Catba Adventure-Hospital Cave & Catba National Park - Vietnam

A Day of Adventure on Catba : Of Hospital Cave, Catba National Park and a nice swim at a Private Beach

Rise and Shine at 7am, we had a super heavy duty breakfast at our hotel in Cat Ba and overloaded on carbohydrates to last us through this adventurous day. We would be paying a visit to the Hospital Cave , followed by a 10km hike across the Catba National Park to have lunch at the Viet Hai Village before we embark on another a 5km cycle to the Pier to catch a boat out for a swim at a private beach.Activities packed indeed~

Catba Island, Here we come!

Cat Ba Island– The Archipelago Biosphere Reserve of the world

Catba is the largest island in Halong Bay and situated only a mere 50 km east of Hai Phong city in the north of Vietnam. It offers visitors an alternative form of relaxation away from the city madness and extra adventure with its rich bio-diversity and relatively uncontaminated natural landscape. In April 2005, Cat Ba was officially recognized as Cat Ba Archipelago Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
Cat Ba is known for its rugged limestone mountains, tropical forests, mangroves and coral reefs as well as its assortment of “private” beaches, and casual island lifestyle. It has with it historical significance during the US-Vietnam War and even had a short period of French colonial presence.

Folk tale of the Women’s Island
Cat Ba Island actually means ‘Women’s Island’. Legend tells that three women of the Tran Dynasty died and each drifted to a sandy beach on the island. Afterwards, the inhabitants built temples on each of the beaches and the island was later known as Cat Ba Island (Women’s Island)  There is another Cat Ong Island (Men’s Island) opposite which was once a secret place for soldiers to hide weapons.

The “Hugging mode” of public transport

At the entrance of the hotel, we boarded our " motor taxis" at 7.30am in the morning to make our way to the Hospital Cave.

Due to the scarcity of cars on the island, a good and convenient alternative form of transportation on the island would be motorbikes. Tourists often use "xe ôm" (literally called the "hug vehicle") motorbikes to get around the island. These are unofficial, unregulated taxi motorcycles available where the passenger sits at the rear of a motorbike and put on a helmet to scoot off to their destinations. One can also rent a motor bike for a day to explore the island on your own.

Here we go!  To the Hosiptal Cave!

Riding fun on the motor taxi

 The Hospital (QuanY) Cave & the US-Vietnam War

The Hospital cave is located in Hai Son Village which is about 8 km from Cat Ba town. Since it is along our way to the Catba National Park, we dropped off at this historical site for a visit first.

During the American War in Vietnam, Cat Ba, due to its proximity to Hai Phong, one of Vietnam’s largest port cities, played a prominent role. During US bombing raids in the north, Cat Ba was targeted and bomb craters can still be seen in various places across the island. One of the key reminders of the war and its struggles for local communities would be the ‘Hospital Cave’, which had been used as a key shelter of the wounded against the bombing raids in 1965.

We are at the Hospital Cave

Steps leading up to the entrance of the Hospital Cave

The entrance to the Hospital Cave, a very small and discreet opening

The Hospital Cave is an extraordinary structure of pathways and spaces inside the mountain that spans across three different floors. There is a small entrance on one side and exit on the other side of the mountain.

Within the cave, it is a pretty impressive system of bedrooms, surgical rooms, entertainment facilities of a squash court, table – tennis room & choir room. According to the guide, there are a total of 17 rooms for bunkers and wards and even an indoor swimming pool.

One of the larger rooms inside Hospital Cave, Catba

Basins for washing up, Hospital Cave, Catba

Squash Court inside Hospital Cave, Catba

Long corridors inside Hospital Cave, Catba

Stairs leading to different levels inside the Hospital Cave, Catba

Exit on the other side of the mountain, Hospital Cave, Catba

 After the cave visit, we made our way on foot towards the national park... 

