Blogs from Ninh Binh, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 10

After arriving from Ninh Binh by coach, late into the night, we spent one night in a dusty hotel, where breakfast consisted of sitting at a table eating bad food whilst being plagued by the staff. They really wanted you to sign up for a tour through them, and between mouthfuls of stodgy food we took turns in declining their offers. Then we ran the gauntlet of getting outside where one guy was convinced we needed a motorbike ride. The town itself was pretty dusty and uninteresting, just on the edge of a boom though. Tam Coc, it's caves and the national park being Ninh Binh's only draw, which most people would come see on a round trip from Hanoi anyway. So we hired a driver and went to Cuc Phoung National Park! The park was ... read more

Hi all, This is a big blog of photos. I have a new camera. Hope you like the shots. After Cat Ba Island we traveled the well worn path by 3 buses and a boat. It took the better part of a day but we met new friends, Jens and Sylke from Germany; became sardines in the local 20 seater with luggage, deliveries, and 39 locals; view the countryside through smeared glass windows while feeling every bump in the road on my not so soft seat that was built for a race much smaller than my own. We arrive in a flurry of activity all for our benefit to win our attention and extract more dong from us than we would like. But we (that is, I) had to leave the area to be able to ... read more

Tuesday morning, 11 November 2008 - I traveled with my parents and their friends to Phát Diệm stone cathedral and Bái Đính pagoda in Ninh Bình province on a one-day trip. This is my 4th visit to Phát Diệm cathedral, which is located in Ninh Bình province, 130km south of Hanoi. It has been long known as one of the most attractive religious and tourist sites in Ninh Bình province. The 4-roofed cathedral was designed by priest Trần Lục (Father Sáu) and built in 1891 with stone in an area also abounding in ponds, grottoes and structures imbued with Oriental religious architecture. It is said that it took only 3 months to build the church, but preparation had taken place 10 years before. Wooden columns and stone blocks were transported by rudimental vehicles from other provinces. ... read more

Nin Binh is just a 2h bus ride from busy Hanoi. The first stunning karst towers slowly become visible while slowly approaching the city. Nin Binh is nothing special and mostly characterized by the noisy highway number 1 running through it with a constant background sound of honking trucks passing by in highest speed. Vietnam is host to the worst drivers in the world. Traffic rules are mostly ignored and substituted by first way of passage with a sound orchestra to tell everyone about this. The cars are even equipped with horns that have a long lasting echo sound that lasts for few seconds. I wonder if the accident rate is even higher than in China. We found a clean and nice hotel and booked the whole top floor suite for 25 US$. As everywhere the ... read more

Sunday afternoon, 31 August 2008 - After visiting Phát Diệm cathedral in the morning and having lunch in Ninh Bình city, my friend and I traveled another 12km by car to Vân Long nature reserve. I had not been to this site before, so I was really looking forward to seeing it. When our car reached the site, we saw the vast range of limestone karst mountains along the stream and the landscape was absolutely beautiful. It reminded me of Guilin in China and Hạ Long bay in northern Vietnam, but this place is very special, as it’s far less touristy. The site was just found out 7 years ago, then developed into a nature reserve and not many people go there yet. The locals at Vân Long are also gentle in comparison with the ones ... read more