I scoured the Internet for a definitive answer to this trip but it wasn’t clear. Here’s how I did it and a few tips. 

I bought an all in one ticket that went from Luong Yen bus station (not My Dinh) to Cat Ba. 

Some useful pointers :

– the company is Hoang Long 

– see the timetable to avoid a long wait

The fast boat. Note that this ticket is bus, boat, bus. To get a cheaper ticket they land you on the north west of the island and shuttle you by bus to Cat ba town. However you can get a fast boat back directly from Cat Ba town so I’d assume there must be a more expensive ticket that does just the fast boat for the last leg. Ping me if anyone has any pointers on that. 

My hotel overlooked the bay, convenient for getting about and great views. 

For people looking for pointers on how to do Halong bay see

http://m.roughguides.com/destinations/asia/vietnam/the-northern-coast/ha-long-bay/organized-tours-of-ha-long-bay/

And

https://littlegreybox.net/2014/12/11/how-to-choose-a-great-halong-bay-cruise/

A walk around Hanoi – some housing en route to

Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum where the queue was crazy long. Who knew that being an embalmed dictator would be more popular than most rock bands?! Unfortunately I couldn’t get a picture as security was super strict but basically you walked around his dimly lit glass sarcophagus with him inside. Apparently the sarcophagus gets shipped to Russia from 4th September to 4th November for maintenance to his body.

His house

and the “Used Cars” garage – all donated by various sympathetic countries

I liked this under house table arrangement

The lake nearby where he’d go walking

Then on to lighter stuff – the Thang Long Puppet Theatre, well worth the rather pricy ticket despite only the start being in English. Unfortunately my photos haven’t come out that well although the video works pretty well

Evening street food

Beer, Vietnam style

And the street dining got a lot busier later on

With staged shows

And street bands (the dancing kid was funny)

This temple was damaged in a siege by the French. The cannonballs had taken chunks out of the left side 

Ho chi minh’s mausoleum (to be explored another day)

One legged stilt house 

Ho chi minh’s museum (expensive but very interesting)

What was amazing was the breadth of the exhibits. From Guernica

Life at war 

The countries Ho Chi Minh visited (a lot!)

To modern art

And Chaplin

Back into town. A sandal mountain 

Finally, that evening, some rather unappetising “chips” (I don’t think I managed many)

But better street music 

Walking around Hanoi today. Unfortunately my hat has reached the end of its life. Sad to see it go 

Jade island, a favourite place in Hanoi 

And a little temple in the lake 

Hoa Lo prison (aka the Hanoi Hilton). 

An escape route 

Some lighter stuff. Funny how the buildings crowd this train track 

Wonder how easy this was to steer 

And the 2nd oldest roundabout in Vietnam