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Published: March 5th 2007
West Coast Memories
It rained last night and into the morning. Not ideal weather for boating and seeing stunning mountain vistas like we had planned. So instead we stayed in bed with fluffy duvet covers pulled up to our chins. We haven’t seen rain in months and it was a bittersweet reminder of rainy winter days at home that go something like this. The alarm clock goes off 7am and it’s gray and dark outside. The best thing to do is curl up with a good book or watch TV. But
noooo, you have to drag your ass out of bed to make it to work on time. We weren't expected at 9am bright eyed and bushy tailed so for the majority of the day we read, watched TV and perused the Internet. We did what rainy days are meant for! Anyone Jealous?
Down an ally road we found a family run Internet joint and whittled away a few hours. Their teenaged son took a liking to me offering sweets, candy coated peanuts and slices of mango. Jarrod, two computers down, received nothing of the sort.
Back in Motion
The following morning was another slow start as
we anticipated another day of rain, but there were promising cracks in the blanket of clouds, so we rented a motorbike and headed out around noon.
On the outskirts of Ninh Binh lay the ruins of the ancient capital city (968-1009). Not much is left of the city but it’s easy to understand why the king chose the location being protected by soaring mountains with great vantage points to spot invading enemies.
We paddled along in a canal of murky brown water through mountains jutting up out of the green sea of rice paddies. Men were trudging up mounds of mud in search of snails while women were permanently bent over planting and pruning the newly planted rice patches.
The river curved around and headed straight into the rock wall of a mountain. With less than a meter to the roof of the cave we were engulfed by darkness and expected goblins with bloodshot eyes to jump out at us like Disneyland rides. And then there was light. Nothing happened to raise the blood pressure - unfortunately. Two more caves and we reached gray-haired ladies too old to work in the rice fields promoted to sell snacks
and souvenirs out of a dug out boat. Also taking a rest stop was a boat full of young Vietnamese men sloshed from drinking rice wine all morning. They offered us some of the potent mixture, passing it off as water, but we declined to have our throats burned from the inside out.
After our boat ride the clouds darkened and started to roll in making it eerily misty yet stunning. We puttered around on the bike riding through villages, wandering through temples, and conquering steep mountains on foot. I was in search of a photo opp from the top of a hill looking down on the river and rice paddies but failed miserably to find a road that lead to a hill let alone a path up the steep rocks. We settled on hiking up a small mountain that had a path to a historic shrine perched on top. At the top a shrine keeper was asking for donations. We declined using the excuse that we’re not Buddhists and he proceeded to stuff the wad of donation bills into his pocket making us a little suspicious as to what the money really goes for!
As night started
to fall we headed home just in time to beat the oncoming rain. We were glad the rain held off as it proved to be stunning scenery and a fun day of exploring back roads. That night we warmed up with a hot cup of Lipton tea, snuggled under the blankets and watched cheesy family movies on the Hallmark channel. 😊
Next Stop: Halong Bay
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Owen L
non-member comment
That place rules
I went to Ninh Binh with my girlfriend glynis in 1999. Vietnam had recently opened up for tourism, and unbelievably as far as these pictures are concerned it looks exactly the same. As far as fluffy duvets are concerned they would not have been welcome when we were there. Hot and sweaty! Have a great time, and don't forget to check out the old french colonial town of Hoi Ann for killer hand made clothes, and the amzing marble carving factory town (Name?) at the base of the Marble Mountains. Halong bay is really amazing as well. We did a multi day boat trip/ island stay/hike Enjoy