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Published: October 1st 2011
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We left Hanoi on a bumpy bus ride to Ninh Binh, the main reason for our trip here was to see the 'Halong Bay inland' which was Tam Coc. When we arrived at the drop off we were instantly surrounded by 5 motorbike owners and a taxi driver all wanting to take us to our hotel. We chose the safest option of the taxi. Once we got settled down we hired a scooter and guessed our way to Tam Coc. There was alot of retracing our tracks but eventually we found the signs that pointed in the right direction. Before entering Tam Coc there was a stretch of open straight road which Natalie thought would be a good place to take over the driving seat and dabble in navigating the scooter. This could've ended worse but could've also ended better. Natalie couldn't get to grip with the brakes or the steering, which resulted in a non stop collision with the central reservation (to see what this looked similar too, www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTO6bbbk60A , copy and paste this in your URL). Luckily, Chris was fine ....Natalie, however, had a 'minor' bruise, that started from the top of her hamstring and finished just below her
calf. As time went on it went blacker and blacker. Chris does get evil looks from passers by who probably think it was domestic abuse but its gradually fading now. Understandably, Natalie prefers the biker chick role now,sat on the back seat, looking glamourous and waving at random locals.
Tam Coc was just as tranquil as Ha Long Bay, we hopped onto a boat and set off around the river. Our guide, was a very popular woman, she would have a laugh and joke with the other guides as we drifted past them. She did, however, have hairier legs than Chris, which you can probably make out in the picture. Another strange concept to the journey was that she could row the boat with her feet, which was fine for her as she could lie back and row away. But if you were unlucky enough to look back during the beautiful scenery and catch her mid way a stroke, the view wasnt so spetacular.
Many of the caves we had to duck under were amazing, and the views once on the other side, of the local fisherman and the winding river was definately worth a bruise on the leg.
The
next day we prepared ourself for our next destination, Hue (pronounced Hway), to get there we would have to get onto a sleeper bus. With the roads being as undeveloped as we had previously experienced, it wasnt as comfortable as the sleeper train. The bus was huge, there were three columns of beds, one on each side and one in the middle. They were also bunk beds so it was crammed and very little room to get comfy.
When we arrived in Hue, we were greeted by rain and lots of it, in fact it greeted us for the next three days that we spent there. Our hotel was called Sports 2 Hotel, the same franchise as our Hanoi hotel but it wasnt the same standard as before. The room had ants all over the place and one night we had a lizard in our room which hid away behind our wardrobe to never be seen again. This led to us spending the night with the light on just incase it came back and ate us. The location of our hotel was a bit of a walk from the restaurants and bars so we hired another scooter, which is really
cheap to do, it was about $6 for the day. No accidents this time as Chris stuck to the driving but because of the constant rain it made riding really hard.
Once we found the restaurants, Chris found the 40p beers and in one place we were used as guinea pigs to try a new cocktail. It tasted a lot like sambuca but Natalie managed to squeeze a second free cocktail out of them before we left.
The following day, we didnt let the weather dampen our spirits and we got on a scooter and went round the citadel. The traffic was really hard to scooter through but once in the old city, we left our scooter and walked round the place. Chris thought it looked like the setting for a Karate Kid film but apart from the odd bullet hole there wasnt much to see.
Around the old city there were some old tanks, we assumed they were from the war but we couldn't get up close to them as they were fenced off.
On Saturday we planned to head to Hoi An, but Natalie came down with a sickness bug so we left it another day hoping it
was a 24 hour thing. Fortunately, it was and we got on a bus to Hoi An.
The rain didnt stop once in Hoi An, in fact today we had sunshine for the first time in a week. In Hoi An, we did splash out a bit on the room spending 5 quid a night instead of 4 and we get a balcony that leads to the swimming pool.
In Hoi An by the way, its impossible to go for a quiet walk down the street or eat a sandwich by the river, you have beggers with no limbs asking for money, which is really hard to say no to and shop owners wanting to make you a suit. We heard suit making is cheap here but it just wouldn't fit in our bags. Natalie has seen some nice dresses which Chris has had to drag her away from. Today, we enjoyed the sunshine, went for a river cruise and tomorrow we will be getting back on a bus to head to Quy Nhon.
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