Ninh Binh, where Coc and Bich are words of beauty

Ninh Binh - Tam Coc 31st March 2004

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When we arranged our Vietnam tour through Griwswald's offices in Sydney, they no longer ran the tours to Tam Coc due to the excessive hard sell and hassling that tourists received. We were still keen to go to Tam Coc regardless, as the pictures we had seen were so beautiful. So we arranged a tour through Sinh Café at the hotel. We were picked up at around 7:30 and taken to a meeting place where we met our fellow travelers (about 15 of us). There was a lot of mucking around with buses and waiting but eventually we were off.

We saw another fatal accident on the highway; a minibus had a head on collision with a large truck. The truck was on it's side, and the minibus and it's occupants, well it was something I didn't really want to see. The road was very busy with lots of trucks and buses and an English woman on the bus was getting very jittery in the traffic. Thankfully we finally arrived in the peaceful and scenic Hoa Lu, the tenth century capital of Vietnam. We visited the first temple at the base of Saddle Mountain.

After spending some time exploring through the temple Den Dinh Tien Hoang we prepared for a climb up Saddle Mountain. Liam was given the opportunity to sit on the back of a water buffalo while we waited for everybody!

The climb was steep, and Michelle decided to wait at the bottom. Near the top was an altar, and Liam and I made our offerings. Everybody had disappeared whilst we were at the altar, and the man there pointed down a small muddy trail, which I though indicated that was the way everybody had gone. But he was also pointing at my camera. We headed off down the narrow path and came out on the limestone cliff with fantastic views over the river below. By the time we got back down the mountain the rest of the group had gone off to the other temple and I'd missed out. But I think the views were worth it.

We returned back to the bus, along the road at the base of the mountain, picking up a cool drink along the way. Everybody was soon loaded back onto the bus and we made our way down the windy roads to Bich Dong.

Bich Dong, otherwise known as the Jade Grotto is a Buddhist Temple in the side of the mountain. Steps framed with banyan trees lead up to the temple, and the path and steps lead further up the mountain through a cave with green stones and a large bell. Eventually we came out near the top of the mountain at a third temple, with views out across the countryside.

Next stop was Tam Coc, or Three Caves. It was just as beautiful as the pictures we had seen. We had lunch in a small restaurant across from the river, which was quite average, but OK. Not the same standard of food as we had had on the tours organised by Griswalds. The spring rolls were stone cold, and luckily one of the girls on our tour was Vietnamese, and so could complain on our behalf. Liam found the pit toilets fascinating. We then boarded the row boats for the beautiful trip down the river, passing through rice paddies and past magnificent limestone karsts. Ladies were working the rice paddies by the river, and goats clambered on the mountainsides above us. We floated through the three caves which are the namesake of the region, and spent a good time at the furthest point on the trip looking off into the valley beyond at the mountain scenery. It truly is Ha Long Bay on land.

The hardsell started on the way back; at least the trip out was peaceful and enjoyable. But it wasn't too bad; we bought a little and politely said no a lot. They at least had a sense of humour with the various messages on the T-Shirt given us by the Kangaroo Cafe, but it didn't work. I was able to divert the conversation a little too, but not for too long. When we arrived at the dock we were immediately hassled to pay a tip for the boat rower as well.

We travelled back to Ha Noi the way we had come, again seeing another accident where some poor soul had been knocked off his bike by a bus in the rain. The roads in Vietnam from our experience were very dangerous. I was much happier travelling in buses with local drivers, as opposed to travelling ourselves on xe oms.

We were dropped back at the bus depot, instead of back at our hotels which was a bit of a surprise. The English lady, who had not enjoyed the bus trip back, being constantly worried about being in an accident, was certainly no less happier being dropped off at the edge of town.

I didn't immediately recognise where we were, but felt sure of the direction of the lake. It was great walking through the streets of the city, past little kitchens on the footpath and kids playing everywhere.

We asked another tourist we passed for directions to the lake, which confirmed we were heading in the right direction. We stopped into the Kangaroo Cafe for a drink, only to find out they also now arranged trips to Tam Coc. I'm sure it would have been better run, but we had a great and exciting day regardless. We jumped in a taxi back to the hotel where we had dinner and got ready for our train trip off to Hue at 10:00PM.

