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Published: March 23rd 2012
entrance to the Cave
Phong Nha National ParkIt took us 4h to get to Ninh Binh. It is not a particularly pretty place but we only really came there to visit near by
Tam Coc village known as
'Halong Bay of Rice paddies'. This town is also well known for its great hotels and we can actually confirm that this is the case. We stayed in Queen Mini Hotel where for 6$ you get big, modern, clean room and really inexpensive food in their downstairs restaurant. Portions were quite nice as well as since we crossed to Vietnam we felt like we were constantly hungry. Maybe it had something to do with huge portions of food served in China and we just got used to the amounts we consumed. I do understand that Vietnamese people are rather on the small side but we did not like the fact that we were never full after a meal.
Fortunately we were really happy with food served in
Ninh Binh. Shortly after arrival we went on a quest of finding our next transport. We only wanted to stay there for one night and we were really counted on overnight train tickets to Hue. The hotel owner told us 400,000 VDN/20$
price for a sleeper bus that was obviously still inflated because of Tet. It was week after Tet and they were still charging more because of it – where was the end of it? Well, not soon that we can tell. We were informed at the station that there were tickets available but 3 days ahead and they were nearly 500,000VND/25$ each .... just that is correct.... because of Tet. Not only we did not want to stay that long in Ning Binh but also we did not want to pay more that the already inflated bus price. We had to settle for the bus then.
On the way from Cat Ba we met another great couple from UK – Charlotte and Tom and they joined us next day for our yet another scooter ride around villages. This was much different experience than the one in Cat Ba as Ninh Binh has some actual traffic and it was madness. We just decided to stick to two simple rules we observed when travelling around Asia: 1) every move you make needs to be slow, not rushed so that people on the road can spot it and react .i.e. when you
turn; and 2) those behind you can see you and they will make some space for you when you enter the road or exit (and that is why they never even look at the road when entering bigger road, weird). It worked and we quickly found our way to Tam Coc village. We managed to come before all the big tours from Hanoi and we were really only people on the river for most of the time. Scenery was brilliant – seemed even more beautiful for our companions as they had not gone to China and had not visited Yangshuo. We really enjoyed our boat ride (140,000VND for two) we could just relax and observe the nature. We went through 2 caves which was a highlight and we could spot many of the kingfishers in the neighbourhood.
Of course rice paddies had no green rice growing so it looked a little bit different that the photos we had seen before. Nevertheless, stunning;-) At this point we already got to like Vietnam a lot – maybe because we did not expect it to be so beautiful. The people element to a visit was not that great. Our paddlers simply requested
tip from us at the end of a tour. Some asked a specific amount of 5$. We only had 10,000 and 500,000VND and it is obvious what we gave. I felt really bad that we had no more change but when they started to laugh in my face and showing around how little we gave them I felt like storming there and taking it back. It was not us being stingy or anything, we just did not have change!!! I guess this is how they perceive tourist though;-( After the ride we settled for some nice Pho and then we drove around villages for hours. Fabulous day, beautiful views and also we go to observe people working on their farms.
In the evening we got on the night bus. We read stories about it and they were always sooo negative. First look on the bus makes you really confused as they look really luxurious and comfy. We were the last ones to get on the bus so we had to split between different places. I was placed with some other girls on the big bed at the very back and Tomek and Kev got places near by so it
was ok. Lorraine had to go to the very front so we did not see her till the morning. Few hours into the journey and it was all clear to us why these overnight buses are such hell rides. This mad driver never even wanted to leave the opposite side of the road and we could constantly hear the horns around and see lights of vehicles coming straight right on to us!!! I don't think I slept at all as I was so scared and besides the whole bus was wobbling from one side to another so it was almost impossible. Where was the rush? I have no idea. It was the night of my Bday and I remember only thinking about how much I really want to get out of this bus.... well we made it safe in the end but our future travels with these buses were very questionable!!!!
Back in Hanoi, Lorraine arranged for us to stay on the farm in
Phong Nha National Park. To get there we had to take another bus/minivan from Hue and head inland for next 4h or so. When we had breakfast at the bus station where some guy approached
us and was very keen on having some conversation. When he heard we just came from the North he said:
'People in the north are horrible, they try to rip you off on anything! Here in central and southern Vietnam, we are honest and helpful, so you are going to enjoy it more'. Then 5 minutes later he was claiming to be some guy, famous locally for his off road tours (Kevin knew his name from a friend and he also knew this guy was not him) and on top of it he was trying to change us 50,000 VND for a phone call we made with his mobile, showing us balance not the charge (maybe 5000VND). We were then directed wrongly to another bus station and we ended up walking around for hours (made around 6km in hot weather with backpacks) before we actually reached this place. Then we had to hassle with food vendors as they asked double the prices for rice and noodles. This Bday did not seem like a lot of fun for me!!! Tomek felt really bad as he did not expect it to be such touch day for me but we already arranged our
stay in Phong Nha so we had to go.
It was already dark when we arrived at the farm but we liked the look of the place. Nice modern buildings, great community lounge and big comfy beds but it was not farm at all. They do charge a lot for your stay and we could only afford dorm beds (8$ each, double room 35$ very basic). We also realised that there are no other shops and restaurants around within 6-7km walk so we were just forced to dine in their really overpriced restaurant. How can they call themselves backpacker place if everything is priced for rich holiday makers? Ow well, it was my Bday so we had some nice food and a bottle of red and it was great anyhow;-) We met some other people on a budget and they had similar complaints to ours. You may ask why did we go there if we knew it was out of the budget? Their website had not been updated since few years so food prices shown there were probably twice lower and they listed so many activities you could do around for free that it just seemed like a really
nice idea.
We obviously did not go for the 50$
Paradise Cave trip but we decided to visit some of the near by caves by foot. It was 7km trek through muddy roads and villages but it was really beautiful. It was 9 of us so we had pretty nice group to share a boat ride in a cave. It came to really cheap 5$ a head maybe all together so don’t really understand the expensive fee that the farm-stay was charging;-) The cave was awesome and I the whole ride on the boat took around 2h or so – plenty of time for admiring rocks and in-cave beaches. It was funny how they put a lot of artificial lights in the caves to make it colourful and pretty but it just looks artificial. It was a bout it what we did in Phong Nha and the following day we just watched DVD's and stayed in. I could not so anything else anyway cause the night before someone took my trekking shoes and decided to walk into the rice paddies when drunk.... they were soaked in mud inside out when I waked up;-( I got really angry but the
person who did that (and I found out who that was) already left in the early morning... It was not a big deal just it was cold and humidity level was so hight that drying out anything it that weather was almost impossible;-( I was left with stinky shoes for days ;-(
We had a bigger group going further with us and Greg, Phill (Canada) and Max (China) decided to join us in Hoi An – our next stop ;-)
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