Nein to Ninh Binh

Instead of returning back to Hanoi after our hike, we were dropped off  in Ninh Binh.  With its hundreds of limestone cliffs and accompanying greenery, Ninh Binh is adoringly know as “Ha Long Bay on land”.

Having enjoyed the Vespa tour so much in Hanoi, we signed up for one in Ninh Binh, albeit this time we planned to drive ourselves. 

But this did not unfold quite as we planned.  

Having negotiated to get a driving lesson before taking to the sites, our guide arrived with only one bike.  She eventually shuttled us in turn to a spot where we could pick up additional bikes but her limited English could show us only how to turn the vespa on and then rev the gas making the lesson feeling wholly inadequate.  She eventually just kept repeating “danger, danger” until we phoned the tour guide to negotiate a refund. 

With a now free day and the weather still unseasonably cold, we headed over to the Tam Coc river for a boat ride through the karsts and caves.  Beating the tourists who come in from Hanoi, we enjoyed a peaceful boat ride with a female rower who navigated the paddles ably with her feet, while using  google translate on her phone to help us identify some local flora and fauna before loading up some youtube to keep herself occupied while she paddled the trail for the first of many times that day.

We crouched through the low caves and took in the sites before encountering a boat market strategically located at the turn around point.  With the women ready to pounce, we were not immune to their pitch and ended up buying a couple of beers (11am isn’t too early, right?) to enjoy for the boat ride back.

For the afternoon, we decided to throw off the touring and head instead to the very affordable spa at our hotel, Hidden Charms, and then visit the best-rated restaurant in town, a divey Italian restaurant with its own pizza oven.  Had we seen the rat scurrying around the restaurant before we had started eating, we would have bailed and gone elsewhere. But since we were already done, we simply grabbed our bags of freshly done laundry and hoped that we wouldn’t suffer any lasting consequences from our trip out to Ninh Binh.

Definitely time to head back to Hanoi…