The Cat Ba National Park  

 It is located 15km north - west of the Cat Ba main town area. It was established in 1986 and spans a total area of 15,200ha, housing extremely varied form of wildlife, vegetation ecosystem and habitat. The park comprises of land and water on both the main Cat Ba Island as well as on several smaller islands surrounding. It is Vietnam’s first national park to include both terrestrial and marine ecosystems and is recognized internationally for its importance in biodiversity conservation.

At the beginning of the hike, we were enjoying views of the large diversity of insects and vegetations.

A stick insect along our path, Catba National Park

The larger paths inside Catba National Park

A large spider, with a smaller spider, Catba National Park

White Fungus on Log across our hiking path , Catba National Park

                                                                                          
After around 2 hours, we reached the beautiful lake inside the national park called the Frog Lake; It looks like a magical  forest echoing with the chants of the frogs against the amazing water landscape. It is a good chance to catch our breath from our long hike before continuing with our remaining 5km adventurous hike across another 3 hills.

The Mystical Frog Lake, Catba National Park

We heard that the golden–headed Catba langur is a rare and a precious animal that exists only on Cat Ba Island, but we didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of it. We were very impressed by the huge number of butterflies within the conservation though. We were also hoping to spot a type of tree called “Cay Kim Giao” which is unique to Cat Ba. In ancient times, kings and nobles would eat only with chopsticks made from this timber, as the light coloured wood was reputed to turn  black when in touch anything poisonous. Not in much luck for the day.

As we walked deeper into the National Park, we realised that the hike is not exactly for the faint hearted. As we took the “unbeaten path” of the 10km hike, bashing our way across wild vegetations like a guerrilla fighter, climbing across slimy moss covered stones and descending downhill via slippery mud paths without proper aids, we are glad that we didn’t get ourselves injured in the middle of the conservation. 

So happy to reach the top of the 5th hill

After another 3 hours, we are finally near the Viet Hai Village. There comes another hurdle, we had to cross a little stream, using…well—whatever is there.

The pictures give a good representation of what we went through... 

Crossing the stream on a thin fallen tree

Oh man..got to keep my balance!

Not exactly that fun when you are carrying your precious DSLR camera with you. Taking calculated risk, we proposed that I’ll crossed over to the other side first so that NT can throw our camera bag over to me before crossing over on his own. : P

In our opinion, the full 10km version of the National Park hike, though guided, really is something challenging and suited more for the daredevils due to the large amount of energy required to cover the route up and down five hills without any form of aids and the small “dangers” it presents along the way. If you want something close to nature without the strain, we highly recommend you take the normal touristy 2km route instead.

Finally the bigger paths, we are nearing the village!

With our last lapse of energy, we finally managed to reach the Viet Hai village, which is the smallest village on Catba. There is only around 200 people living in simple houses made from natural materials like bamboo, wood and earthen walls there. As a down to earth fishing and farming village,  the people here are extremely sincere, simple minded and very hospitable. 

We saw a crater converted pond in the village that was formed due to the bombing during war too

A crater converted pond from the bombing, Catba, VietHai Village

With thirst and exhaustion from the hike, we finally dragged our tired feets to the little hut where our lunch is waiting. I think ice-cold Coke never tasted so well...
We hungrily gobbled down our lunch in split seconds.

Now you see lunch..

...Now you don't. We cleared everything in 15mins!

There is a live fish in the well!

 After lunch, we went on another scenic 5km cycle towards the Pier..

Beautiful Scenes of Padi Fields and Hills

One of the most scenic  & peaceful cycling route that we've been on. There's practically no one else around!

Goats!

Here we are at the "Private Jetty". See our boat waiting for us at the end?

On board our boat to the private island

We finished off our Catba odyssey with a private boat ride to swim at a secluded private beach, affectionately savouring all the great moments of privacy that we enjoy there.

Just us & the boat man on this secluded beach. Can you spot NT in the picture?

How nice to have the whole place to ourselves!

At the end of the trip, though tired, we feel extremely satisified. This is definitely one very memorable day of the trip!

NT, relaxing on our way back to the CatBa Main Island

XY,  our way back to the CatBa Main Island

Till later!
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