Having done our transport research online we asked for seats with the Hoang Long bus company for our trip from Haiphong to Ninh Binh. This got us a sleeper bus for 2 hours, which we thought would mean space and comfort for our (comparatively) short journey. Ha! Hahahahaha.
Shoes off on the bus and we discover our seat/beds are right down the back on the bottom row. Right down the back means 5 seats/beds lined up next to each other in a row like one big mattress which we all lie on like sardines. A cheeky Vietnamese guy had stolen my window seat and refused to move so Brend I are were squashed in the middle. NOT FUN. The cheeky Vietnamese guy practised his English for the trip, asking us about New Zealand, and then telling me about his life. He was currently having girl troubles as he was on the bus to go south for a month for work. His lady friend was not happy about this and was refusing to take his calls. He asked for advice and so I told him he just had to make sure she knows he loves her, and to not let the communication fall away. He was sweet. But still a seat stealer.
Before leaving for Ninh Binh we tried searching for a map online, but there were none to be found. A place not even searchable by google maps (it is now so it’s either been added since or was blocked in Vietnam). We clumsily got someone to understand our attempts at Vietnamese saying words like hotel and train station and got a finger pointing the general way, thankfully the right way. Wandering down an alley way we thought was the right place we were stopped by a guy on a moto. Moto guy was Mr Dai, the manager/trip organiser/receptionist of a hotel in the area. He handed us an exercise book full of recommendations written in English and French and other non Vietnamese languages from people who had stayed with him before. He seemed genuine, the price was right, and the room didn’t seem to have any bed bugs!
We settled, napped, organised a moto tour for the next day, and then bought train tickets for our trip to Hue. Mr Dai asked if we liked music and invited us to a bar that night. But when it came time to leave it was him and his friend, both tipsy, that were to be doing the driving. Being the sensible one in the group I flat out refused to drive with an even slightly drunk driver on the back of motorbike in Vietnam. So I made the boys walk with me to this bar which was apparently not too far away.
After a number of false starts and the eerie feeling of walking around streets when you stick out like a sore thumb, we found the place which turned out to be more of a karaoke bar. Mr Dai sang a few songs and then, in Vietnamese, introduced his friends from New Zealand to the whole place. We heard “New Zealand” and “guitar” and then felt the eyes of everyone in the room. Thankfully they were all on the boys who were apparently going to play guitar. Darian, the chicken, refused. Brend took one for the team though and they loved it despite it not at all resembling the going brand of Vietnamese pop love song.
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The real draw of Ninh Binh though was our moto tour. I was terrified to get on the back of the bike but once I did it was so much fun! They didn’t speed and the roads were good. We were dropped in Tam Coc, the touristy village, and given time to do the usual boat tour. We didn’t want to do the touristy thing though so we set off on foot.
Best. Decision. Ever.
We saw the mountains and rice paddies and at the end of a long winding road we found Thai Vy temple being kept by an old French speaking Vietnamese man and his wife. The man looks like a great old sage with a long long white beard.
He shows us how to pray correctly using incense, and gives us a history lesson in French about the Mongols invading Vietnam.
The sage shows us some of the traditional instruments he has and gives us some lessons, we buy some old postcards from his wife, and we’re off. Back to Tam Coc centre to have some of their famous goat meat for lunch.
Driving down back alleys on the way back to the hotel we stop at an area on the map called Mua Cave. The cave is accessed by boat but we’re here to climb the 500 steps to pagoda with an insane view of the landscape. Seeing the wind swirling through the rice paddies was awe inspiring.
There’s not long after our tour till we have to get on our overnight train to Hue. We have some iced tea and sandwiches and practise our squatting, something only Brend was able to fully master.
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On the train it was Darian’s turn to have his bed stolen. Which worked out ok as our cabin only had Brend and I in it so he joined us instead. We ate cookies, drank Wall Street whisky, played cards, and tried our hardest to sleep on wafer thin mattresses.
[Brend's account of Ninh Binh]
[Photos in the next post I promise]
