South to Ninh Binh

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  Ninh Binh, Vietnam
Sunday, November 25, 2007

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 think they are simply after his good looks. :o)

Went to Hoa Lu and Kenh Ga yesterday. Both were lovely to visit - Hoa Lu was once upon a time the capital (like about 980AD) and Kenh Ga is a small river dwelling fishing village. Of course as people have started to prosper here a little bit more, most people are moving out of their boats and building houses on the shore line, but it still is very much a community that is based around the river. The really neat thing about Kenh Ga (and this area) is that most people row their boats with their feet. Its very cool to watch! It leaves their hands free for......well, waving and saying hello to Malcolm!

MUM'S - LOOK AWAY NOW!! On the rubbishy gravel road back from Kenh Ga we had a little oopsy on our scooter and ended up on our arses. Well, technically on Malcolm's arm. Nothing broken or too damaged - we were only going a few kms an hour at the time, but Malx's got a bit of road rash on his left arm. He only wanted you all to know so that he could get some sympathy. I, of course, was the clever one and landed on him so that I didn't hurt myself at all!

Today we hopped back on the bike and headed south of Ninh Binh to Tam Coc - the Halong Bay of the Rice Paddies. Once you steel yourself to all the sales tactics, its a lovely little row boat journey through the karsts and through three caves. Mum and John, Malcolm did a video just for you of one of the caves.....its quite a few seconds of pretty much pitch black. (Well, almost anyway!)

Tomorrow we are hoping to go to Cuc Phuong National Park.....by car. My bum doesn't want to sit on a scooter for another day. :o)

We are thinking about heading south to Hue on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully there we will find a high-speed internet cafe to upload photos. Sorry for the delay everyone.....don't worry we've been taking THOUSANDS!!

Will write more soon -

All our love,
Karyn & Malx

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

Cow and Cart Tam Coc	Fantastic formations Tam Coc	Green against the Grey Tam Coc	Is she going forwards or backwards?
Lady riding bike sidesaddle	More Karsts and boats Tam Coc	Pineapples near Cuc Phuong Nat. park	Surveying the fantastic karsts Gen Ga
Taking it easy Ken Ga style	Tam coc Karsts and rowboat	Working hard shifting mud

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