Cuong, who was going to be our guide for the rest of our holiday in Vietnam picked us up at the hotel and took us to the train station in a taxi. Taxis do run off meters in Vietnam! It was a tropical thunderstorm and was raining quite heavily, and somebody grabbed one of my bags out of the taxi and started carrying it to the train for me. I was struggling with the bag I had, and was desperately trying to hold my pants up as they were a bit too big, and sorely needed a belt. Of course when we arrived in our berth on the train the demand for payment was made, and quite a high price demanded as well. After some argument we managed to pay US$1, and we settled into the train and were soon off, and asleep.

Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh, War Museums and Temples

An early rise today as we were planned on the torganised tour of Ha Noi City. Lap and the minibus driver arrived soon after breakfast, and Jean and Fred joined us again for the day. Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. There were lots of soldiers and numerous long queues of people standing 2 by 2 all ready to file past Ho Chi Minh in his last resting place. People ranged from young school kids on what seemed school excursions, all the way through to older folk. No cameras or mobile phones were allowed, and the security was quite strict. We thought that Fred had been hauled off by the guards, but he decided at the last second not to go through. It was very quiet and solemn inside as we all walked around and past the glass casket to see Ho Chi Minh on display against his last wishes.

Outside the crypt, we waited for Lap to catch up with us and then we visited the stilt cottage where Ho Chi Minh lived. We also saw the 108 lawn which represented all of the countries living in harmony side by side together. There were many beautiful gardens all with magnificent bonsais.

We also walked across the bridge over the lake near HCM Cottage. Ho Chi Moinh had trained the fish in the lake to come for feeding when he clapped his hands, so of course everybody was clapping their hands to get the fish to show. We certainly saw the fish, which were all quite large and very fat!.

We had a quick look around the beautiful One-Pillar Pagoda. This was very popular, with many people giving their thanks to Buddha at the top of the steep stairs.

Next stop was HCM Museum - we had a quick look around inside. It was very modern, and again there was a lot of symbolism. We bought some nice pasteries to keep us going till lunch, and then walked back through the landscaped gardens and bonsais in pots to the minibus which took us to the Army Museum.

Of course there was a lot of propaganda on show here, though I'm sure just as much as the Americans had produced. I left the place with a feeling of remorse and sorrow for what these beautiful people who I was sharing this lovely country with had so recently endured.

Needing a bit of an uplift, we then walked through the peaceful garden settings of the Temple of Literature. There were a lot of people selling pasteries and donuts on sticks as well as books and other souviners for the tourists at the gate. One lady selling the donuts was asking what was obviously quite a high price, as the locals around made sure we knew what the more realistic price was.

The Temple of Literature dated from 1070 or so, and consisted of beautiful temples divided into sections, all with grand gardens decorated with bonsais and ponds. Lap helped Liam out with lighting a prayer stick, and then back outside there was a huge drum which Lap encouraged Liam to hit. A bit of fun, but it wasn't totally appreciated by the guards with Liam geting told off; nicely of course! The architecture of the pagodas was magnificent and you could feel the history of the place. The stella with the names of all the monks who had trained at the temple lined both sides of the gardens, fashioned with the heads of turtles at the base of the carved stones.

We went for lunch at a fantastic restaurant; it was a school for underprivileged children where they were taught them skills in hospitality. The food was most simply superb, and the service and attention to detail was faultless. It was like eating like royalty, and it was lovely to sit out on the balcony in the back streets of the city in the warm afternoon.

We had done so much today, but the day was only half over! After lunch we went to the Ha Noi Hilton. Well, that's the name given to the prison; another piece of dark history.

Our afternoon was spent at the Ethnology Museum. We had an exciting trip there with the kids who had tried unsuccessfully to sell Fred a book outside the Ha Noi Hilton following us all the way across town on the back of a motorbike to continue the sell outside the Ethnology Musuem. Fred couldn't resist their perserverence! The Ethnology Museum was very interesting, and gave us a taste of the various cultures from the different regions of Vietnam, specifically up in the highlands around Sapa which we couldn't visit on this trip. The grounds around the museum were quite extensive, and consisted of representations of the various houses that the different clans lived in.

We were dropped off back at the hotel, but we wanted to explore around the lake and Ha Noi a little more so we caught a cyclo from the rank near the roundabout. I tried in vain to haggle the price down to a reasonable level, but too many tourists before me had set the expectations I guess.

