Good morning SE Asia!: 06/10/13 - Cat Ba to Cam Trung

We got up not too early and had the same breakfast as yesterday, got the bikes down the stairs and packed up. Already very hot today, no clouds at all, just the light dusty haze that is everywhere. Got 2 x 1.5Litre bottles of water on each bike also. Made the 22km to the ferry port in 1hr 20min, bought a ticket (£1.50 each) and sat down for a coffee. The coffee here is usually in a little drip feeder which you wait about 5 mins to drip through. It's mega strong and tastes a bit like that 80% cocoa chocolate as well as espresso. Then you add in some sweetened condensed milk, and some ice cubes. Also it's usually served with a glass of iced green tea on the side. Costs about 60p. I had seen these adverts everywhere for this brown stuff in a swanky plastic tall bottle called 'Rockman'. Its advertised with a bloke looking all suave and a girl kind of draped over his shoulder. We figured it was some kind of virility boosting energy drink, and the guy at the ferry port was all over me pretending to be the girl in the photo, and pointing out that the two in the advertising had no rings on. Funny bloke. We bought one to drink on the boat over. I cracked it open and had a swig. Bloody hell it was fire water. After some closer inspection it had a tiny 6pts text saying 33% alcohol at the bottom. No idea why they sold it next to all the cokes and green tea bottles and stuff.
The ferry was about an hour. The ferry itself was all but rusted right through in most places, and the access ramps didn’t lift any more so they just drove with them down. We got off the other side and had another 43km to the hotel, which we hadn’t booked yet, just knew there were a few in that area. The roads were wide and busy, dusty and noisy. Mostly there was a shoulder but not always. Through towns and past Halong city the traffic was intimidating, you really have to keep your eye on all the junctions. The big buses that run from town to town plough straight down the middle of the road at full tilt everywhere, horn blaring. Lots of big trucks pulling containers. Also a lot of cyclists, carrying things you wouldn't believe. Coming down one side of a suspension bridge, we noticed a car slowed right down beside us. A bloke in a new Corolla is videoing us with his iPhone, leaning right over to get his camera as close as possible. We smile and wave etc and he is smiling but he is videoing for about 5 mins, following us and Johanna specifically. All good fun, but still not really sure what was so interesting.

When we got to the area of the hotel, we see loads of Massage and Karaoke places, plus Hotel's with massage signs everywhere. Great, a red light district. Its hard to tell which hotels are normal and which ones are hourly jobs, so we ask in a restaurant and follow a girl to another hotel. It certainly looks the best in the area and is owned by the restaurant owner. £4.50 for the night. I have a quick check of the room, and despite having no key (but it locks from the inside), it looks OK. We check in (didn't ask for passports - not a great sign) and have a quick shower before heading back to the restaurant on the bikes. Very odd place, no menu as such, they just ask what we want and make a few suggestions. We have still to get a handle on this weird Karaoke/Massage joint thing. Food was excellent though but we got charged quite a lot. I was annoyed at first but since think it was reasonable. £18 for Fried squid, Half a chicken (which was running around the yard 10 mins before we ate it), huge fried rice, pudding fruit, veg and two drinks each.

Went back past a shop for drinks for the morning, and spoke for a while to a friendly Vietnamese girl Johanna met earlier and who wanted to chat. Back in the room we noticed something moving around in the corner. Had a look and there were a load of massive cockroaches under the wardrobe, coming out of a hole in the wall. As I had my head on the floor looking under with a torch, one massive git of a roach squeezed past my head and face to get back to the hole from somewhere else in the room. RIGHT! Cockroach killing spree! Moved the wardrobe and plugged up the holes and sprayed loads of mosquito repellent down the hole. Found one more in the room later on as well. They are massive things, kind of worry that one might pull you out of bed in the middle of the night. J slept with her face mask on!

Had another try of the 'Rockman' fire water and poured it down the toilet.

It was all quite funny really. The room also seemed mainly to be used on an hourly basis from what we worked out but we cleverly brought sleeping bag inliners plus our own pillows for just such conditions.

Route Link part 1

Route Link part 2