Cat Ba Island is going to become a very popular and famous place because it is so beautiful and has cheap accommodations and great food. This picture was taken from the main street lined with hotels and restaruants.
I left Ca Ba at sunrise to bike across the length of the Island to catch the ferry across Halong Bay to Bai Chay. This was a scene I had seen from the back of a motor scooter a few days earlier and thought it would be lovely at sunrise. It was.
Richard Gregg has been biking around the world for 7 years. On a houseboat in Kashmir he had a serious accident (broke his leg) and returned to England for a year to recover before flying back to Kashmir to start again. Then he taught in Japan for a couple of years. That leaves four years biking from Sheffield England to India and on to China. I met him in Hanoi. In Cat Ba at dinner I was telling some people about Richard's travels. They didn't really believe me, but a few minutes later Richard rode by on his fully loaded bike. When Richard left Cat Ba, to ride across to the other end, I rode out of town with him to celebrate the 16,000th mile. He was heading south to Hue and then east into Laos.
Halong Bay
The caption on the postcard reads "Ha Long: The Fighting-cocks islet"
It was mailed from Hanoi on 31 October, and the message says: Hi,
Ellen: Hopefully by the time you read this I will be in Ha Long Bay.
I hope it really looks like this. Hanoi was sort of like Saigon in
91-92, but becoming more modern than other parts of the north, and has
plenty of fast driving motor scooters. My world wide biker friend
told me where to send email from Nanning! Love, Ron
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Last updated: 6 September 1999