Thanh Thuy's Guest House and Hotel Ninh Binh

Ninh Binh - 12 to 15 January We arrived in Ninh Binh after dark. We were met as planned by our next hotel rep from the Viet Hung Hotel, but he had expected 2, not 4 people. This hotel, like the Ke Bang in Dong Hoi had its e-mail contacts filtered by a remote service and the slick e-mail responses were not necessarily communicated to the hotel! We checked in and asked about dinner oin the hotel. We were told they had run out of food. We were put on different floors and we were told the hotel w...

Entry containing 48 photos titled: Rice fields on the way to Hoa lu, errr lost, Ancient Citadel of Hoa Lu, where the royal family lived in 968 to 980, Tomb, Swords inside temple, Statues where people pray, Statues where people pray, more weapons, kings Palace, Gardens , Pond , notice the nazi emblem, Tomb , 207 steps to top er kna thanks, pond, Gardens, Flag, Le Dai Hanh Temple, on the way to Tam Coc, Tam Coc , rugged rock formations, The Rowers , scenic views all the way, reminds me of platoon :), muching looking at the tourists, where they bury the dead , Gravestone and manrt more Graves, so peaceful, Temple on top of hill, into the cave 127m long, so cool inside from the heat outside, Let there be light , Gorgeous, halong Bay with rice fields, Goats in the moutains, rocks , Duck catching snails, cave in the mountain, Cave where sellers are waiting for you, Sea of Green, Halong Bay with rice fields, Ngo Dong River , Entrance to Tam Coc, Rice Fields, Where Next, Women Rowing with Feet, Peaceful

I'll get the ugly way out of the way first, then limit the rest of the blogs to the beauty of the areas surrounding Ninh Binh and the incredible people we met. But first, our hotel owner. We were welcomed in late at night and showed a room that he said was $25, about 250% of the price in our guidebook. We told him we were looking for something cheaper. He walked us to a room next door that was identical and said it was $15. No problem, a hotel owner seeing if he could double up the price on u...

(written by Derek) Okay, Ninh Binh. We earlier decided to stop in this ancient capital city to see some of the water caves, and a few of the temples and experience a city less travelled by tourists. We were pleasantly surprised, but mostly by our amazing guide. After our negotiating hassles for bus and taxi, we enjoyed a nice night in Ninh Binh. We walked up and down the streets for a few hours then had Chicken Pho (a Vietnamese soup/noodle dish with Chicken). Dinner for 2 for $2. And it was ...

Pour finir notre passage au Vietnam on a decide de partir pour Ninh Binh, a 2 h au sud de Hanoi pour faire un peu de velo au milieu des rizieres. Tam Coc est un peu la baie d'Halong au milieu des rizieres. Des barques suivent un circuit sur une petite riviere au milieu des rizieres avec des petites montagnes tout autour. Tout est tres vert. On a meme eu un peu de soleil ! Cet apres-midi on repart pour Hanoi pour prendre notre vol pour le Laos demain. On a decide de passer moins de temps au Vi...

Loved today in this beautiful karst countryside.



We had booked through our hotel to have 2 motorbikes come at 10am & take us out for the day. We headed to Mua cave on the backroads to Tam Coc where we climbed up 468 steps to this lookout. ( 60,000 dong each - $4 AUS) More killer stairs but so worth it for the view.




The rice fields far below looked like a sea of green & the karst mountains rising out of them was amazing from above.


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The town was a bit too sleepy but the river was really nice. We had a lady rowing us an hour down the river and then an hour back. They have an unusual rowing technique where they face the forward and row with their feet, left then right as if on a bicycle, but she even managed to twist the oar as it came out of the water. The river is really pretty, running through rice paddies, and surrounded by limestone mountains and cliffs. At 3 points the river has worn holes right through the mountains...

We didn't want our plane ticket to Vietnam to solely serve the purpose of acquiring visas and spending a miserable 2 days in Hanoi, so we also planned to visit a nearby area we had missed when traveling through Vietnam previously. The region is commonly referred to as the "Halong Bay on land." (See entry #60 for Halong Bay.) It has the same topography of limestone cliffs, but rather than jutting out of the sea, here they protrude from a land drenched with flooded river valleys. The easiest to...

Woke up at 7am. Couldn't get much sleep because of people coming in throughout the night. I should have put on my earplugs. Ate the free bread, butter, jam and nescafe combo at Backpackers. As I was having breakfast, a British high school graduate sat at my table. He reminded me of my good friend Fuat Savas who had done a similar journey around the same age. The hostel called a metered taxi which took me to the Giap Bat Bus Station. I paid 42,000 dong for a public minibus ticket to Ninh Binh....

Hello All - Have managed to get south away from the cold of Sapa, and are now in Ninh Binh (about 90km south of Hanoi). To give you a good idea of the speed of the trains here, it takes about 2.5 hours to get from Hanoi to Ninh Binh.....not so speedy! Ninh Binh is a nice change from the hustle-bustle of Hanoi. The locals are very friendly here, and every few feet, a person (young and old alike!) will shout a hello and smile and wave. Malcolm is sure that they are only after his money, but I t...