Vietnam Part 2.1

We're now in Ninh Binh, or just outside of it. We arrived around 4pm on Friday after a 4 hour drive. It was only 144 km, but it was basically through a small town the entire way.

This billboard on the side of the road. No idea what it's for, but it's especially creepy when you don't see that the man is wearing pants.

We're staying at Nguyen Shack. Online it looked like a quaint, unique, and inexpensive option online. The real Vietnam. With hammocks. In reality, it's a little more rustic than I anticipated. Maybe that's the real Vietnam? UG is cranky, but I'm not sure if that's the "resort", or his wet underwear that's causing that. Even I was a little worried about the 200m trek from the road where the car dropped us off to the actual "resort". But it'll do for a few nights.

We had a snack of a Vietnamese sub, and noodles and spring rolls when we arrived. We then checked into our room (hut) and spent some time in the hammocks. And UG fell asleep at 6pm, so we missed dinner. But the heat and long drive took it out of us. 

 Saturday morning, we made a slow start and by 11am, when we decided to borrow some bikes and check out the #1 local attraction, the Trang An Grottos, our host told us that it was peak time, and all the day trippers would be down from Hanoi. She recommended we drive south to Tam Coc (similar to Trang An) or Bich Dong pagoda. So we pedaled south through a couple of villages and along a small highway. It was so hot and humid, I couldn't wear my sunglasses. They just fogged up whenever I got them near my face.

After about 6km, we came across th entrance for Tam Coc. Tam Coc is a river boat tour between tall rock formations and through caves. We found the parking lot, and lots of boats, but no sign that said "Tam Coc". And one thing we've noticed is that this country is all about signs. Every small business has several signs advertising their services. And all professionally printed, nothing homemade. Even this obvious tourist attraction had about 20 signs, but all different Vietnamese words, and none of them said "Tam Coc".

So we kept pedalling. The road dead ended at a parking lot, with vendors selling souvenirs. I looked around one corner and saw a cool looking gate. So we parked our bikes, paying 20,0 00 dong each to the bike parking attendant. About $1.25 each. This turned out to be Bich Dong, a fancy Buddhist temple at the base of a mountain, and up the mountain, and in a cave in the mountain. 

Apparently Buddha likes Choco-Pie and Red Bull.

Almost every bag had owls on it.

After a drink to cool down, we started heading back towards our lodging. Not too far down the road, it started raining. As the rain got harder, we stopped for shelter under a tree. We happened to be across the street from a restaurant, and the owners called out, "come in, we have beer!" How could we refuse? We waited out the worst of the rain while having spring rolls, french fries (the menu said fried sweet potatoes), beer and coke. All for about $6. 

Once it stopped raining, we moved on. Back at the boat attraction, I finally saw the Tam Coc sign. But UG was really uninterested in another boat tour. So we got some photos of the boats and kept moving. 

World's largest earthworm.

We were going to climb Hong Mua, a mountain top pagoda right outside the entrance to our resort. But we stopped to drop our bikes off, and a storm was blowing in. It ended up getting really cold. We were regretting leaving our "leaving Calgary" clothes back in Hanoi. The wind was whipping through our bamboo hut. The staff was wearing parkas. But with the heavy blankets in our room (which we mocked the night before when it was in the high 20s with 150% humidity), we made it through the night relatively warm. It's amazing how the weather can change.

We had dinner back at our resort, mango salad,  coconut chicken, and chicken rolls around lemon grass.