Blogs from Ninh Binh, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia

Vietnam is truly a beautiful place. I may make fun of it sometimes for being a bit too dirty and I may make jokes about how they can fit 10 people on a motorbike, but there really are not many places in the world where you can see such beautiful mountains and waters together at the same time. While traveling to Hanoi this time around, my great-uncle took my family and their friends (total of 15 people) on a mini guided tour of one of the most interesting places that I have been to; Trang An - The lake of a thousand caves. The lake of a thousand caves probably isn't its correct name, but I couldn't find a translation anywhere on the Chinese Google so i'm going to name it myself for the time being. ... read more

I went to Ninh Binh with Linda, whom I met in a homestay in Sapa. We found a hotelroom, where we bargained a lot for the price, but it was not worth it, not even at the price, we ended up paying, since it wasn't a nice room, the toilet door couldn't close, it smelled and the lady, wholived there, kept touching my face and shoulders, which was really weird. The next day we rented some bicycles and went to the "Tam Coc cave", where we enjoyed the amazing scenery from a boat. the landscape was quite similar to "Ha Long Bay", except fr the fact that there down here weould be rice on each side of the boat during the rainy season. But even without the green rice on both sides it was a beautiful ... read more

16 November to 19 November 2012 – The photographer and I got a bus from Hải Phòng city to Nho Quan town, then we hired a taxi to Cúc Phương national park (182km in total). The taxi driver was a military doctor who owned a private car. As he knew I was worried about leeches, he gave me medicine.and cotton which can help me stop bleeding in case of leech bite. Actually, these leeches only appear during the wet season and now it’s very rare to see them, but it rained the night before we went to the jungle, so I had to be careful. Cúc Phương national park is located 120km southwest of Hanoi. I went to this park 16 years ago, but the road inside the jungle was under construction at the time, so ... read more

We had similar bus/boat/bus transportation from Cat Ba to Ninh Binh that was just as simple/complicated and again took about 5 hours. As usual we were swarmed getting off the bus by men encouraging us to stay at their hotel. We had accepted the card of a guy who strategically hopped on the bus a while before it stopped at the station and headed right for Queen Mini Hotel. For $8/night we got a great spacious room with a balcony, AC, wifi and clean bathroom. It would be perfect for the one night we wanted to spend in Ninh Binh. There isn't anything too spectacular about the city itself, but the surrounding area has some of Vietnam's top sites. We knew exactly what we wanted to see and do and immediately started asking around to compare ... read more

Rano v pohode vstavam,balim sa,berem skuter a ide sa.Recepcny mi ukazuje ako sa to startuje,neni to vobec zlozite aj jazda je v pohodicke.Premavka neni husta.Idem tankovat,prichadzam na pumpu,hned ide ku mne pumparka a tankuje mi,kazem jej doplna,cca 5l za 105kD.Nejde mi to nastartovat,klucik sa mi neda potocit,ochotna pumparka mi to startuje.Uz mi nic nebrani k tomu aby som mohol vyrazit. Len tak jazdim,chcem sa dostat do Tam Com,ale nedari sa.Zistujem,ze so minul odbocku o 5km,vraciam sa spat ale i tak to nenachadzam,idem po polnej cesticke,parada,vsade same ryzove policka a pracujuci ludia,po ceste minam jednu dedinku,su tu samy kamenari,vyrabaju rozne veci z kamena,od soch az po altanky.Nadhera.Dostavam sa zazrakom do Tam Com,ale neviem kde poziciavaju lodky,vidim uz len konecny pristav,tak nic ,vozim sa dalej po okoli,idem popri rieke,ktoru lemuju vysoke sklay ako v yangshuo v ci... read more

Davam si na ranajky bagetu,cakam v lobby na vyzdvinhutie.Recepcny hovoril,ze ma vyzdvihnu a odvezu na bus stanicu,ale nakoniec to tak neni,vyzdvihuju ma a idem s neakou tour,po ceste ma vysadia v ninh binh.Sprievodca je ten isty co ma viezol aj z halong bay.Pozna Slovensko,ze su tam samy bohaci.Zas asi hodinu naberame ludi.Z okienka sledujem ako zabijaju zaby a stahuju ich z koze,su to riadny mackovia. Cesta ma 78km,ideme tam 2 hodiny.Mame zastavku zas v neakom obchodnom centre,tu siju a pracuju ludia co nemaju neaku koncatinu,dobry trik na turistou,ktory tu z lutosti kupuju veci.Toto iste bolo aj po ceste na halong bay.Dalsia zastavka je pri neakom chrame,plati sa vstupne,najskor som tam nechcem ist ale nakoniec idem,sprievodca bere odo mna 30kD,chram o nicom skoda penez,zistujem ,ze ma sprievodca natiahol,vstupne bolo len 10kD,vraj to je len pre domacich no ... read more

Day 19 - More school Another early start, they start at 7.30 here! I went to buy a ream of paper to go with the wax and pencil crayons, although we have not worked with the same classy twice! The class today went much better today. We managed to get to number 10 today. We finished off by having a dink at the Internet cafe. After lunch, more rice, fried chicken, bean shoots and peanuts!!, Britty, Hannah, Nadia, Beckey, Me and Kevin went on a bike ride. It was quite funny because we hired the bikes for about 40k vnd, but they arrived individually......with their owners! ...LOL. We set off to the fisherman's house. It is amazing how simply they live! In a bamboo shack on stills; yet they are so proud. They were very welcoming, ... read more