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Published: December 10th 2006
So 2.5 weeks ago we decide to leave Hanoi and spend a week travelling to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) in the south.....i still havent reached there!!! Sorry about the lack of blogs but that will be explained in a later episode also.
We left Hanoi just as a typhoon was arriving. Within 2 hours the water on the street was up to my shins and i broke my flip flops trying to cross a street......it absolutely bucketed down! I later hear that 13 people died from the rains in Hanoi.
Well we were lucky to get out just in time but we didnt feel lucky at all as the 3 hour bus trip to Ninh Binh was the worst journey ever! Everone got off the bus absolutely terrified!!! That 3 hour stretch of road has to be the most dangerous on this planet! Everyopne just drives like a lunatic and our bus driver the biggest lunatic!! Not once but twice the bus skidded on the street. The first time missing a lorry by about half and inch the second time the back of the bus almost passed out the from of the bus.......every time the bus driver beeped his horn(every 3
Ancient city
only this kid could touch the calf.....i had to make a quick exit when i tried!!seconds) everyone jumped! One word of advice.....NEVER EVER do this stretch of road bus car or bus, go by train.
So we arrivee shaken and stirred at Ninh Binh. It was quite a large busy city with very few tourists, hence everyone on the street would just stare but also smile.
The next morning we went to Tam Coc which is very similar to Ha Long bay except you travel through the lime stone peaks by riverboat. It was beautiful but nothing compared to Ha Long bay. Onwards after that we went on our motorbikes to some ancient temples which were the capitol of vietnam 1000 years ago. The highligh of this place was that there were kids playing football in a park nearby. So i decided to show them how its done and teach them a thing or two. They werent interested at all in my record breaking 5 "keepy upys" all they wanted me to do was blast the ball as high into the air as possible. They thought this was great craic and after 5 minutes half the village was out watching me. I always knew my footballing skills would bring me fame one day :o).
Anyway
as i was only wearing flip flops i had to take them off to whack the ball. When my feet couldnt take anymore blasts of the ball i turned around to put my flip flops on and of course they were gone! They guy who stole them left his own in their place. Ya wouldnt believe it but they were much much more comfortable than the ones he stole(mine were cutting my feet and ripped from the typhoon the night before) and im still wearing them now. I guess i had the last laugh!!!
To the guy who stole them if you ever read this....thanks for swapping the flip flops and not stealing my bag with my camera and phone money etc which was lying beside it.
The day after we drove to a monkey sanctuary 60km away. The drive was great fun as usual going through little cool villages and being breeted so warmly and welcomingly. Even the vietnam army who were working on the side of the road and looked a very serious from a distance but stopped working and waved when we were passing......what a great people!!!! The monkey sanctuary was really cool but sad to see
them locked up. Some of the spieces had only 60 left in the wild!!! They are hunted down for their brains which is a delicacy in china unfortunately. It will be generations before they can be safely released back to the wild we were told. We donated money to keep the sanctuary going.
Apart from that there was not much else happening in Ninh Binh. There were no clubs or bars worth mentioning although we did get kicked out of a riverside drinking place when Will sat on a little plastic chair (which is a common feature of vietnam at the street food and beer vendors) and smashed it. He refused to pay for it which i think he was right coz these things are smaller than baby infants school seats, so we were told to leave.
Its still a nice place if you have time.
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anne_whelan@eircom.ie
non-member comment
Hi Chris
Chris, glad to hear from you again. That's really funny about the flip flops. Maybe he thought he could kick the ball high with them!!When you mentioned the monkey preserve I was afraid that you were going to say that you were taking a monkey home with you!! I wouldn't be surprised. Lots of Love and take care Mam xxx