Ninh Binh

After a quick stop in Hanoi, we’re taking the train once again. This time, we’re going to Ninh Binh. It will be our longest stop in Vietnam, 4 days. Let’s hope we like it. We should though, the Vietnamese call this region “the Ha Long Bay on land”. At the station, we are greeted by the man who is renting scooters. We are now scooter professionals: arranging them ahead of time and most of all, riding the scooter with our backpacks. It’s a tight fit, but it’s definitely more practical. No back and forth. It’s already dark outside when we start to head to our new homestay. We’re not located in the city but in the countryside, so there’s a bit of driving to do. When we get there, the place looks beautiful. There’s a couple of swings, a pond with a bamboo bridge and some bungalows. The homestay is also located just by a cliff. We are looking forward to discovering the surroundings tomorrow morning. Tonight, we just settle in our bungalow and go out to eat in one of the restaurants of the village.

The next day, we’re going to Tam Coc. That’s where most tourists go because there’s a boat ride between the mountains there (the main tourist attraction). But today we’re not doing it, we’re leaving that for later. Today, we just explore on the scooter. We are surprised to see people drying their harvested rice on the road itself. Sometimes, there’s just enough room for one scooter to pass. We’re heading towards the mountains/cliffs. They are beautiful. We stop on a bridge to watch the boats pass by. We stop at a cemetery by the river. The tombstones look particularly beautiful and we venture through the high grass and ferns, following some goats. But we hear a couple of snakes crawling in the vegetation so we get back on the main path. Then we head further into the mountains. There’s an old fisherman fishing with an odd technique. We stop and watch him for a while. We have never seen something like it. He is throwing his line with a very flexible pole. As soon as the bait hits the water, he rewinds the line (manually). The bait is a frog and the fisherman’s movement makes it look like it’s swimming. The fisherman has already caught a few fishes but apparently we’re jinxing him. He’s not caught anything since we’ve arrived. So we decide to leave and as soon as we take this decision, a fish bites. So we stop to watch once more. And guess what… The fish swims away and the line gets caught in the weeds. The old fisherman is obliged to take off his pants and walk in the water to untie his line. We feel really sorry for him. We’re definitely jinxing him. So we leave. We’re pretty sure he caught at least 50 fishes when we left…

It’s now already time to eat so we go back to Tam Coc to find a restaurant. We find a very good restaurant and once again, as we are sure you already know by now, we’ll be eating there quite a few times during our stay. Then we drive some more to our next destination. It feels so good to just roam the roads here. The landscape is just incredible and we are extremely lucky with the weather. The day is just beautiful. When we reach our destination, a temple in the mountains, every vendor around the site is encouraging us to park in front of their shop. We choose the shop of an old lady and we buy her a chocolate ice cream for Côme. It’s the local parking fee. We should definitely have that at home right?! Parkings that give you an ice cream when you pay the fee. Anyway, then we explore the site and it’s beautiful. We know we say that a lot here, but it truely is. There are different parts to this site: temples of course, but also caves, viewpoints and lakes. The rock formation is just mesmerizing and we’re here for the “golden hours”, this time of day before sunset when the colors are so warm and golden. We stay there for a while. Côme is even saving a plant from getting eaten by a dozen caterpillars. When we head back home, the sun is setting. Today was just perfect.

The following day we’ve decided to do all the touristy stuff. We head back to Tam Coc to take the boat ride. When we get there, we’re just behind a massive group of tourists. Shoot!! But there’s another one right behind us too, so we take a bit of time to put on the mandatory life jackets and hop on a boat with our rower to let the massive group move away from us but not too much time so that the other group doesn’t catch up with us. Once on the boat, we try to make conversation with our rower but we realize quickly that English is not his forte. He is very good at rowing however with the quite unique local technique. Here, rowers row with their feet. And our rower has got to be the fastest feet rower in the world because soon, he catches up with all the other boats. So, here we are, on this beautiful river with incredible mountains around but it feels like we’re on a gondola in Venice on Valentine’s day. The ride is still worth it though. The place is splendide. After the boat ride, we are approached by a group of students. They are on a field trip to meet the tourists and practice their English. This is a great idea! Doo should definitely try something like that with his students. We talk to a couple of them. The teacher then takes a picture of us and of course we take a group selfie. That’s where we learn a new hand gesture: crossing the thumb and the index finger. It means “love”.

We then drive to the next main tourist attraction: a viewpoint. Once again every tourist around has decided to meet there for the sunset. We even cross path with two French world travelers we have met a couple of days ago at the station in Hanoi. The climb to the viewpoint is steep. There are many steps to the top and once we get there, there are many, many, many tourists taking selfies and enjoying the view. There is a dragon statue at the very top of the mountain but you have to actually do a bit of real climbing to get there. Côme is scared and can’t climb up, so he stays at the “regular” viewpoint with Julia. Doo on the other hand finds a less crowed path and gets there. It is beautiful (yet again) but there are too many people and it’s not the safest place to be (especially when it’s getting dark). The rock formation is sharp and edgy. Doo will hear a stressed French tourist say: “F…k! There’s even blood stains on the rocks… That’s not reassuring…”. A few pictures later, we all go back downhill without waiting for the sunset. It is getting even more crowded and we feel we have already enjoyed the nice view. Today was far from being perfect. One thing certain though, we definitely prefer exploring on our own than visiting touristic venues.

So the next couple of days that’s what we do. On our own, with the scooter, in the countryside. And since we’re off the beaten track and there’s no one around. We discover an abandoned touristic site under construction in the middle of nowhere (the road does not even exist on Google Maps). We drive through nice villages, stop at an abandoned farm, nice viewpoints and isolated tombstones in the middle of lakes. We meet intrigued buffalos that come from the distance to take a good look at us (they won’t take the nenuphar Côme will try to give them to eat). We are having a blast roaming freely in this magnificent region. We are sad to leave and return the scooter. We know we won’t be renting one before long. Doo is strongly considering buying one later on the trip to travel around but Julia is not really kin on the idea. “What about our bags? We can’t be constantly traveling with them! What about the distances?”… Sigh… Nimh Binh was just awesome!!!

In Ninh Binh, Côme:
Did not understand: why a frog was sleeping in a jar at the homestay.
Learnt: how people were fishing in Nimh Binh.
Loved: exploring around on the scooter.

Julia:
Did not understand: how the rowers were rowing with their feet.
Learnt: that people dried rice on the road.
Loved: the landscape in this region (her favorite in Vietnam).

Doo:
Did not understand: why the tourist site under construction was abandoned.
Learnt: that buffalos are curious animals.
Loved: roaming around on the scooter.