Crossing cat ba island with a school bus

Our mission for the day was to get to cat ba. The way to get there is to reach ha long city, and from there take a fairy into the island. The way everyone do it is by buying a tour pack that includes transportation, a place to sleep, and some other things maybe, all in an astronomic price comparing to the place (50$-160$) . We wanted to see what it's like so we bought a 6$ ticket just to get there and see how it is. We did our way with a whole bunch of full pack buyers and one tour guide that offered the whole deal for 20$, and the option of being shot by the locals if we didn't take the deal, so we pulled out our guns and said "no deal" (ok, without the guns part). When we reached ha long bay all we wanted was to cross into the island but the prices skyrocketed to 60$ for a 1 day pack, hopelessly we looked around for cheaper prices, and found a somewhat cheaper 15$ for the fairy. 30 minuets later we were joined to a group where our "guide" bought each of us a 2$ ticket we didn't know where to buy, and so we got screwed. with a promise to ourselves that this won't happen again we started our ride with a Spanish couple that were in the same mind as we were. They are the coolest people we met so far I think, they are traveling all over the world with bicycles, a tent, and a small notepad to write words they learn in various languages, and then immediately forget. They entire way the four of us were making fun of the obnoxious "guide" that completely avoided us and not let us join the rest of the group, in a few things on the way there. It was the funniest 3 language conversation we had on the trip so far. When we finally reached the bay of cat ba island, it was starting to get dark, and the place was completely deserted, just our boat, and a few locals that were willing to sell us a ride to the center for some more astronomical prices. Our biker friends had an arrangement, all the "full pack" tourists had a private van, and www were the only 2 left without a way out of that end of the world bay. At that time we understood that it was time to live up to our promise and not get screwed again, and started to walk on the road with no plan, and a lot of hope that it's impossible that NO ONE comes here. The only thing that lifted our spirits was the fact that the locals were following us and persistantly tried to sell us a ride, at a somewhat lower price. Finally, we saw a bus in the horizon, and started pacing more rapidly towards it. The locals were taking their last chance by trying to convince us we can't go on that bus because it's private, but we kept going, and finally had our victory of going to the center in a bus with 16 funny local kids at the price of ~0.8$, instead of taking a tourist bus at a price of 9$. I think the experience itself was more elevating and fun than anything we might have missed by not going with the rest of the tourists. The kids were all laughing and excited, and the ticket man on the bus was playing with them, stealing one girl's shoe and hiding it behind us, forcing her to ask us to move for a second. The people on the island that are not trying to sell you stuff you may be willing to pay a lot for, are the niceset people we have seen in our life maybe. They offered us a seat with them while they were eating, inviting us to rounds of vodka, offering some of their local meals for us to taste, letting us play with their children and sing songs with them (apparently karaoke is a big hit around here), and hopelessly try to teach us a game that is like chess, but with Chinese letters on coins, and different rules... Cat ba was magical, but the details of that are for another time