After a good rest we try and find somewhere selling something that we might call breakfast. As we walk past the night market sight we spot several restaurants with English writing outside. We go over and find they all have a small western breakfast, perfect. After our customary omelettes and pancakes we take a good look around. Besides from the hotels, Bai Chay is actually quite small and we don’t really find much on offer. More importantly we don’t find a single travel agent. The weather is still very misty today, so we decide not to try visiting the island, but instead to travel south to Ninh Binh. We walk a mile or so down to the tourist jetty, but everything seems shut. We are approached by a guy saying he can arrange bus tickets for us. He is constantly on his phone which is pretty annoying. Even though we haven’t agreed to anything he starts to write our tickets. This seems too dodgy to me – giving a stranger cash in a bus car park – and after asking him about an office he gives me a business card for his hotel.
We walk back to the town. I notice another office called a tourist jetty. I ask a guy in there, and he calls a friend. An English speaking chap arrives and tells us that there is a public bus to Ninh Binh, and he thinks that will be fine. We thank him and move on.
We stop at the hotel on the business card of the guy from the bus car park. Sure enough he is there. He shows us in, and he does seem to be associated with the hotel. We decide to buy out tickets.
We grab some dinner and chill out.