Ninh Binh - Dong Hoi - Hue

Ninh Binh:

As I arrived at the Haiphong bus station I found out that there was no bus leaving in the next 2 hours. This is something that could have upset me if I was home but here in Vietnam it is just the way it is and there is no point in getting upset because it won't change anything: it's part of the deal. So during the two hours of waiting I, again, met with the German/Austrian couple who were going to be on the same bus as me. The ride to Ninh Binh was quite long and was characterized by lot's of horning and lot's of shouting against other people on the road. In Vietnamese busses the driver, obviously, does the driving and horning while there is a separate guy who is hanging out of the bus' door shouting and waving at other people. He is also in charge of finding people along the road who might want to hop on.

When we got to Ninh Binh we were offered a free motorbike ride to a hotel that actually had a very good review in the Lonely planet. So we went to Mr. Xuan's hotel which was indeed very nice. I got a single room without AC for $6 per night. As the weather was not that good we just settled for a late lunch and talked about what we wanted to do the next couple of days. After using the internet for a while a met a Dutch couple who are traveling along the same route as I am. I had dinner with the two couples and went to bed early as we rented motorbikes for the next day.

Next morning we woke up early and were on the road by 0800h am. First we visited Tam Coc. This area is also referred to as Halong Bay on the rice paddies. We took a boat trip that showed us the beautiful landscape and some cool caves. After the boat trip we visited a nearby pagoda and a temple. The 2nd point on our agenda was to visite another cave. The cave turned out to be nothing special but just right next to the cave was a 500-step stair (that will get you sweating believe me) that took us to the top of one of the rock formations. Although it was a though climb, it was well worth it: we had a beautiful view of the area. Our last planned excursion was what supposed to be the remains of an ancient old capital city. After some noodlesoup we arrived at the site only the find two very common temples. It turned out that they build these temples on the ruines of the ancient city.... Because I was considering staying a night in the nearby national park we decided to drive there to get some information. But as it was getting dark, starting to rain and we were kind of lost we decided to get back to the hotel. We had dinner and after dinner I said goodbye to the German/Austrian couple as they were taking the nighttrain south tonight.

After a quick consultation at Mr. Xuan the next morning I bought a ticket for the overnight train to Dong Hoi and rented a motorbike and again drove off towards the national park. This time though I got there without any problems. I first went to have a look at the animal rescue center where they nurse some very rare monkeys that are saved from captivity. Besides nursing they also have breeding programms and eventually want to get the monkeys back into their original habitat. After that I did a 7km walk in the jungle which was not as though as the one on Cat Ba Island but was still tiring. Not only walking around in the park was very nice but the ride there and back was also amazing. I find that renting a motorbike and getting a bit out of the main tourists areas are the best way to explore Vietnam. That evening I had dinner with the Dutch couple before getting on the train with them.

Dong Hoi:

Allright next morning we arrived at about 7 in the moring in Dong Hoi. I joined the Dutch couple in a quest for a reasonably priced hotel. We found one after walking around for a while and immediatly started making some plans for the day. The reason for me to come to Dong Hoi was to see something of the former demilitarized zone (DMZ). We pretty soon accepted a rather expensive deal to be driven to the Vinh Moc tunnels and some other place (we thought the other place would be a former US combat base. The tunnels were pretty impressive but these tunnels, unlike I had expected, were used mainly for shelter and not for the guerilla tacktics of the Vietcom. Furthermore there was very little information about waht actually went on at Vinh Moc. The second stop was at a big monument. Although nice, it was far from what we expected and because the driver spoke no English at all we were kind of dissapointed. After another stop at a rusty tank and a military cementery we drove back to Dong Hoi. Because of the tiredness and the slight disappointment in our tour all three of us were not in the best of moods. The next 2 hour quest for a restaurant which ended at one of the most dissapointing restaurants so far did not improve our moods. So strange that you are not able to find a place to eat in such a decent-sized city. After some walking around in Dong Hoi which really was a nice looking town we encountered the same problem when we were looking for a place to have dinner. As we booked a seat on the 0530h a.m. bus towards Hue we went to bed early.

Hue

The trip to Hue was pretty good, that is for Vietnamese standards, and we booked ourselves into a slightly more luxurious hotel in the city centre. After spending the slighly disappointing day in Dong Hoi with the Dutch couple I decided it was time for me to be on my own again for a while. So after breakfast I started exploring Hue. There is a very nice old part of the city protected by city walls. Within these walls there is also something that is similar to the forbidden city but then on a much smaller scale. After having walked around town the entire day I grabbed some dinner, checked my mail and went to bed. In my inbox I found a mail from the two English guys I had met in Hanoi, they wrote me that they were going to be in Hue the next day.

The next morning I rented a motorbike to explore some pagoda's, temples and some of the Nguyen dynasty's tombs. It was great to drive around Hue looking for these tombs, eventually I visited three of which one was really spectacular to my opinion. After I returned to the hotel I met Sam and Tim in the hotel lobby. As it was already 5 o'clock we went out to get some beers. We had a great evening with some talks, beers and vodka. We ended up getting pretty drunk just before we went home at midnight. The next day I had bought a ticket for the bus to Hoi An, Sam and Tim would follow me one day later. As I was quite hung over I did not do much except for relaxing. The 4 hour bus ride to Hoi An was actually quite comfortable as it turned out that I had booked a ticket on a sleeper bus. After my arrival I found a nice hotel and went for a stroll around Hoi An which looks like a great place from my first impression. I am thinking about maybe doing a paddy diving course here but I am not sure yet.

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