Ninh Binh and Tam Coc

Well, I made it to Ninh Binh, barely! After being told I would be picked up at the hostel between 6 and 7 p.m. last night, it actually ended up being more like 7:30 p.m., and only after I had them call to make sure they didn't forget me. The taxi took me to the bus, and let me tell you, the bus-riding is going to be interesting here in this country! I will be doing a lot of it, and this was just a taste of what is to come, I am sure. The bus is a night bus, so there are no regular seats, just a bunch of beds, if you can call them that. You lie down at an incline, and there is no obvious way to make it into a seat. There are seatbelts, but no rails so good luck trying to stay in the bed when the driver is careening all over the roads! The incline is actually kind-of uncomfortable, and it's hard to sit up normally. They made me take off my shoes when entering the bus, and by make, I mean they yelled and were very serious about it. The bus driver drove like everyone else does in Vietnam - like a crazy person. Let me just take a moment to talk about this. I think that if they even have driver's education here, it consists of one sentence: You are the only person/vehicle on the road that matters; do not pay any attention to anyone else, even if it is way bigger than you and you think it might kill you, and definitely don't pay attention to a smaller person or vehicle. And their motto would be: DRIVE HOWEVER YOU WANT, THERE ARE NO RULES!!! The bus driver would speed way up, and then slam on the brakes, coming to almost a complete stop. And then there is the honking. I may have mentioned this in my 'chaos' post, but everyone honks here continuously. I  have even seen honking when there was no other visible person or vehicle in the road at all. I think it is probably catastrophic to them if their horns break, and renders the vehicle unuseable until it gets repaired! So the bus has an obnoxious horn, and it was used pretty much continuously during my crazy 1.5-hr journey to Ninh Binh. It was rather funny, and the other tourists and I just kept looking at each other and smiling or shaking our heads, because really, what can you do? I had read that the journey would take 2-2.5 hours, and that the stop would come quickly and you must pay attention or miss it. Well, since there was not much else to do in the reclining, moving seat, I put in my iPod and slept off and on, when I wasn't trying to keep my body in the seat. At one point, at 1.5 hours into the journey, I sat up because I realized we were stopped. Then we started moving again and I was trying to see signs. Well, then I saw signs, which said Ninh Binh. So we asked where we were, and were yelled at that indeed, this was Ninh Binh. Now, I assure you, I had told any and all possible people that may have been involved in letting me know when to get off, where I was getting off. They seemed pretty mad at me for probably not getting off at the actual stop, so they pulled over, and just kept yelling "Ninh Binh" at me while I quickly gathered all of my stuff up and put on my shoes (which yes, I was yelled at for doing). And as I got off, I just kept asking, "This is Ninh Binh?" for fear that I was being let off in a random city late at night. Thankfully, I was actually let off right in front of my hotel and they very nice owner was there to meet me, so this was great. There are no dorms here, so I have my own room with hot water and a comfortable bed, and even a fan, all for $6/night. The owner called this morning to see if I could get on the night bus tonight to head south further, but I could not. So, I am here for one more night. Not sure what I will do tomorrow, but am thinking I will just relax and read, since there isn't much to see in the city.

So this morning, I had breakfast of pineapple pancakes with honey (more like a crepe), and then met my tour guide for the day. He took me on his motorbike to see Tam Coc and the surrounding area. The motorbike riding was interesting! I got to experience traffic from that viewpoint, and although it was nothing like Hanoi traffic, it was still crazy. Once I got to Tam Coc, I got to go on a rowboat for about 1.5 hours down the river, which was beautiful. The rower was a lady, and she rowed with her feet a lot of the time. Shortly after we left, she pulled over to pick up her son, who then rowed the rest of the way, until we turned around and got back to the same spot, where she then dropped him off again. Curious, but whatever. We got to row into and under some caves, which was cool. One thing I wasn't expecting was to see mostly Asian (probably mostly Vietnamese) faces around me in the boats. I wonder if since it is the New Year, maybe they are also vacationing. They were very friendly, and saying "hello" and "what is your name?" which is more than I have gotten most places so far. Another thing I wasn't prepared for was my rower lady pulling out all kinds of things to try to get me to buy them (probably the reason for her son stepping in as chief rower, now that I think about it!). I did end up caving on something I can put up on my wall, though. Also, one of the infamous ladies rowing with snacks asked me at the beginning of the journey if I wanted to buy anything. I said no, and she said, "maybe later?" and proceded to follow me the entire way to the turn-around point, and then asked me again and lingered for awhile, even though I said no. At the end of the journey, I was paying the lady for the tapestry I bought, and they actually asked me to give a tip! This is just different from anything I have experienced here yet. Normally there is no tipping here, and it is not expected. I guess you can tell that this really is a tourist destination. The karsts once again were beautiful, and it was a different viewpoint, seeing them from the river and coming from the land. There were rice paddies everywhere, but they are not green right now. I have seen people working in them, though. Then my guide took me to a few other places, including a pagoda, and a temple at the top of one of the karsts, which I had to hike up a lot of stairs to get to - but the view from the top was pretty worth-it. I was ready by the end of the day to just relax and not be on a motorbike anymore, though. Time for me to have some dinner and read up on my next destination, which is Hue', and which it will take roughly 12 or so hours to get to by night bus, so that should be interesting once again! I will appreciate my comfortable, non-moving bed all the more so in anticipation tonight. Will probably post again tomorrow afternoon, and hopefully include pics, if I can do so from this computer.