Blogs from Ninh Binh, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 15

Day 239, 25th January Hanoi We decided to stay onother day in this mad city, besides, it was raining! After breakfast of fried-eggs on French bread, I went off to the fabric shop I’d been to yesterday to pick up my silk sleeping-bag liner I’d had made for $6. On the way back there was another classic motorbike accident - I’ve stopped counting them now. The rest of the day we spent eating and drinking beer-hoi in the foodhall opposite our hostel. Toby was still paranoid about the gay German cyclist experience while we supped our beers. But, I reckon he’s sussing out that one of us, actually me, is involved in this farce. We crashed out early, except Nick. Just after midnight Nick barged into the room with two women, one was the Swedish girl ... read more

Well we are 2 days away from finishing clinic and starting our trip down south. Can't believe how quick our placement has gone, helps that we sleep fpr 3 hours in the middle of the day so time goes quickly! Been an uneventful kind of week, everyone except angela has been sick in one form or another, with Belle unfortunately copping it the worse. She hasn't eaten anything more than bread or banana since last Tuesday, and has had two trips to the 24 hours international clinic so far. One of them was on saturday night with a very drunk alison and semi-drunk ange. I was pre-occupied with my own inebriated state after several 20cent beers and a few mohitos thrown in for good measure. No state to go to a hospital in! We went on ... read more

This day after having been picked up on the road side by a hotel owner to lead us to his hotel where he invited us to Ninh Binh water (rice wine made by himself) we slept well and took on the 28th of October a nice ride. (Xuan Hoa hotel - 31D - pho Minh Khai - Phuong Nam Thanh - Ninh binh Town - xuanhoahotel@hotmail.com) We first drove on the back of 2 motorbikes, one driven by a guy for me and one by a woman for my partner Michael; the ride to get here was along plantations of pineapple, peanut, papaya and other local crops that went on for as far as the eye could see. We set off for our 45klm to the natural reserve of CUC PHUONG NATIONAL PARK; here we visited ... read more

Well after the horrible Ha long Bay trip is was nice to be somewhere more relaxed and not so touristy, where the people were not all about ripping foreigners off! Ninh Binh is supposed to be the "Halong Bay of the rice paddies" - so it has lots of the same rock formations as Halong Bay, and cycling is the perfect way to see them, as well as by row boat, as there is water everywhere. On my first day I was really enthusiastic and rode about 50km in total in the country side, visiting Kenh Ga floating village and Van Long nature reserve. It was so nice to be riding a bike again, and while riding along Highway 1 was super stressful, once I was on some quieter rodes I really enjoyed the opportunity to ... read more

On March 4, we travelled from Hue to Ninh Binh, on the overnight bus (almost 10 hours). We arrived in Ninh Binh at 5:30 am. One guesthouse has a representative to greet us. We are happy to take one of their rooms for $6. The weather is wet and misty and we decided to rest for the day. On March 5, we hired two motorbikes ($7 each) to take us on tour. It was spitting rain. First, we visited Ken Ga Village, where people live right on the river and fish for farm for livelihood. We took the boat ($3, each, including boat and admission) to see the village. There were only the two of us on this boat that can accommodate twenty or more. The ride is very nice and quiet. After visiting Ken Ga ... read more