaurant at 12:45pm for some Thai cuisine. The food wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t even take any pictures because we were very hungry by then, so we just gobbled down the food.
After lunch, we walked to our hotel, Ngoc Lan Ahn Hotel, just around the corner from the restaurant. It was 2:05pm when we arrived. The room was big and clean, but mum didn’t really like it, and I kinda understood why. Some rooms are just welcoming, some less so. It didn’t feel like a hotel, more like an apartment.
The lift wasn’t working so we had to climb the stairs. The room also wasn’t in tip-top shape. The main door was warped and misaligned with the floor, and it took great effort to shut it, creating a huge screeching sound when we did so. More importantly, the air con wasn’t cold, and we highlighted it to the manager. He fiddled with it for a while, then realised the problem lay with the filters. He removed it and found that it was thick with dust, which prevented the cold air from coming out. It proved that they didn’t really maintain the rooms well.
At 3pm, we left the hotel and took another small boat to Monkey Island, arriving at 3:48pm. Once again, Sang had touted Monkey Island to be another exciting, off-the-beaten-track destination. From the way he described it, the island teemed with monkeys, like a tropical paradise. Apparently, they were super monkeys, and drinking beer was one of their pastimes.
There was no proper harbour on Monkey Island so we disembarked via a wooden plank laid from the boat onto the beach, getting our footwear wet in the process. Upon reaching the beach, we were greeted by the sight of several fat monkeys pacing up and down, eagerly waiting our arrival.
There were a few other Japanese tourists before us, and they generously tossed bananas to the expectant monkeys. The mischievous fellas immediately grabbed and peeled them, stuffing the fruit into their mouths. In fact, the more you threw, the more they ate. They just shoved everything into their mouths and stored them in their cheeks, like squirrels.
After being satisfactorily amused by the monkeys, Sang led us to a small, isolated path beyond the beach, and told us we could do a bit of climbing if we wanted to. He didn’t exactly say where the path led to, and we were all quite confused as to what lay at the end of the climb. We thought there would be a platform with spectacular views of the island, or that the path would lead us to another part of the island with more monkeys.
The path was a little rocky and mum wasn’t confident, so she and dad turned back, together with another Aussie couple. The rest of us followed Sang up the path like blind mice. At first, it was still manageable, but after a short while, there was no more path; just a rickety wooden ladder that lay ahead of us.
After climbing up the ladder, it became more and more treacherous. The rocks were jagged and the path was no longer clearly marked out anymore. We soon had to use our hands to climb, like rock climbing. I was wearing sandals so I could still manage all right, but some of the others were wearing flip flop slippers, and it wasn’t so easy for them.
We asked Sang how much further we had to go, but he only smiled cheerfully and told us it wasn’t too far ahead and we could go on if we wanted to. Feeling exasperated with his vague answer, we continued to climb until we finally reached the top after about 20 minutes. There was no platform at all, just the narrow triangular peak of the hill. From there, we could see the entire island, and we found out it wasn’t very big at all – just a narrow strip of land, and there was nothing on the other side of the hill, only more jagged rocks.
If you ask me, the view was rather nice, but nothing worth dying for. The climb up was really dangerous and just one slip could have resulted in a serious injury or even death. I remember thinking that such a thing could only happen in Asia. In the United States, Europe or Australia, the tour guide will be sued for sure. He neglected to inform us of the risks involved and what to expect from the climb. At the very least, he should at least have advised us to put on proper footwear. We were lucky no one was injured.
Sang had probably climbed the hill many times before without incident, and that was probably his idea of fun and adventure (which I admit was quite fun and adventurous – as long as no one got hurt), but it was just really risky. As tour operators, they should be more careful. Thank goodness we all made the climb safely.
After navigating our way back down to the beach, I rejoined mum and dad and the other couple that had stayed behind. We didn’t linger for long, and quickly made our way back to the boat at 5pm. As we pulled away from the shore, I thought about how misleading the island’s name was – it was called Monkey Island, yet I encountered less than 10 monkeys during my time there. If you really want to see lots of roaming monkeys, I recommend Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali.
We reached the harbour at 5:20pm and went back to the hotel to wash up. Afterwards, it was our free time. We took a walk to an open space nearby where there was a carnival of some sort, but there wasn’t anything interesting, so we continued walking along the main road in search of dinner.
We saw two of the Aussie couples eating at a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet, but we didn’t join them because it served Western food and we wanted to have some authentic Vietnamese food that evening. So we continued walking down the road and chose a very small and normal-looking eatery patronized by other locals – always a sign that there’s cheap and good food inside.
We ordered a big plate of fried rice for 40,000 dong (S$2.50), a plate of beef fried noodles (50,000 dong/S$3.15), fried spring rolls (30,000 dong/S$1.90) and a bottle of Bia Saigon and Bia Ha Noi (18,000 dong/S$1.20 each). This was the saving grace of Cat Ba – cheap, yummy and authentic local food.
There was nothing else to see around the quiet little town, so we headed back to the hotel for an early night. It had been quite a disappointing day, but at least it ended with a good dinner. End of Day 21!