We regretably just arrived at the temple on the lake at closing time, so couldnt visit inside to see the famed turtle of the returned sword. We instead walked around the lake area, talking with young children practising their English in attempts to get small coins, as well as watching a soccer match on the streets of Ha Noi. We enjoyed a lovely cappuccino by the side of Hoan Kien Lake, and popped into the Kangaroo Café (where they gave us some aptly printed T-Shirts) before we caught a taxi back to the hotel.

Ha Noi, Handcraft Villages, Water Puppets and Silk Worm Wine

Today we were heading off to various handcraft villages around Ha Noi. Each village over time has specialised in a particular handcraft, and now catered very well to the tourist market. We were up early for breakfast, downstairs in the hotel restaurant where we bumped into Fred and Jean. They decided to change their plans for the day and join us on the handcraft village tour as well, which was great. The bus soon arrived and by 8:30 we were off and out of Ha Noi, heading down an unmade busy road though the pottery village.

We saw the potter making pots on an electric wheel using a mold, and she was able to pump out perfect little pots at an amazing rate. Liam was lucky and was offered a chance to try out making a pot. His first one went a bit wonky but his second one was pretty well spot on. We saw the glazing of the pots done as well, and we ended up buying two beautiful Tea Sets. Michelle was offered to sit down and share some tea with the shop owners, but our tour was moving on so we missed out.

We drove through some really nice small towns on the way to the next handcraft village, the Paper Village. Liam tried his hand at printing on rice paper, which was done with a stamp using different colours. His first couple of attempts were disastrous, but with some instruction on how to line the stamp up with the small marks on the paper he produced a perfect print, which now adourns our fridge at home.

We bought 4 beautiful scrolls which each depicted one of the 4 seasons. They were framed magnificently in the shop, but we had to buy the unframed versions, rather than carry these huge pictures around for the rest of our trip!

We then returned to Ha Noi as the remaining village on our tour was on the other side of town. We passed through many small villages, surrounded by emerald green rice paddies, and passed all sorts of wares being carted on the backs of motorbikes; one bike had 3 small pigs, another one a large pig, as well as bikes carrying chickens, hay a sewing machine, doors, in fact everything and anything you could imagine.

Back in Ha Noi we stopped at a Pho Restaurant for lunch where we had a very nice chicken noodle soup with all the extras. Michelle reckoned it was the best soup she had ever had!

We then headed off to the silk village where we saw silk being made into material on a very old and extremely loud loom; a legacy of the French. The girls working here must suffer ear damage, working those machines all day.

Outside away from the noise we were offered some silkworm wine. I'm sure the locals don't really drink this stuff, and have a good chuckle at us gullible tourists drinking fermented rotting silkworms, but it was actually quite nice! We were then into the shop which had a large assortment of all things silk. We bought a Kimono each for James, myself and Liam as well as pyjamas for some of the neices and nephews back home.

On the way back to the bus, walking the streets we visited an old buddhist temple, which like many of the temples in Vietnam had the most magnificent bonsais in pots. A young boy offered Liam a ride on the back of his bicycle, which we politely declined. Another motorbike with a pig on the back shot past; they were plentiful, but very hard to photograph! We bought some silk bags in another shop and then made our way back to Ha Noi.

We stopped into the Kangaroo Café and met Tan. We did a little DVD shopping and made our way to the Water Puppets. Crossing the road near Hoan Kien Lake for the first time was an experience! We eventually just walked out into the traffic at a steady pace as the waves of motorbikes parted around us. The tricky bit, coming from Australia, was to remember to look the right way as we reached the middle of the road!

The water puppets were quite fun to watch, but Michelle thought they were a bit boring. We caught a taxi with Fred and Jean back to the hotel, which was another hair-raising ride through all of those cars and bikes weaving and beeping all over the place. We had dinner back at the hotel; pretty much the same as last night, which again was very nice.

Ha Long Bay to Ha Noi: Floating villages on green calm seas

Woke up early as usual (We are still on Melbourne time). Mark was the only one to get a hot shower - by the time Michelle got there it was freezing! We had breakfast at the No Boofheads Cafe again. We sent an email from the little internet cafe from around the corner from the hotel at 300 dong/minute while we waited for the minibus to arrive.

