The path was easy to follow (even though various publications recommended a guide). It was a tree shaded jungle trail with vines and leafy branches. There were lots of limestone outcroppings. The rock was wrinkled like elephant skin. There were some steep areas including a small ladder but soon we reached a path which looked out over bamboo leaves, down into the mountains beyond.

At the top of the peak, perhaps the lowest we've climbed in a while, at around 225 meters, was a view tower. A group of tourists had just come back down. One girl was in light flats. The tower was fairly rickety with rusted steps and railings. I wanted to grip the railing tightly in case the steps gave out but at the same time I couldn't because it was so rusted I worried I'd cut my hand. The last step platform was mostly missing causing everyone to receive a dizzying glance at the ground far below as their first view from the top of the viewing platform. We looked at the mountains but it was too cloudy and misty to see as far as the bay.

We went back down and then rode towards the Gia Luan port which is used by hydrofoils to Halong City. The road wound through the mountains then revealed a beautiful view of Halong Bay.

There were small mangrove trees as well. We had expected to find a village but the port was just a dock. It looked like some construction was going on but it was probably just another resort. Cat Ba is lacking in nice modest get-away guesthouses outside of town. It seems if anything gets built it is just awful tourism complexes.

We drove around to one of the other parts of the island and found rice paddies and vegetable fields. I had thought all this would have to be shipped in from the mainland but I guess not. Fresh water comes from the limestone karsts which serve as a filtering system.

The island was in a cloud which filled the air with drizzle when we went to the Park for a longer hike. We had booked the day trip through our hotel. We could have gone ourselves but all my resources said it is a difficult trail and best to go with a guide. Our “English-speaking” guide's English was minimal. He could say some basic things: “The trail is 13 km”, “Be careful!”, “It's slippery”, “There are monkeys”. But to many of our questions, which he apparently didn't understand, he would just answer, “yes.” “What is the highest altitude?” “Yes.” Therefor, if we asked a Yes/No question and he answered, “yes” we couldn't tell if he really understood and the answer was really “yes” or he didn't understand and was just giving us his standard response.

The part of the trail to Frog Lake was very easy to follow. It was paved and well signed. I don't mind hiking in the rain in cloud forests. It cools the air and is refreshing. However, it did make the path a bit muddy and slippery.

Frog Lake was a flat muddy area with trees growing out of it. There were neither frogs nor lake. Our guide said “no rain” as an explanation. It had been drizzling on and off for the past couple days. Little green plants were beginning to sprout from the mud. After Frog Lake, the path got more difficult. The pavement disappeared and soon we were following a trail marked by red painted arrows up rock outcroppings. The trail was very up and down, up rocky outcroppings and down slippery rocks and mud. Around 2 we reached the village of Viet Hai-- our lunch stop.

On the trail we had seen a snake which was “very poisonous” and a red forest crab with 100s of babies underneath her belly. We saw some hornbills in the distance as well. Our guide, when I asked about leaches, found some on all of our shoes.

Lunch was sweet and sour vegetables, salted peanuts, a meat and vegi dish, cabbage, and rice. I passed on the meat so Rowshan ate it all. A cat befriended Rowshan and refused to leave his lap. After lunch we continued through the village. Rowshan mentioned how many dogs there were.

“Did you notice they were all puppies and few adults,” I pointed out. “They are raised for food.”
Rowshan looked incredulous until we reached a house where one guy was tying a dog upside down to a tree with its paws bound and another man was sharpening a knife.
“You don't think the meat we ate for lunch was...” Rowshan started.
“I didn't eat any,” I said.
“But I ate all of it,” he said.

We asked our guide if lunch had been dog. He laughed and said, “No No.” We were pretty sure the negative answer meant he understood our question. Later on the hotel manager assured us the restaurant would not have served us dog. “Dog meat is expensive!” he said, “And very tasty.” He also mentioned it was something people served at wedding feasts.

