Cat Ba Town

Cat Ba Town is, I suppose, a fairly average little village with a picturesque fishing port. Then there is the garish line of hotels, bars, restaurants and shops that line the waterfront, with a wide boulevard bigger than most streets I drive on here in HaNoi and handling about one tenth of the traffic. Garish it is, but it’s also nice – if it were only an average fishing village I would not want to stay there. They have those funny fake fireworks everywhere, and a fountain and light display every night, and loads of cafés that get rolled out onto the street every night carrying everything from beer to sugar cane juice. The town also boasts one disco, which seems a bit odd. I don’t think anybody goes there for the disco, people go there for the peace and quiet and beauty of the place… Whatever.