I woke up this morning had breakfast, and sat up on the top deck to enjoy our last hour or so on the junk in the cove. We later moved the junk up the bat and met up with another boat that we transferred onto. This boat took us to another area to enjoy some more kayaking for about an hour. This time Liz and I shared a kayak and took our time to look around and explore.
After kayaking we got back onto the boat and were taken to an island where the crew set up lunch for us on the beach. We once again had a great fresh meal with so much food. I was always full but continued to eat because of how good the food was. While on the island I looked around and didn’t see another boat or a single person. I took in that moment because it was so amazing to know we were secluded and how special this truly was. I looked around and wondered how many people have seen or been on these islands prior to me, I imagine a lot but was still impressed with the simplicity of it. Had this bay been in the states it would have been taken over by people putting up houses and docking their speed boats?
Once we were done with lunch we all helped clean up and then were on our way to Cat Bai Island where we go on a short bike ride. When we pulled up to the dock I was the first off the boat and ready to pick out my bike. There was a group of mountain bikes with shocks and gears and then a group of rusty old beach cruisers with comfy seats. I knew from reading blogs that on this bike ride the best option was the bike with a comfy seat. Mike tried to persuade me otherwise but I told Liz we should stick with the beach cruisers and we did. It ended up being a really good choice.
The bike ride was about five miles and started out in a flat section along a river that connected to the bay. It was silent out besides us and the area was surrounded by green hills. We rode up and down and a few small hills and that’s where my bike seemed to be the right choice. While the boys were messing with gears that were stuck and not working it just rode on by and my butt didn’t hurt a bit. As we rode we rode through some ride paties and a small village. We reached the end of the village at what looked like a café and left our bikes there while we went on a short hike. Our hike took us up into the jungle and through a cave. I kept imagining this to be what those in the war had to fight through and how it all looked the same. I could get lost here extremely easily and it would also be extremely easy to hide yourself from an enemy.
After the hike we got back on the bikes and back through the village to the dock. We once again got back on the boat and left for Monkey Island. Mike had been telling us about it all day and I was getting pretty excited to see it. Once we arrived we stopped a couple hundred yards or so from the shore because it was too shallow for the boat to go any other further. We were told to get to the island we would have to swim. It was still really cloudy out like the first day and not all that warm plus that water was cold but I was going to swim my way to shore. Some people decided to sit out so they didn’t have to swim, but when else was I going to be on Monkey Island in Vietnam. I jumped right in with a few of the boys and started swimming. As I was reaching the shore I looked back to see a small row boat rowing people to shore. Apparently while I was swimming a woman came alongside our boat offering to take people to the island for a small price. A few people opted for that choice and I was glad they were going to be able to see the island. When we got there we started walking up to a small building up on the sand. There we saw our first couple of monkeys hanging from a string and on the roof of the building. One of the boys had brought bananas with him to feed to the monkeys. He threw one to the ground and then all of a sudden it seemed the monkeys doubled in number. They started to get extremely close to us and the boys just kept throwing food. As the food was thrown the monkeys became more daring and mean. Chasing after the boys and screeching at them. Did I mention there were signs saying “beware the monkeys will bite!”. Before coming to the island I hadn’t anticipated the monkeys would be mean or scary but after ten minutes on the island I was definitely ready to get off. I spent most of my time on the shoreline near the water so if the monkeys came running at as I could jump in the water. It was really funny to watch and kind of scary all at the same time but a really fun way to end our adventurous day.
After Monkey Island we got back on the boat to head to Cat Bai island where we would stay in a hotel for the night. We got into the port where small children had just gotten out of school the children ran around us and we played with them until our bus arrived to take us to our hotel. The hotel was about a ten minute drive away and it seemed Cat Bai was a very small town and a great secrete get away. Our hotel was really nice and apparently the nicest hotel on the entire island. We were given dinner at the hotel which was again a great 8 or so course meal served in a really nice restaurant. After dinner Liz and I went to hang out in Jeff’s room with him and Ryan before going out for the night. We sat talking in the hotel for a while before heading out and walking a few blocks up the street to a local bar one of the only few. The bar was packed with many tourists and we sang the night away to different songs playing in the bar before heading back to our hotel for a good nights sleep.
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