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After two days of intense city sightseeing in Hanoi, today’s plan was to head out to the province of Ninh Binh.  It’s about 100km away from Hanoi and known for its green rolling mountains and slower pace of life.

Last night was a late night, and the 7am alarm clock was not music to my ears.  Having overeaten for the last few days, I decided to go lighter at the breakfast buffet (just buttered pancakes this morning).

Our tour guide Ly met us in the hotel lobby at 8:30am and we embarked the minibus to start the long journey out of the city.

The first stop – billed as a toilet break – was at the ‘Production workshop for disabled people’.

During the Vietnam war of the 1960s and 70s, some 400,000 people were killed or severely injured, and a further 500,000 children born with disabilities due to exposure to lethal toxins.  These disabilities ranged from deaf / dumb to dwarfism and misshapen limbs.  As many of these people were unable to work, this disabled centre trains them in embroidery, where they produce beautiful tapestries and then sell to make a living. 

The shop itself was pretty good.  I bought a pointy hat, some sweets and postcards.  Upon leaving the shop, we were ambushed by staff and guilt tripped into buying one of the tapestries (around £60).  With the staff not taking no for an answer, I gave in. 

Back on the road, a faint silhouette of the lumpy mountains emerged through the mist, and we soon rocked up at Hoa Lu.

Hoa Lu was the capital of Vietnam between 968 and 1009.  Ly explained that Vietnam is so named with Viet referring to the ethnic name of the people, and Nam the geographical area south of China.  

The entrance to Hoa Lu is marked by a triple gate.  For some reason, there always has to be an odd number of gates (or three gates but didn’t catch why).  The middle one is always reserved for VIPs like the king, so we entered on the right.

Through the gate was a man with his buffalo.  It was 10,000 dong to pose for a photo.  I had to oblige.  Sure it’s not fair on the poor animal, but at the end of the day the guy has to earn a living

The temple complex was nice to look at, but aside from a stone where the king sat, and another stone where his deputy sat (it’s said the king didn’t ever meet with his people), there wasn’t that much to do here.

The next stop was far more interesting, Tam Coc.  This is the tourist hub in Ninh Binh, and a UNESCO world heritage site.  Here hundreds of metal rowing boats take visitors along tributaries of the red river, winding through the mountains.  

It was only after boarding the boat I noticed that the locals were rowing with their feet rather than hands.  Thinking about it a bit more, it makes sense.  It’s probably easier to ride a bike than row in the conventional sense.

Another observation was that it was mostly women (a lot on the older end of the scale).  Probably the economic situation in Vietnam has forced women to work longer in order to provide sufficiently for their families.  This has led to much more equity between men and women.  

The boat driver didn’t speak any English but was trying to communicate with us.  I think she resorted to French not that this was any better.

The boat journey lasted around an hour and a half, and was 6km in total length.  At one stage, we were joined by a posse of photographers (who I am hereby referring to as the paparazzi).  From other boats the paps would take photographs, row back to base, print the photos, make up an album and have ready to sell by the time we came back the other way.  I do wonder how many of these are wasted every day.

There were also some other vendors parked on the shore selling fruit and drinks etc.  I didn’t see any tourists using these though.

There was some serious erosion on the limestone rocks – like someone had taken a chisel and chipped away at the bottom.  

As the boat progressed further down the river, one of these rocky lumps drew nearer in front of us.  It was actually a cave, and the the rock looked like it was hovering a metre or two over the water surface.

In the last few months there has been some heavy flooding in Northern Vietnam, so water levels are quite high.  You wouldn’t want them being much higher, there was no more than an inch clearance to some of the dangling stalactites as we passed through.

As I said, the whole journey took roughly an hour and a half.  The boats weren’t the most comfortable, and many others passing had taken their life jackets off to use as cushions.  We didn’t, so it was more numh bumh than Ninh Binh.

Towards the end of the boat trip, the boat pilot (captain?) pulled out a plastic bag.  It was more embroidery.  Oh joy.  Even though we had no interest, and said so on numerous occasions, she too wouldn’t take no for an answer.  Again we gave in and handed her money just to make her stop.

Before we came out I had read up on these boats on trip advisor.  All of the negative reviews were from people who had stubbornly refused to part with money, they were treated rudely by the rowers and things got very difficult for them.  I think it’s better to give them what they want, then everyone’s happy.  They also expect a tip at the end, but that’s another story.

Once back on solid ground, we looked for a toilet, and they were charging people to use them.  I’m only mentioning this because a young boy was holding a tray of tissues like he was selling peanuts in a theatre.

Lunch was at Tam Coc memory restaurant.  It was another set menu, with several courses.  The food was delicious.  Some say Vietnamese cuisine is the best in the world, and while I wasn’t convinced at first, I’m starting to see why it’s so popular.

I finally tried chopsticks, but this wasn’t so great a success.  Big stuff is ok, but unclumped rice?  I think I need to watch a few YouTube tutorials.

Beside the restaurant were the biggest leaves I’ve ever seen. 

Let’s leave the horticulture before I make any more puns…

After lunch we were taken to the Bich Dong Pagoda, around 3 km east of Tam Coc.

The Pagoda is actually 3 smaller ones – lower, middle and upper.  They’re situated on the side of a mountain, so there are some steep steps if you want to see them all. 

The Pagodas are actually built in caves.  I asked our tour guide if these were natural caves or man made ones, and she explained that these were all created by hand.  Probably by monks hundreds of years ago, and I can’t imagine just how labour intensive this must have been.

Bich Dong contains a panoramic viewpoint called ‘Bich Son Bat Canh’ meaning ‘an amazing place gathers enough eight magnificence things of the country’.  Sorry what?

Ah this must be the Ninh Bin…

On the way home, there was very thick fog and a burning smell lingering in the air. 

As we came into Hanoi, the traffic situation was quite bad.  This was Sunday evening, so likely a lot of people heading back into the city at the end of the weekend.

We saw our first traffic accident.  Well I say saw, it happened in front of us, but I’m not sure the two cars touched.  One man got out of his car at a red traffic light and started screaming at the driver of the car behind.  He took photos and everything.  Our tour guide thought he was probably drunk.  There was no sign of any scratch on the back bumper.

After a hoo-ha getting money out and an even bigger hoo-ha tipping the tour guide, we went back to the hotel and freshened up, before heading back out into Hanoi to explore.

Tonight’s sights included the Lenin Memorial Garden (which had been invaded by colourful, what can only be described as ‘dodgems’ – because you had to dodge them while walking through), the Thang Long Imperial Citadel and Flag Tower, and a quick pitstop at Highlands Coffee- the Hanoi version of Pret A Manger.

By pure chance we found ourselves at Train Street just as a train was about to pass, so jumped up to one of the restaurant balconies to enjoy.  

Unbelievably a second train passed in the other direction about ten minutes later.  This place looks great during day, but even better at night!  

Last stop before bed was Saint Joseph’s cathedral, the largest church in Hanoi.  

Saw a Burger King, but still no sign of a McDonald’s.  Maybe tomorrow will be the day!