Ninh Binh & Tam Coc

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So we arrived in ninh binh late evening, when we got off the bus there was this guy waiting there offering us to stay at his hotel right near where the bus stopped, we were all (Rob & Ross are still with us) a bit wary about him, but turned out his hotel was the one in the lonely planet that we wanted to stay in anyway. rooms were ok, privates with tv's 😊 for $10 for the room. We all went straight to bed for an early night and to watch some tv, they have great movie channels in vietnam.

Wednesday morning we went down to the hotel restaurant for some breakfast which was about 75p 😊 We had decided to visit this area about 8km down the road called Tam Coc, basically thats the only thing around ninh binh to do. The hotel rented scooters for us which we were all pretty excited about doing but when he asked if we had ever ridden one before (which none of us had) he seemed to be pretty against the idea and started telling us horror stories of tourists hiring scooters to tam coc and then having a crash and dying! well that was enough to put us off. hiring scooters is a pretty common thing round asia that most people do, but to get to tam coc we had to go on dual carriageway and the vietnamese driving is pretty horrific so we decided to save the scooters for a much quieter town. instead we got some bicycles and cycled down which was still along the main road but a bit less scary. once the road quietened down it was a really nice bike ride. weather still nice and warm but a slight breeze. Tam Coc is a bit like halong bay with all the kast mountains but is surrounded by rice paddies not the sea. we got on a small boat for a ride down the river going through a couple of caves which was amazing, just 2 pound per person. had a really nice vietnamese guy on our boat pointing things out to us and talking to us loads, although later we realised this was all part of his game as he then tried to sell us some souvenirs. the boat ride was lovely though. we biked back to the hotel where we gave our bikes back and then headed onto the main street in ninh binh where we stumbled across a local market...just like china, lots of dogs again 😞 Stocked up with some fruit and snacks as tonight we had a 15 hour bus journey to our next destination Hoi An which is about halfway down the coast of vietnam.

Back in the hotel for dinner we bumped into a load of people we had met on our boat trip around halong bay, was good to see them all again, so we sat in the hotel for a few hours chatting, had some dinner whilst we were all waiting for our busses. Our bus came, it was just me, ste, rob and ross on our bus, the others had a different company (probably nicer!). Luckily there were enough seats left for us, we were a bit worried they were have rammed in as many people as possible leaving no space for us, but there were 4 beds next to each other at the back so that was good. Bus journey was a bit crazy, as I said the driving here is mental. They overtake at any opportunity, with the smallest gaps to squeeze into, was absolutely petrifying at times!!! But we made it, got a bit of sleep and arrive on Hoi this morning aorund midday.

Once again there was a guy waiting outside the bus to take us to his hotel if we wanted, we checked out the rooms which were nice, nice baths, tv and the hotel has a swimming pool 😊 😊 amazing 😊 all for just $10 per room again.

Going to hang about in Hoi An for a few days as its seems like a nice little town.

Write again soon
Love you all lots
Layla & Ste xxxxxxxxx

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Photos

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The lady who rowed our boat!

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the other guy on our boat lent me his hat whilst we were going under the caves :)

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rob and ross on their boat

Comments

[Lara]

Hey only just getting to round to reading these to mum. Do you think it is wise for the scooters lol! xxx