We were soon on the bus, returning back over the island to the ferry port and were our boat back to Ha Long City was waiting.

The scenery on Ha Long Bay was even more beautiful than before, despite the overcast weather. It would be wonderful to see this all on a sunny day. Lap, our guide says the best time to visit is from July through to September, but it is very hot and windy then.

We got off boat at Ha Long harbour and had out lunch at the same restaurant as on the way out, in Ha Long City. Once again, the food was very nice, and there was another cage of dogs outside the restaurant window. This time they were more crammed in and it was quite sad to see them.

After lunch and a quick haggle to buy a comb we took the bus back to Ha Noi. It was about a took 4 hour trip back through the countryside. Liam sat with his friends at the front of the bus next to Sven playing on the GameBoy. We saw a very bad accident on he way. Somebody who's bike was hit by a truck. Luckily the kids were heads down with the GameBoy.

We have the same room at the hotel. It's a good room and nice and quite. The things we left in our room, such as shampoo were expectantly gone. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant. Liam had a mushroom soup and roll. Michelle had beef and cashew nuts, her favourite, with fries and rice. I had beef noodle soup. With 3 fresh fruit juices, it all came to $A6.50

Ha Long Bay: Cat Ba sans cats but plus monkeys, festivals and food

We got up quite early, and once the motors were started on the boat, we pulled anchor and slowly made our way to Cat Ba Island. We left the boat and climbed onto a small minibus which took us across the island into Cat Ba Town. We were dropped off at the No Boofheads Cafe, where we had a typical Western breakfast of boiled eggs, Lipton tea and toast. Liam had pancakes.

We were quite lucky as there was a large festival on today in Cat Ba Town to celebrate the visit of Ho Chi Min back in 1951, or was it 1953?

We watched the parade assembling with cute little girls, who really liked Liam, guys in the dragons, beautiful young ladies dressed in flowing Cao Dai and the dragon boat racing crews in their bright team colours. After breakfast the parade started amongst a light drizzle of rain.

There there was a magnificent festival on the shore of the bay. There was singing and dance up on the stage with Ho Chi Min forming a huge backdrop. The parade ended in front of the stage, with the school kids dancing in formation eventually making way for men in military uniform dancing with their rifles and men dressed in camouflage fighting and jumping through flaming hoops. I'm sure it was telling a story.

The show came to an end and the attention turned to the dragon boat races. We walked through the town to the fish docks and later through the market.

The ladies in the market thought Liam was very cute, and wanted to sell him many many things! There were lots of amazing things to see at the market, such as dried seahorses used for chinese medicine, and many fruits and vegetables we've never seen before. There was also lots of live fish and other animals, though we kept a reasonable distance from the ducks, as the chicken flu paranoia was still about.

At 1pm we jumped into a minibus which took us down to the docks where we started our boat trip to Monkey island. We scrambled into a small bamboo boat which started taking in water with us 6 big Westerners, Liam and the boat woman. We made it to the larger boat safely without anybody falling in. We had a really fresh and tasty salad lunch on our way to Monkey Island. We sailed past a floating village amnd it was amazing how the people live. 1000 people live in the floating village and another 10,000 live in Cat Ba.

On Monkey Island we were greeted by a small group of monkeys. A few of us climbed up the mountain. The limestone was incredibly sharp, and you would most definitely not want to fall! There were the most beautiful views from the top out Ha Long Bay.

Michelle stayed on the beach and watched the monkeys chase one of the guys, which was an absolute laugh as he ran up and down the beach in terror with this small little monkey running behind him.

Liam got chased by a monkey too, screaming and running up the beach. We caught the boat back the same way and were given free-time from the tour to find our own dinner in Cat Ba. Michelle wasn't game to try one of the Vietnamese Restaurants after visiting the markets this morning so we had dinner at the Dolphin Cafe. This was really nice and we tried a few Vietnamese dishes, and of course had spring rolls. For 130,000 Dong I got a really nice crab curry, Michelle had Beef Noodle Soup and Liam hada a cheeseburger. We were completely stuffed!

After dinner, we dropped into the Internet Cafe on the way back to the hotel were Liam played upstairs with his new friends Wolf and Istera.

The festivals continued well into the night, and we watched them for quite a while from the balcony with lots of colourful lights and people singing and dancing. We went to bed exhausted long before the party ended!