The following day we went on a day-trip to the province of Ninh Binh, around two hours by bus from Hanoi.
Our first stop was at Hoa Lu, which was the capital of Vietnam in the 10th and 11th centuries. Here we visited two temples, built to honour the emperors Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh. I know I've mentioned the heat already, but this day was particularly bad! They say that men perspire and women glow... well, let's just say that I was "glowing" profusely through my t-shirt and it was really unpleasant. I was so drained that it was difficult to take in anything we were told about the temples! They were very beautiful though!
After lunch we headed to nearby Tam Coc, where a lady rowed us along the river for two hours in a small rowing boat We passed by lush green rice fields and more immense karsts (this place is often called "Ha Long Bay on Land"!). It was stunning. We also floated through three natural caves, which provided a very welcome respite from the searing heat.
Afterwards, Annick joined most of the group on a bike ride through the countryside. Since I was feeling pretty wiped out, and having not ridden a bike since 1995 (no joke) I decided to stay behind with some of the others and have an ice cream in the shade!
Again, we had a really nice group on this trip; I think there was 16 of us and 10 different nationalities. That night we met up for drinks with two of the others: an Argentinian and a Peruvian! Having had a few long days, we were feeling pretty exhausted and a little lacking in enthusiasm at first, but it ended up being quite a fun night. We went to Hanoi's Bia Hoi corner: an area full of Bia Hoi joints - along the same lines as the street food (i.e tiny plastic stools on the pavement), but for beer! It was pretty crowded on that pavement but we just had to give the serving girl a nod and four more icy cold pints of bia hoi (fresh beer) would be slammed down on the table. Incredibly it was only 5,000 dong (=15p) per glass: probably the cheapest beer I've ever had, and by no means the worst! Annick doesn't even like beer, so she was a really good sport!
After several rounds of beers and one token cocktail in a slightly more fancy bar around the corner it was time to call it a night. I wish I'd taken a photo as it really was a cool little spot, but unfortunately I just didn't think of it at the time. So instead here's one of Annick in training, the previous night (when we had just returned from Ha Long Bay).
Our first stop was at Hoa Lu, which was the capital of Vietnam in the 10th and 11th centuries. Here we visited two temples, built to honour the emperors Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh. I know I've mentioned the heat already, but this day was particularly bad! They say that men perspire and women glow... well, let's just say that I was "glowing" profusely through my t-shirt and it was really unpleasant. I was so drained that it was difficult to take in anything we were told about the temples! They were very beautiful though!
 |
| Entrance to the outer citadel |
 |
| The temple of Dinh Tien Hoang |
 |
| A local Vietnamese woman... |
 |
| Boating along the river |
 |
| Cooling down in the shade of the cave |
Again, we had a really nice group on this trip; I think there was 16 of us and 10 different nationalities. That night we met up for drinks with two of the others: an Argentinian and a Peruvian! Having had a few long days, we were feeling pretty exhausted and a little lacking in enthusiasm at first, but it ended up being quite a fun night. We went to Hanoi's Bia Hoi corner: an area full of Bia Hoi joints - along the same lines as the street food (i.e tiny plastic stools on the pavement), but for beer! It was pretty crowded on that pavement but we just had to give the serving girl a nod and four more icy cold pints of bia hoi (fresh beer) would be slammed down on the table. Incredibly it was only 5,000 dong (=15p) per glass: probably the cheapest beer I've ever had, and by no means the worst! Annick doesn't even like beer, so she was a really good sport!
After several rounds of beers and one token cocktail in a slightly more fancy bar around the corner it was time to call it a night. I wish I'd taken a photo as it really was a cool little spot, but unfortunately I just didn't think of it at the time. So instead here's one of Annick in training, the previous night (when we had just returned from Ha Long Bay).
 |
| Bia Hoi! |
No comments:
Post a Comment