Cat Ba Island, located on the south side of Halong Bay, is not small, covering an area of ??more than 140 square kilometers.

It takes one hour by boat from Halong Port to reach the north shore of Cat Ba Island. After traveling 40 kilometers, we stayed on the shore of Lan Ha Bay on the south shore of the island.

The hotel is very close to Cat Ba Town, a 20-minute walk to the town.

Near the bay is a large fishing port with many fishing boats, most of which are hardwood sailboats.

Binhai Road is a newly built asphalt road. It is very wide. Most of the houses on the roadside are five or six storeys, and there are many restaurants and fish stalls nearby.

The town is lively but messy, and the streets are full of yellow taxis and motorcycles hauling individual passengers.

The fish market, vegetable market and market selling clothes, hats and sundries are integrated into one, making it a good place for citizens and tourists.

I seemed to have returned to the Huanghua Night Market in Guangzhou in the 1980s, feeling as if I was in another world.

The once lovely bay is now surrounded by a ring of ugly concrete hotels. Fortunately, the ugliness cannot hide the charming beauty of the island and harbor.

The essence of the island is in the southeast corner of Lan Ha Bay. Three or four bathing beaches are divided by rocky corners, forming a mutually enclosed and self-contained coastal water park. Most of the tourists are Chinese, Russians, and Northern Europeans.

Chinese people are timid and mostly walk on the beach and play in the water; Westerners are bold and bold. Even if the weather is so cold in February, they dare to go to the sea to fight the wind and waves, and then lie half-naked on the beach to bask in the sun. In fact, most of the time

Hard to see the light of day.

The beer halls and bars on the shore are not very popular, but there are always people patronizing them, and the business is decent.

There are often groups of white teenagers renting motorcycles and speeding on the mountain roads in the nearby mountains. It does feel a bit like medieval "knights".

More people ride mountain bikes, and the vehicles are basically made in China. Sometimes they go to the seaside, sometimes to the top of the mountain, which is very exciting.

The central part of the island is filled with high mountains and peaks, dense forests and beautiful scenery. It has been designated as Vietnam's National Forest Park. It is said that the world's endangered animal - the golden-headed langur - lives in it.

There are also isolated limestone mountains on the low ground, with lakes, waterfalls and caves scattered among them.

The mountain trails in the forest are suitable for bird watching and hiking.

The cliffs are used for armor, the jungle is used for clothes, and the beaches are used for garlands. Cat Ba Island is becoming one of Vietnam's signature sports and eco-tourism attractions to attract business.

Cat Ba Island strangles the estuary of the Bai Dang River, overlooking Hon Gai to the north and Haiphong to the south, forming a barrier between the two maritime gateways in northern Vietnam.

It is the largest island in Ha Long Bay. It is good at fishing and farming. It is very suitable for people to live and has an important strategic position.

During the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident" in the 1960s, many US aircraft carriers were densely deployed near the Gulf of Tonkin, and hundreds of fighter planes carried out indiscriminate bombings on Hai Phong, Hon Ki (now Halong City) and the vicinity of Hanoi. Cat Ba Island is

It was an important battlefield during the fierce battle between air and land.

In a huge cave 10 kilometers north of Jiba Town, China once assisted in building a huge air defense hospital here, which was called the "Hospital Cave" by the local people.

When we visited, it was in ruins and submerged in weeds.

Shu Ming said that it is hard to imagine that this remote island still has so many traces of China.

Not far to the south of Cat Ba Island are multiple estuaries of the main tributaries of the Red River. The coastline is straight and mostly mudflats, with no danger to defend.

Going north to the land border between China and Vietnam, it stretches more than 100 kilometers from north to south, with hundreds of connected islands, and countless offshore islands and reefs, such as the karst islands and reefs on Halong Bay, which can not only defend the coast, but also be suitable for

Nearshore shipping.

I have been to the Bailongwei Peninsula near Fangchenggang City many times, and the famous "Jing Three Islands Scenic Area" is among them.

This was the starting point of the "Ho Chi Minh Trail on the Sea" during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Vietnam.

A steady stream of supplies and weapons to aid Vietnam were loaded on ships and set sail from here. Along the route composed of endless islands, they braved the hail of bullets and headed south until Halong Bay entered the inner harbor.

One thing I have to mention here is that there is a small island called Bai Longwei Island on the line between Cat Ba Island and Dongfang County in Hainan Province. During the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Vietnam in the 20th century, at the request of Ho Chi Minh,

We ceded the island that originally belonged to Guangdong to Vietnam and helped it build the Guantong Station on the island, which directly played an important role in the changes in the war situation at that time.

What worries people is whether the party that benefits can avoid forgetting history after its goal is achieved.