Ninh Binh - a necessary evil for most, the perfect stopover for us....

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That Ninh Binh is not a destination in itself was no suprise, as it is the attractions around it, like Hoa Lu, Chua Bai Dihn and Tam Coc that draw tourists here. But we were mostly just excited (after the super-touristy Halong Bay) to finally be making our own way, and to be on the road on a local bus. Local buses in Vietnam (as in much of the developing world), always have room for one more passenger (a tiny plank with a cushion on it fills in the aisle gap, and voilá, a seat), and serve as a cheap alternative to the mail system for the locals. Also, they have few official stops (making it of course hard for foreigners to find the buses) and sometimes do not come even close to coming to a complete stop while picking up/dropping people off. This particular bus was quite an extreme example, and all the commotion was a great source of entertainment not only for us but for some of the locals as well, especially when people had to really run for it.

Ninh Binh marks the beginning of a chapter we might call "smiling the hell out of Southeast Asia". People look at you, sizing you up, smile; people try to scam you, smile; people stare at you (maybe because your shoulders are not covered properly? maybe because of your nose ring? maybe just because you look haggerd and sweaty and out of place?) smile. When we got to Ninh Binh it was raining, and we had no map or any idea of where the hotel we were thinking of staying was. After kindly refusing all the taxi and hotel offers we got when we got off, we tried to find our way with another couple. We ended up having to backtrack and pass by the first bunch of people again, and then I asked a man which way we should go. After pointing us in the right direction, he said "I was trying to help you before, but you just said no and walked on".

This was great proof of two things: one, that we were no longer in Hanoi (or any other major tourist hub for that matter) and two, that being politely mistrusting of everyone (like the guide book tells you) gets old quickly, not only for the tourists but for the locals as well.

Though many could agree that Ninh Binh is an ugly, dirty town with little to see, we welcomed the (almost) complete lack of hassle. We spent a day catching up on ourselves and doing practical things and then rented bycicles and ventured out to Mua Cave (which turned out to be majorly unimpressive) and up to the pagoda overlooking the valley. The views were breathtaking (in every way, the climb was over 300 m up), and we were able to see Tam Coc and the long line of tourist-laden rowboats and those trying to sell to them. It was enough to not regret our choice not to go.

Getting to Mua Cave was not as hard as others had made it out to be (bear in mind we have Øyvind, the megascout, on our team) , though this is the perfect time to bring up Vietnames maps.

Almost everywhere we've stayed in Vietnam has been happy to provide us with a map of our surroundings. These maps, however, are not to scale (even when the maps allow for it) and pretty much all distances on them have little if no root in reality. Road markers are arbitrarily placed,and on most maps many streets and cross streets are completely absent. Directions, as in NSWE, are always correct, however. And people thought we were weird for bringing a compass!

We got up early the next day (there is rarely a day we get up after 7 am, we are definitely on Vietnamese time) and headed to Cuc Phuong National Park (our very own reason for using Ninh Binh as a stopover).

Number of sore butts after the bike ride: 1 (Øyvind)

Number of children that clung to Øyvind's arm while cycling, asking for money: 1 (speed up? slow down?)

Number of other tourists we saw in the streets of Ninh Binh: maybe 6?

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Photos

I want to ride my bicycle
at least then I know my bum wuoldn't hurt as much - but it was a nice ride

Up, Up...
There is always an effort to get to the nice places

and away!
we'll get there eventually... sweaty but happy

Gotta stay clean
Both body and soul - and clothes, must be cleaned on a very regular basis

hmm this looks familiar.
its easy to get confused on the Vietnamese back roads

gotta keep on going
but even if the distances rarely are correct, the directions are, which is very good when you never been here before

row row row your boat
or just let the locals do it.. no matter what, its probably that you'll be in a que if your going to the most popular sites

I was here first!
.. I thought they said this was a calm and peaceful place to go?

Local fisherman
At least that is what it looked like from up above...

Pigs bus
Transportation is in general quite crowded in Vietnam, but we believe that our bus was more cozy than the pigs bus

the backyard
our backyard at the hotel was construction Vietnamese style, a bonzai tree farm and a chicken farm...

clothes drying
as the humidity tends to get high in Vietnam, one must be creative to get things dry before checking out. AC and fans often do the job