A New Type of Beach Experience! Travel Vietnam

The beach looked inviting; very inviting and so we carefully selected our place in the shade.

White sand stretched out before us and we lay down to relax on the quiet beach. Although Hai Phong is a really pretty city and a nice place to be, it felt so good to be away from the pollution, noise and daily activity in Hai Phong.

The sea looked inviting and clean.

Swimming here was more like taking a tepid bath but nonetheless refreshing.

There were only two other people swimming at the time. The lounge chairs languished unused on the white sandy stretch of beach.

Tall limestone cliffs behind us created a unique snug feel to this beach with the uninspiring name of Number Two Beach.

We could see many islands off the coast of Cat Ba Island, on the perimeter of Halong Bay. It's a really idyllic spot.

Then, as if a switch had been turned on people arrived. First they came in twos, threes and fours but then they came in groups of twenty.

They came with equipment too. They came with games to play and staked out huge areas of the beach right beside our spot. They had baskets of supplies - balloons, ribbons (to mark out the area claimed), rope (for the tug o war) and this is truly shocking - megaphones! I saw at least three bright yellow megaphones!

The newcomers turned this peaceful haven into a fair ground! I was so shocked I didn't even get a photograph of the megaphones or the person in charge of it who shouted into it non-stop for about one hour before we escaped. It was like being at a fairground except noisier.

Suddenly anyone swimming (my friend braved it but I didn't) had to fight for elbow room in the sea. The sole man guarding the beach with a flag and a whistle walked up and down like a crazy man trying to marshal the swimmers into a narrow strip of the beach inside the marker buoys.

It's hard to believe the marked changes on the beaches depending upon the time of day you go there.

Here is Cat Ba Number 1 Beach before the crowds and after the crowds came rollicking in. It was taken at about 5p.m. Vietnam time. You get to Number 1 Beach before Number 2 beach.