Rock The Cat Ba

Deciding to take advantage of the long holiday weekend (Reunification/Labor Days) Daphne headed for a village in Northern Thailand to do a Thai Yoga Massage training.  Since it wasn't really the kind of holiday I could join, I made my first solo trip in nearly two years to the same place where I did my last solo trip.  Rock climbing in Ha Long Bay.


Hai Phong to Cat Ba Express
To get to Cat Ba Island, I no longer needed to fly to Hanoi since they've recently built an airport in Hai Phong halfway in between.  Despite being a fairly new airport, they've skillfully built this three room aviation center in a style that makes it look twenty years old.  I wonder if they hadn't just adopted a derelict government office building and built a runway behind it.

My flight arrived at 9:30am but I didn't get my luggage until 9:50.  I looked at the bus schedule I had written down, the next bus to Cat Ba was at 10, the one after not until 2pm.  I rushed to a taxi stand insisting on the Mai Linh taxi, one of only two companies that are reliable in Vietnam (Vinasun being the other), but was treated rather oddly.  The Mai Linh taxi driver tried to talk me into using a xe om instead, when I refused he tried to get me to use another taxi and then finally asked for 100,000VND instead of using the meter.  The oddest part was that when I had insisted on the meter the fair came out to 110,000VND.  For once a taxi driver hadn't tried to rip me off!

We arrived to the bus station at 10:20am and, lucky me, the bus hadn't yet left.  A little bit about Hai Phong in the words of Lonely Planet: "Haiphong is a graceful city that has the flavour of Hanoi a decade ago."  Unless Hanoi tasted like exhaust and rubber, I think the person who wrote that entry was reviewing the wrong town.  Hai Phong is a major shipping port and it would seem that the town has been completely devoured by this industry.  There are more trucks than any other vehicle (although LP claims bicycles to be the popular vehicle of choice here) and streets are lined with truck tires and truck parts for sale.  No plant life is left untouched by dust and driving through I couldn't help but wish that I could hold my breath for the entire trip through this dump.  I remember seeing somebody getting a bike wash and I couldn't help but think, "what's the point?"

The drive to the boat only became less attractive as trucks and shipyards were replaced by brown flat lands and factories.  The boat ride through brown waters wasn't any more enriching and the first pleasing site wasn't until it finally reached Cat Ba itself.  I had written much about Cat Ba in my first posts two years ago(1,2, 3) so I won't repeat myself too much.  But suffice to say that the drive through the island washed all that soot from my mind and helped me to find my smile again.  Here was paradise found.

Hotel Holiday Blues
I had made plans to stay at the Dolphin just around the corner from the climbing organizer's(SloPony) office.  Generally, a room is 200,000VND, but on this holiday weekend prices are known to go above $50 just to sleep in someone's closet.  Since I was staying for five nights though, I managed to get the owner to agree to 400,000VND a night flat rate.  After already having moved in and showered, her son asked me if I could move into a much smaller room for the busy Saturday. "NO," I put simply without feeling a need to explain myself.  He was stunned and repeated my 'no' to himself.  He went and argued with his mom but she stood by her original agreement with me so fortunately there was no more awkwardness.

My first night on Cat Ba was a social challenge for me, since this was the first time in two years that I had been somewhere alone.  But I got on alright after making friends with three Scots over some drinks and many losses to Vietnamese teens at the pool table.  The nightlife is almost nonexistent here, as everybody likes to close shop before midnight.  That's alright, all the climbing I would be doing would keep me bed ready every night by 9 for the whole week anyways.

Morning Tea
I was to meet my friend Lee, another climber in Saigon, and three of his friends on Cat Ba, but they were ariving a day after me.  So on my first morning I went to SloPony and asked them to keep a lookout for any climbers that I could join.  I then went downstairs to The Noble House and had a banana pancake with honey and a pot of strong hot Vietnamese green tea.  This was my morning breakfast two years ago and I had resumed the familiar comforts of this ritual once more.

A short wait later and I was introduced to three Seattle natives, Remy, Dave and his girlfriend Carrie, and their Canadian friend Louk.  They only had one rope between the four so the five of us rented another rope and set of quick draws($4 for each of us).  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the day pass to Butterfly Valley was the exact same price it was two years ago.  Considering how bad inflation has been in Vietnam that's a miracle.

My new friends from Seattle were experienced yet humble, mild mannered climbers.  Dave would lead a 6c easily and without boast.  Their Canadian friend, who would be leaving the next day, was new to the sport but very determined and had a lot of heart that kept on the rock longer than most could.  Meanwhile, I had not lead climbed since my last visit.  I took for granted the mind game that is involved when you have to lead a route as opposed to having a top rope set up.  But by the end of the day I was beginning to regain my confidence.

Green Mango
There are only two places that serve a good meal on Cat Ba.  There is the lunch at Butterfly Valley and then there is the Green Mango, the only upscale restaurant in town.  Everywhere else served virtually the same menu tourist menu and at strange prices.  One place would have an expensive pancake and a cheap burger, another would have a cheap pancake and an expensive burger.  Prices were invented from mid air and street food was nonexistent. I met Lee that night at the Green Mango for dinner along with his friends, Enrico, a German engineer, Be, a Thai doctor, and Elle, a Calvin Klein wizard of sorts, all of whom live in Bangkok.  The service that night was excruciatingly slow, but not caring for the other options in town we came back again the following night and found that everything was served very quickly and with excellent presentation.  I had dinner here every night after.

Climb On
I climbed with Lee and his friends the next day, Enrico being the chief climber of our fivesome.  We first climbed at Butterfly Valley and then the following day we rented a boat along with the three from Seattle and a few others and went to climb on a couple of islands in the Bay.  The sky was overcast, as it had been the whole week, and the weather was cool and fair, but the sun came out as we were on our last routes just in time to give us all sunburn on our backs.  Still, it was great to have the sun out for the boat ride back through the Bay. 

[Photo Ops everywhere]

[Lee pointing out the first route of the day]

 [I climbed a 4+ just to take a photo of Enrico on this 6b+]

 [Lee doing a 'Michel' pose]

 [Enrico and Elle belay vigilantly]

 [Room for two]

[Be enjoys a cold La Rue on the way back]

[Good Day, Sunshine]

Lee and friends had to leave the next day but I had taken a day off from work so that I could climb more.  Elle was going to spend a few days in Saigon so she lent me her rope and draws so that I could go climbing again with the Seattlites.  Day four of climbing and every muscle and joint on me ached, but I pulled it together to lead a slow, tired but successful 6b for my last route of the trip.

First thing I did when I got back to Saigon?  Massage.