Blogs from Ninh Binh, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 12

Today was a special day, we were up and out by 10 in the morning with a list of places to see and a driver to take us to them! We started with a little village called Tam Coc and took a boat up the river with two little old vietnamese ladies paddling furiously and three big men taking in the view! Although i was handed a paddle and told to row my little heart out whilst Dale and Mark sat and laughed. The river makes its way underneath som massive hills and the caves are great. Once at the other end we were hounded by other ladies in boats who wished to sell us all manner of tat. The scenery was great and we arrived back at the village after a few hours. Next stop ... read more

We arrived in Ninh Binh at 10pm expecting to be met by someone from the hotel, but the street was deserted. Luckily there was a shop open and the owner kindly rang the hotel and got someone to meet us. After a few minutes a guy on a moped turned up, and realising there were 2 of us hailed another moped and told us to get on. We had been offered moped taxi rides in Hanoi and always said no, but this time we didn't have a choice, so with our heavy packs on we each got on the back of a moped. I asked my driver if I could hold on to him as I was worried about falling off sideways with my pack on, when he went around a corner. He said he would ... read more

Some more pics to keep you going!... read more

Da sind wir wieder ONLINE, und haben ein paar Tage rueckwaerts aufzuholen. Mit dem Verkehr hat alles bestens geklappt. Gibt halt keine Regeln, dann brauch man auch nix zu beachten. Wenn man hier mit ner Frau reist, die raucht und das Moped lenkt, gehoehrt man schon gleich zur unteren Gesellschaftsschicht. Daher hab ich mich dann mal ans Steuer gesetzt. Klappt ! Und wenn man die Stadtgrenze hinter sich laesst, sind nur ab und an mal Wasserbueffel im Weg. Wir haben mal die trockene Halongbucht erkundet, wobei trocken hier relativ ist, da die Reisfelder gerade bepflanzt werden und hier und da ein zartes Gruen spriesst, sieht es eigendlich aus wie bei einer grossen Ueberschwemmung. Mit einem kleinen Boot kann man sich durch die Kanaele zwischen den Reisfeldern und Bergen rudern lassen. Da sich unter dem Strohhut son ... read more

Halong BAy was a great experience; a minibus of us (15) were driven out of Hanoi through yet more smog and haze towards the sea; but driving through one more town the air was black, really am v. upset at the horrendous pollution in this country as well as China; and worse, that they don't get it; are still building lots of factories with tall chimneys to put more smoke up into the atmosphere. heyho. I've managed to get laryngitis, am sure it's due to the smog, many folk here wear masks covering nose and mouth to avoid the worst, and lots of catarrh and colds abound. thankfully the Bay was great, tho we didn't get to see sunshine; we were taken on a Junk out into the bay for 24 hours, I had a cabin ... read more