The village was in a scenic spot with mountains rising from flat rice paddies. We soon came to some narrow inlets and the mountains gave way to islands. On the boat ride back, I think we went through the pearl culture area but our guide was asleep so I couldn't ask.

The landscape was beautiful. The water was somewhere between olive and malachite. The limestone islands rose resembling ships, animals, or haunted castles. Sometimes we'd see birds swoop to the water but more often we heard their calls from the trees on the islands. There was a thin layer of mist... not a mysterious mist... more of a visibility impeding haze. But even with their shapes a little blurred, the islands were beautiful. Sometimes we'd see a tiny, empty beach. In other places the water had tunneled through the rocks making arches. In some places the arches had fallen leaving an open channel into a lagoon.

The boat stopped in a sheltered area where the water was smooth and shallow. There we boarded our kayaks. Rowshan and I had the only one with life jackets (for sitting on). It also had a lot of water which we had the guide bail out. We speculated the life jackets came with it because it was deemed most likely to sink. We glided off to explore the lagoons. We paddled through limestone tunnels into quiet lagoons with rock walls covered with plants rising up from them. In some places we could see colorful corals. Fish sometimes leaped from the water. This was the most pleasant part of the journey and brought us a little closer to my dream of Halong: drifting alone in a small boat among the islands in silence and peace. It is a place that has that siren call to lose yourself there. Disappear... escape from humanity.... There were only a couple lagoons so we didn't get lost.

Then something really unexpected happened. The sun came out and the sky, though hazy, showed blue. To reach the second lagoon we paddled through a cavern with limestone stalactites hanging from the roof and interesting coral below the water. There was a bit of a current out of the lagoon which we had to fight against to get in. Once inside we paddled around and found a spring. Since we were the only ones in our group left in the lagoon, we figured we had better go back.

We were the last ones back. I had asked the guide how long we had and he replied, “As long as you want”. I figured this wasn't quite true because I would have loved to have just paddled off and gotten lost among these beautiful, harsh islands. This probably would mean starving to death though... So we returned to the boat just in time for lunch: delicious spring rolls, garlic and greens, a calamari vegetable and pineapple dish, rice, and fried fish served with rice and cucumbers.

The next stop was Surprise Cave. We walked through what proved to be a rather large cave filled with interesting limestone formations and lots of penguin/dolphin garbage cans. A concrete walkway led through the cavern where the rock formations were lit up with colored lights, up to a viewing deck at an opening in the top of the cave. The view was beautiful. We could see the bay was a popular stop for tourist boats and there were lots of wooden junks anchored.

From there we turned back. We went back the same way we came and almost lost a kayak. It came unhitched and the boat had to turn around and fetch it. However, the view was altered by the appearance of the sun and the blue sky.

We stopped at Monkey Island but couldn't get a boat to go ashore. We were able to see a couple monkeys on the roof of one of the buildings. Aside from that Monkey Island didn't look too interesting. Just a beach. Our guide suggested that instead we could visit a fish farm in the floating village and see big fish.

Not having much of a choice we agreed. The floating village was picturesque. Most of the houses seemed to have fish farms. These were planks of wood on floats which marked off square pens (and served as walkways). Nets were attached to the planks making pens for fish. The fish farm we looked at really did have some interesting fish. I don't know there names but there were some spotted ones and some big rather mean looking ones. They also had crabs and flat shrimp.

However, the coolest inhabitants were the cuttlefish. I like cuttlefish. I've always thought they looked strangely wise but also cute. I don't think I'd seen such big ones and definitely not in an open environment. They flickered their incandescent fringes ruffling their spots of electric blue. Then one rose up and grabbed another with his/her tentacles and the two began sucking face. I swear one of them turned a lighter color. The two glided around like that and one of the French girls went into rapture about it, “Amor! Ils embrasant! C'est magnificent! Regarde!” I thought it was pretty cool myself. Cuttlefish cuddling!