Ninh Binh, Vietnam – March 9th – 13th, 2017

The Vietnamese train system was a pleasant reprieve from the horrendous bus and mini-bus travel of the last four months. The train was clean, inexpensive, left on time, arrived on time, and had an on-board bathroom. The two-hour ride went smoothly and the owners of the family restaurant where we ate lunch in Ninh Binh were nice enough to arrange a cheap taxi to take us to our guesthouse in Tam Coc, a small town nearby. At the expense of a sick traveler who was unable to leave (likely clutching the porcelain throne), our room was upgraded for free!

The view from our guesthouse.

The scenery in and around Ninh Binh was breathtaking; outcrops of limestone karsts sprinkled the vibrant green rice patty fields, which seemed to extend in all directions. Although the weather was still a bit dreary, we spent the next four days taking in the scenery, meeting new friends, and relaxing. On the first afternoon, we wandered across the rice fields to Thai Vi temple where a ceremony was being held (our best guess is it was the celebration for a wedding). An older woman was dancing and handing out money and boxed snacks to the guests, which included us because we were dragged in by a local to join the celebration. Every few songs, she did a costume change, and the process repeated. Fascinated, gripped by the overwhelming joy of the guests, and unable to figure out a way to respectfully slip away, we stayed for a while and watched the celebration. Afterwards, we went back to our guesthouse and enjoyed a family-style dinner with all of the other travelers. We stayed so long talking, that the owner eventually told us all to go to bed.

The train to Ninh Binh (bottom-left), afternoon walk through the rice patties (top), and Thai Vi temple.

After a few weeks of only enjoying the company of each other (can’t seem to shake Andy, he’s always around), we were glad to meet lots of new friends during our stay in Ninh Binh. Apart from the other travelers staying at our guesthouse, we met a rare American (from Denver!) at the temple who joined us while we cycled around the area. The low clouds created a mystical feel and we enjoyed getting “lost” in the endless rice fields. We stopped for lunch (the vegetarian food was again oily morning glory and white rice with all the MSG soy sauce you can handle), rode through an old ancient city (now just brick walkways with a few monuments), and stopped for a boat ride. We were skeptical of the boat ride at first because it is so touristy, both with foreigners and Vietnamese tourists (2,000 boats are used during high-season!), but it turned out to be incredible! The boat oars were powered by the legs of a local woman who literally laid back and maneuvered the oars like she was doing the breaststroke (except above water and on her back). She guided the boat through endless tiny caves which the slow-moving river flowed through. It was dusk by the time the boat ride ended, so we hurried back to town, where we had dinner with our new friends – the German who joined us on the boat, joined us for dinner as well and he turned out to be uber intelligent and interesting.

Around Ninh Binh including chickens in a tree.

More sites around Ninh Binh.

Boat trip.

The next day, we rented bicycles again and rode to a few of the sites that we had missed the day before. First stop was Hang Mua cave and overlook. As customary, when we arrived we were urged to park our bikes and pay a fee for parking. Knowing that this was a scam to keep you from parking for free at the actual entrance, we attempted to ride past the parking lot owner and were forcefully stopped by a man in a security guard uniform who told us aggressively to park our bikes. Taken back by the fact that he had literally gotten in my face, yet compelled by the presence of a local riding a bike right behind him, we turned around and parked our bikes down the street (for free). When we arrived on foot at the entrance gate we discovered that indeed it had been an elaborate scam to trick foreigners because there was free bike parking at the gate - so aggravating! Even more aggravating was that after we hiked to the overlook (which was pretty, but tainted by the low clouds that blocked the view), we returned to our bikes to find that one of my tires was completely flat (coincidence?). It took us about an hour to get the bike back to the rental place because every time we rode it the flat inner tube would escape the tire and get stuck in the gears. My only solace was that we warned all the tourists on their way to the overlook to disregard the man in the security uniform and keep riding, thereby ruining their scam at least momentarily. Sweet, sweet revenge!

In the afternoon, we rode to a massive bird sanctuary, which was a strange phenomenon because they actually have a zoo-like place for regular everyday birds. It was nice to see some wildlife, but sad that they had to have a designated park for birds to live because they are otherwise hunted to extinction, leaving the majority of Vietnam birdless. Also at the bird sanctuary, were several caves to explore. One of the caves had a long bamboo walkway through the cave. While exploring the cave, Andy backed into a stalactite, and blood instantly started gushing from his head. Truthfully, when his hand came back completely bloody, I was a bit concerned, but luckily, we stopped the bleeding and it was not deep enough to warrant stitches. While wandering around the rest of the park, we met an Australian couple that we clicked with instantly. One of the best parts of traveling is the incredible people you meet along the way – the amazing people definitely even out the scamming a**holes.

We spent the next day getting caught up on research, working out, taking a short walk through the rice paddies, doing laundry, and hanging out with our new Aussie friends. After giving the brush off to a few annoying travelers who invited themselves into our card game, we had dinner, and then chatted with the charismatic restaurant owner who wanted advice on how to court his German girlfriend (we hope she was his girlfriend and he wasn’t just a stalker – it was hard to tell). His questioning mostly revolved around the correct way to hug her when he met up with her in Germany later this year. His attempted practice hugs were absolutely hilarious! We reluctantly said goodbye to our new friends and were lucky to get back into our hotel since, apparently, they lock the gates after 10pm (oops).       

Hang Mua overlook and the bird sanctuary. The birds were not very visible through the fog (luckily we've seen birds before), but the camera make it look worse than it really was.