Ninh Binh

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We were dropped off on the highway in Ninh Binh at 4.30am in the dark. We had not even checked out a map let alone booked any accomodation, so when we were greeted by a gentlemen who introduced himself as Mr Xuan we were more than happy to let him guide us through the dark to his hotel. Mr Xuan runs the Xuan Hoa Hotel, which is actually two hotels seperated by a small road, and showed us a room we managed to haggle down to $8.

We only planned on staying in Ninh Binh the one night, as we were really only interested in checking out Tam Coc and perhaps a few pagodas, so after a long breakfast and a bit of time updating the blog we were off. We hired a couple of bikes from Mr Xuan for 20,000 dong each and with a detailed map we head of in search of Tam Coc. All morning the weather had been looking lovely but, of course, as soon as we get out the bikes an ominous cloud begins to drift over. After a confident assurance from the man organising our bikes and a few glares at the clouds from myself, we headed off on the 7km ride to Tam Coc. I must admit it felt great to be back on a bike, however, the first 4 km were along the highway we had been dropped off on earlier that day, and with the storm clouds gathering I was not looking forward with having to contend with Vietnam traffic as well as a storm. We arrived at Tam Coc and got out tickets (30,000 dong each) when, just as we were about to climb into the boat the rain hit. Luckily, for us after a coffe break it stopped and we headed out for our two hour boat ride through the Limestone Karsts that jutted out of water. I must say, this trip was definately one of the highlights of Vietnam for me. The boat slowly took us along where we were able spot mountain goats scaling the cliffs and pass under the karsts themselves through small rivercaves. We must have passed 50 boats coming back to the dock when we left, but, probably due to the fact there are not many tourists silly enough to head out on a small tin rowboat in what might become bad weather, we had the whole place to ourselves on the return trip.

The next morning we hired our trusty pushbikes again and headed off to the Bich Dong Pagoda, built in the 15th century. The pagoda is built on one of the limestone mountains, and has three levels, the lower, the middle and the upper. It was definately worth the pedal power to get here. To get to the upper level of the pagoda you have to pass through a cave, complete with a stone staircase, right through the middle level. On top we came across an overly friendly Vietnamese guy who grabbed our cameras and started taking pictures of us, as well as showing us how to light and place the incense. Afterwards, of course, he wanted some form of payment which, unfortunately for him, was Ben's well worn silver ring, an item that Ben would not part with. Better luck next time!

We left for Hanoi that evening, and I must say, Hanoi has been my least favourite place in Vietnam so far. Ben is loving it here, but I quite cant put my finger on why its not interesting me like other plaves in Vietnam are. However, it is a perfect homebase for access to Sapa, Halong Bay and the Perfume Pagoda. After a scout around for accomodation we managed to find a double room for $12 a night including breakfast. This we found relatively cheap compared to other hotels which seemed to start at $15 without breakfast. The staff here were fantastic as well! Very friendly and can speak good English. We booked a tour to the Perfume Pagoda through them for $20 including all admission fees and lunch. To get to the pagoda we had to take a 2 and a half hour bus ride, followed by an hour tin rowboat ride just to get to the bottom of the mountain. Then it was a 4km hike up a cobbled walkway to get to the top. Unfortunately we didnt have all that long to really visit the pagoda if we did the walk to the top, so we ended up paying the 40,000 dong cable car ticket and walked back down afterwards. The perfume pagoda is inside a cave, which is truly spectacular to approach the entrance because of its size. I found that the pagoda itself was not really the highlight though, but rather the trip to it.

We ended up staying in Hanoi for a few days, mostly because Ben wanted to be here for New Years, and partly because Halong Bay and Sapa were forecasting rain, and we figured we may as well wait and see if it cleared up in the following days.

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