Ninh Binh

Got the train from Hanoi to Ninh Binh, which was quite lucky as getting to the right train platform in Hanoi involves walking straight across all the other train tracks! The train could have done with a touch of refurbishment, and a little bit of a wash, but we got there, so I can't really complain.

Rowing on Tam Coc

The following day we hired motorbikes (and drivers -  not quite up to tackling the Vietnamese traffic yet!) and drove into the surrounding countryside. Gripping for dear life onto the back of the bike, while admiring the country side and watching the surrounding scenes, this certainly felt like the way to travel!

We later hired a boat and rowed down the Tam Coc river, surrounded by the same limestone peaks and rice paddies we were so amazed by in Yangshou, this time accompanied by rowing through the very narrow, low and eerie caves dissecting the peaks.

Exiting Tam Coc caves

We continued on the bikes driving along the back roads connecting various villages and later walked up one of the peaks we had rowed past earlier, giving us an incredible view of the meandering river. The drive back to the hotel was as stunning as the rest of the day, combined with the unique experience of being dwarfed by enormous army style trucks, and deafened by ear-spitting horns aimed from all angles, and, as always, sharing the road with all manner of traffic forms!

The night bus to Hue was another experience to add to our transportation repertoire. On Vietnamese sleeper buses they seem to have decided to take out every other row of seats and lay the remaining seats at an angle which is supposed to represent horizontal, except that your head and feet are significantly elevated, encouraging you to sleep in some kind of odd looking yoga position. The set up is further improved by the fact that a single decker bus has two levels of these coffin style beds. It was a novel experience, with every jolt of the bus, to slam your head on both your 'pillow' and the ceiling simultaneously. My set up was further improved by having the middle seat of the back row, sharing the journey with five other confused travellers. We agreed its all part of it though and so settled down for a 10 hour long game of sardines.

Kim cruising along...

Kim dominating the road

Overlooking rice paddies

View down on Tam Coc