Blogs from Ninh Binh, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 11

6th August was a day of travelling. We took the train from Hue to Ninh Binh, which took 11 hours. The journey was comfortable if it was not for television entertainment for 11 hours on a very high volume - it was like watching the European Song Content for 11 hours.... On 7th we rented motor bikes and went driving in the countryside. Nimh Binh is know for its rugged rock formations and caves. We went on a 2 hour rowing trip on the river to see these and it was stunning and the most stunning landscape I have seen in Vietnam. After that we drove up the mountains to see a charming cave pagoda.... read more

Salut a tous! Notre deuxieme jour a Hanoi s'est passe a visiter la vieille ville; l'aprem on a ensuite retrouve Xiao qui nous a fait decouvrir des coins plus eloignes : a trois sur sa moto, dans la circulation assez frenetique d'Hanoi, les sensations fortes etaient garanties! Il nous emmene aussi faire un tour a l'universite et nous presente a d'autres etudiants chinois. Le lendemain, depart pour la baie d'Along : site incontournable! Comme on voulait pouvoir en profiter pleinement et que le notre guide de voyage enumere toutes sortes d'arnaques sur les tours petits budgets, on craque pour une agence un peu plus chere. Au final les 3 jours s'averent tout simplement supers et les prestations sont de qualite.. Embarquement sur une jonque en bois avec 6 autres touristes, tous australiens, et petit tour dans ... read more

hey everybody, a severe cold was almost killing me last thursday, so it wasn't a bad idea to purify my longs with some fresher air... after a great "farewell" evening for Xavier and Jenny, Ione and I decided to catch the bus to Ninh Binh, only 90 km south of Hanoi... in belgium this would take less than an hour to reach... (un)fortunately this is Vietnam... always same, same but different :) And what started with the 2 of us, ended in a great day with Becky, Thobias, me, Ione, the Aussi and the american... It sounds easy, "take the local bus to the busstand and from there you catch another bus to Ninh Binh. Every 10 minutes, one is leaving" That's what we did... and so we were waiting in the bus that the nervous ... read more

Ich bin froh, dass ich aufgrund des schlechten Wetters einige Tage laenger als geplant in Ninh Binh geblieben bin, denn der gestrige Tag entschaedigte fuer den Regen und die Warterei. Mit fuenf anderen Travellern aus meinem Guesthouse (eine sehr internationale Mischung aus England, Kanada, Frankreich, Oesterreich) machten wir eine kleine gemuetliche Fahrradtour nach Tam Coc, und hatten sogar das Glueck die traumhafte Ruderboottour (40.000d pro Boot)durch die Grotten und die Karsstlandschaft bei strahlendem Sonnenschein zu machen. Nach einem hervorragenden Mittagessen (rohes, mariniertes Ziegenfleisch, 70.000d) in einem Hotelrestaurant in Tam Coc, besuchten wir auf dem Rueckweg noch die Mua Cave, ein Abstecher den man nicht wegen der Hoehle macht, sondern aufgrund der sagenhaften Ausblicke auf Tam Coc von dem Schrein, 400 schweisstreibende Treppenstufen oberhalb der Hoehle. Dieser Aufstie... read more

Farewell Hoi An Our last days in Hoi An have been real fun. The temperature here is going up every day. In other words: it is burning hot! What else to do than heading for a cool swim regularly... We found a nice quiet stretch of beach in Hoi An for our regular daily dip. Cruising the land on our motorbike (read: scooter), playing in the waves, drinking a Saigon beer and avoiding the sun was about all we did. Lilli managed to become a semi-pro in playing the local card game. This increased her status amongst the renters of our parasols at the beach significantly ;-). Moreover, playing cards with the locals was great fun and she even managed to remember how to count to 2 in vietnamese. Well, one has to start somehwere... When ... read more