We headed from Hanoi after a few days of relaxing to the island of Cat Ba. It is a really popular holiday destination for Vietnamese tourists. It is situated in the Halong bay area, so the the scenery is absolutely breath taking!

We went on a very short fishing trip one morning but the water was far to bumpy to stay out, so we called it quits early.
Matt and myself hired kayaks and went out around the lime stone karsts for the afternoon.

We also checked out the National park in Cat Ba and climbed a little mountain there, the view was spectacular!

The beach there was completely packed from 6am till 8pm every day. Vietnamese people were walking down the streets with their toggs on. It was pretty cool to see every one in holiday mode

Early the next morning we headed off back to Hanoi for some more R&R. This time we checked out a very old prison built in the 19th century by the French. It was built to lock up anyone who opposed the French rule. They were kept in horrible conditions, and tortured. It was not a pleasant experience. It has been very sad to see how much the Vietnamese people have been through, throughout history.

On our way home one evening, I had my phone stolen from a lady on a motor bike, some very talented pick pocketers here, it was only 1 week old as my last phone died from getting drowned from all the rain we have here. So that was a bit of a downer moment. We had to stay an extra day in Hanoi to sort all the police reports and buy a new one. But now we have headed off north east to the China boarder to a small town called Lang Son. It is a nice quiet town, which is a nice change from the city life. We will follow the boarder around till we get to Sapa and eventually cross over into Laos. We have no idea if we will get through with our bikes. But fingers crossed it should go smoothly!