Getting Lost (In a Good Way)

Wednesday night we contemplated changing our tickets and leaving Vietnam early because we were over the crowds and the noise and the traffic and the constant hawking and begging. We decided instead, however, to give our guide book one more chance and hopped a bus to the little town called Ninh Binh that the book said was the number one place to get lost in Vietnam.

About 15 minutes before the end of the two hour bus trip from Hanoi to Ninh Binh a young Vietnamese man got on the bus and started chatting us up. We knew what was coming. A couple of minutes before pulling in to the bus station our new friend Duon asked us to get out and take a look at his hotel. He was much friendlier than the millions of people in Hanoi that followed us around the street asking the same. He assured us that if we didn't like it, the hotel we had been planning on going to was easy to get to nearby.

A quick look at the hotel (and a chance meeting with two lovely Belgians we had met the same morning back at our hotel in Hanoi) and a negotiation from $8 per night down to $7 (less than half what we were paying in Hanoi) and we were settled in our new home.

Ninh Binh was what we expected out of Vietnam. We stayed in this quaint little town for three days and two nights, and enjoyed practically every minute. The food was better, the people were better, the scenery was better. Everything was amazing.

First look at the town was by foot after a long lunch and a chat with the Belgians. It was almost getting dark by the time we ventured out and saw the cute little town. Everywhere we went people smiled and said "Hello". We'd see tourists at the occassional bar, but other than that around the streets we only saw locals.

Through the gates into a big semi-modern church we found a group of high school kids practicing some hip hop dancing. Some younger kids saw the camera on Eliza's neck and formed a group pose. "fotograh, fotograh" they kept saying. "Hello!" the little kids would say, and then run off giggling after we returned the greeting.

That night a New Zealander called Craig coasted into town on a sleeper bus. Next morning the three of us rented bicycles and took ourselves to another rowing trip. This time we were prepared and when the rower told us two minutes in about her two babies, we replied in kind and told her about our two babies. We rowed through some beautiful overhaning caves and saw amazing landscape--beautiful mountains jutting out in layers and layers 360 degrees around us.

When we got to the turnaround point and a boat there was selling soda-pop for tipping the rowers, we produced a can of coca-cola we had brought on our own and gratefully handed that to our rowers. They then were able to sell us some baby t-shirts (really for our neice and nephew, but they can believe they are for our two babies if they want to) for a very fair price and we tipped just over the going rate. They chanced trying to sell us some more, but all in all treated us much better than our previous experience.

In the afternoon and evening we learned a new card game and played it with the New Zealander and later he and I joined a Dutchman and an Israli in their version of the game. It was so nice to continually meet people from all over the world in our travels (although by far the most common people were Dutch [or Dutch Belgian] and Melbournites).

Next morning Eliza and I rented a motorbike for $6 and did what we came to Ninh Binh for--got lost. And yes, it was the most amazing place in the world to get lost. One time the landscape so amazed me that I stopped the bike suddenly, saying "Oh my God!" and hopping off to take it all in. Sorry, I can't describe it. You'll see pictures later, which will speak a thousand words, but really you just have to get out and see the world for yourself!

We were sad to leave Ninh Binh that afternoon and head back to the hustle and bustle of Hanoi. We were surprised to find ourselves a little bit sad to leave the hustle and bustle of Hanoi the next day as we headed to the airport. It was a crazy place, but a crazy place we were getting used to. And we did get along so well with the manager of the hotel we stayed at in Hanoi that I ended up on the brochure (and am supposed to be on the website soon!).

Tell you what though, landing in Frankfurt to a clean, peaceful, quiet Europe was a relief.