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Ninh Binh Win!

During my research on Vietnam I started hearing about Ninh Binh and descriptors such as, “Ha Long Bay on land” kept popping up so, excited to see it for myself, I found a lovely sounding homestay in the area and booked it. The closer we got to Tet, the realization hit us that getting from there to Ha Long Bay, where we needed to be on the 22nd, was not going to be feasible. Sadly, we cancelled our stay and went straight to Hanoi instead.

In retrospect, my initial negative reaction to Hanoi could have been, in part, because I had been looking forward to the country setting of Ninh Binh, not the busy, big city feel of Hanoi.

We were not giving up on Ninh Binh altogether though. We booked a day trip after our return from Ha Long – it would be a LONG day and not exactly relaxing or what I had hoped for, but we were heading to Ninh Binh!

First stop on the tour was Nui Ngoa Long – Lying Dragon Mountain in Hang Mua Park.
There were big crowds as it was the final day of the New Year holidays.
We made it to the top! It was a little treacherous as the steps were VERY steep and narrow in parts and there were so many people!
A lot of people were taking pictures dressed in traditional clothing. We were thankful to be in our shorts and t-shirts in that heat!

After our descent, we walked through a cave at the bottom the hill and found this serene setting where we could hear the birds singing and take a breath and enjoy the beauty. A brief respite from the crowds!

Our next stop was Hoa Lu Temple. We got a bit distracted while we were there and didn’t listen to all the information but for good reason.

We bumped into our new travel friends Arn and Tessa at the temple!!! We had spent time with them on the Ha Long Bay cruise. They are just the loveliest couple who we hope to visit when they are back in Belgium and we’ll be in France.
Women are expected to have their knees and shoulders covered when visiting a temple. They usually have extra skirts nearby for people like me, who wore shorts that day.

The final stop on our Ninh Binh tour was a boat ride along the Ngo Dong river. The “boatmen” who, from what we experienced were mostly women, take tourists in wooden boats up and down the river, going through 3 caves and past riverside rice fields. It is tiring work to be sure, and the local people have mastered the skill of rowing with their feet, making the hard work of rowing, a little easier for them and the tourists find it very entertaining as well.

And they look so casual!

As always, there are many lessons I need to either learn or be reminded of now and again. Our Ninh Binh experience reminded me that even though things may not always go as planned, there are benefits that will present themselves when you are open to explore another path. If we hadn’t spent as much time as we did in Hanoi, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to gain a greater appreciation for that city. By being on that tour, at that temple, at that time, we were able to meet up with Arn and Tessa and reassure them that I was doing just fine (the last time they saw me, I was puking in a planter at the dock in Ha Long Bay before we went our separate ways).

All in all I’d say Ninh Binh was a Win!

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