How to Get From Cat Ba to Green Climbers Home

You can skip the intro.

I thought going from Cat Ba Island to Thakhek in Laos was complicated. It took about 16 hours on the bus but otherwise everything is straight-forward. The buses were either on time or ahead of schedule.

If you have had trouble with bus schedules, please re-examine your values. Vietnamese people are smart and honest (there are of course exemptions). Most problems come with people's inability to use basic phrasebooks. Or they cannot get out of their head and realize that they are in a foreign country. Travel to the far east to enforce western ways is not the way to go.

With that said, before going to Vinh or Laos, get some phrasebooks.

Green Climbers Home to Cat Ba is part of the Southeast Asian Climber's Trail. It is like the Israeli Humus Trail, except that climbers eat dirt. And chalk.

1. Direct Bus from Cat Ba to Vinh

There is a bus from the company Mobihome that goes from Cat Ba Island to the City of Vinh. It leaves around 7:44 am from Cat Ba. The number is +84 941 08 6969.

2. To Haiphong and then Vinh

The last bus from Cat Ba to Haiphong leaves around 4pm. Ask the bus driver if they can drop you off at Bến xe Thượng Lý (Thượng Lý Bus Station). There is a bus that leaves 06:30pm and arrives in Vinh around 02:00am.

Vinh to Thakhek

The bus from Vinh to Thakhek usually departs from Bến xe Chợ Vinh (Vinh Market Bus Station). There are multiple bus stations in Vinh so make sure to go there. The bus I took departed at 5am. I paid 350,000 VND. The travel from Vinh Market to Thakhek Bus Station lasted eight hours.

We passed through Cha Lo Border Gate. If you have questions, learn Vietnamese then send this number a message: +84 983 851 222.

There is another bus that I did not take it because I could only take one bus at a time. Learn Vietnamese and text this number: +84 985 118 555.

Green Climbers Home is around 12km east of the Bus Station. If you pass through Cha Lo Border, then keep your eyes open around that area. There is a sign of the left-hand side around where a dirt road mellows down to GCH.

When you get there, please say "hi" to Sam and Melissa for me. If Anne still works there, ask her what the day's special is! She always knows!