Ninh Binh province is located around 100 kilometers from
Hanoi. Topography of it consists of limestone mountains with caves and grottos,
delta raised by Red River Silt and a coastline with the length of 18
kilometers. The shortest description of Ninh Binh I can think of goes like
this: It is like Ha Long Bay, with only difference that it is on the
countryside. Well, in my personal opinion, it is way more than Ha Long Bay
because you can actually see how local people live. You can rent a bicycle and ride
through endless rice fields and encounter goats, cows, buffalos or ducks on the
road. You can see in what kind of houses local people live, and since they are
very friendly maybe they will invite you for a lunch. Other good thing about
this province is that it is still not so touristy.
I went to Ninh Bing with two Vietnamese girls who stayed at
my place the night before our trip. I would say that this is when my trip began
because I found out a really interesting thing. While I was brushing my teeth
the two girls were watching Vietnamese channel on TV and then suddenly I heard
Croatian music. I was beyond surprised. When I asked them about that song they
told me that it is really famous in Vietnam and everyone knows it. The only
thing they didn’t know that that is a Croatian song. It is quite interesting
how they like to listen songs in languages that they don’t understand.
Next morning we woke up at 4.30AM to catch our bus. So far,
travelling by local busses in Vietnam has been quite an adventure, and it is
funny how they always succeed to surprise me with new funny things. The bus was
packed with Vietnamese staring at me and thinking what the hell is she doing in
this bus. Should I mention that Vietnamese are a short nation and I am pretty
tall so sitting in their busses is not really comfortable for me and I never
know where to put my legs. The bus was really old and our driver was (as
usually) driving in Vietnamese style. Let me put it in other words-like a
lunatic, without caring or thinking about rules, other people in traffic and
using horn all the time. Since our bus was very old, whenever we crossed over a
hole in the road our bus slammed so bad that we thought our stomach would jump
out. I was watching other drivers through the window when all of the sudden
flock of ducks appeared on the highway. What to say? After that, one lady
started vomiting in a plastic bag and she gave the bag to her husband who threw
it out through the window. I really hope that it didn’t fly into a motorbike
driver.
After arriving in Ninh Binh city, the first thing we visited was Bai Dinh pagoda, the biggest pagoda in Vietnam. To reach the top you need to climb upon 300 stairs. Visiting Bai Dinh pagoda is not a really touristy thing to do, but in my opinion it is worth visiting because it's really beautiful.
On the left is Buddha form the past, in the middle is Buddha from the present, and on the right is Buddha from the future. People choose in front of which Buddha they want to pray.
Sitting in Vietnamese style.
After Bai Dinh pagoda we went to Trang An to take a 3 hour sampan ride. It was a really good choice! It is stunningly beautiful and very peaceful.
In the evening we found a guest house. It is funny how very often you can find spelling errors of basic vocabulary in English.
Next day we went to Tam Coc, another town with similar landscape. They also offer a sampan ride but this time we decided to rent bicycles for 2,5$. It was the best choice we could have made. Driving a bicycle through rice fields was something I wanted to do for a long time, and my wish finally became true.
Vietnamese people can sleep anywhere!
Weird dessert made of rice, vegetables, coconut and sugar. Even though it sounds awful it's not bad at all.