During our time spent at the host, we decided to make the most of Vietnam's Northern territories, so two of the four weekends here, we went away!
Ninh binh/Tam Coc
As we weren't doing much apart from teaching during the week we decided to get away for the weekend. We headed to the bus station early, after some confusion and being bombarded by blokes offering us to by tickets for all kinds of buses, we were on route! It took around 3 hours to arrive and first impressions weren't great, there wasn't anything around plus the weather was terrible! However after finding our room we rented a motorbike and headed for Tam Coc, where the action is!
The lively Tam Coc is a great place for backpackers, lots of little restaurants, bars, guest houses and hostels. The main strip came to an end and through the little archway was large ponds of flowers spurting out from huge lily pads and a gateway to the Bich Dong pagoda! After walking through the intricately designed archway, there was a series of temples and beyond that was some small caves with pagodas on the other side, nicely nestled in the mountainside! Walking through the pitch black caves gave us a welcomed little break from the humidity outside!
There was a break in the persistent rain, so to capitalise on this we took a boat ride through the rice fields. We were given life jackets (For
the terrifyingly deep 3 foot river) and hopped on to the small row boat where our traditionally dressed rower awaited! Using her hands and sometimes her feet to paddle us through little caves (sometimes we had to duck as some of the caves were extremely low!) and although the fields have just been harvested taking the colour from the landscape, It was still wonderfully picturesque and tranquil. At one point the woman tied up the boat, jumped out and started hacking away at a tree branch! She returned with some strange looking fruit that tasted like Sambuca, on route back just before we returned to the starting point, she slowed down and demanded a tip! We refused to accept this entrapment which gave an awkward end to the peaceful little trip! After a little cruise around on the bike capturing the scenery, we stopped for dinner and had an early night.
It stormed all night leaving the skies grey, but the rain held off for our one hour ride (wasn't the most interesting journey) to the temple and spiritual complex of Bai Dinh! Despite the old temple, most of the complex was completed in 2010! Pilgrims from all over Vietnam come to the pagodas and temples in the Ba Rau Hills, it is also the largest Buddhist complex in Vietnam! As soon as we arrived on the sacred land with the mountains surrounding us, it felt like we was in a Kung Fu movie walking around a ninja training facility! We didn't realise how big the place was going to be!
We walked into the one of the buildings to take shelter from the rain (not realising we'd walked in to one of the main attractions) and on one side of the lengthy corridor (and by lengthy i mean it ran as far as the eye can see, the 'long' corridor is in fact 3 kilometres!) had Buddhist statues in all kinds of poses, many people (despite it being frowned upon) were touching the statues for good luck! Each statue is around 2 metres high and there is 500 of them, it was a fascinating start to the day!
There wasn't many tourists at the site which made it a little eerie walking around the large gardens, courtyards and pagodas! one of the highlights of Bai Ding was the two temples in the middle of the complex. The main attraction was the two grand temples, both were very similar but were equally beautiful! From huge statues of warriors to little golden turtles, these two temples are some of the most impr
essive we've seen! We also visited the huge tower containing a 36 ton bronze bell! We finished our time at the complex by tackling the 300 steps up to the massive Budda at the top! The viewpoint overlooked the whole sight, and even with the day being seriously grey and overcast it still gave spectacular views, and the chuckling Buddha was the icing on the cake!
Feeling like we'd walked about 20 miles we hopped back on the bike, made the return journey, collected our things from the room and headed to the station!
It was good to get away form the Rug Rats and out of the city for a couple of days, however after missing the last bus to the station we needed, and having no choice but to take a bus to the other side of Hanoi. in the end, after the busy weekend exploring the amazing area around Ninh Binh we were glad to finally get back to the comforts of the apartment!
Mai Chau
As a thank you for teaching at the Kindergarten, Anh booked us up a weekend trip! After the bus being over an hour late and almost losing hope, a man came running across the car park to take us on the small bus!
The bus took us away from the buzzing and beeping of the hectic Hanoi streets and up to more mountainous terrain! About an hour into the journey the mini bus made a pit stop at a locals market on the mountainside! The views were fantastic and so was the hot sweetcorn!
Afterwards it took another hour and a half to reach Mai Chau. When we jumped off the bus, the place was everything you imagine when you think of sleepy rural life in Vietnam! Lush green low mountains surrounding, rice fields everywhere and made accessible by small dirt tracks, dozens of farmers wearing traditional leaf hats working the fields with hoes and ploughs, also bamboo houses on stilts with leafed roofs and apart from the odd motorbike, it felt like we'd gone back to the 17th century! What we didn't realise was that the trip was all inclusive! We were told that all food, a bicycle tour, a small hike and accommodation was included, which was a pleasant surprise! We had a great lunch, pretty much all you can eat Vietnamese food buffet! We had an hour to kill before the bicycle tour, and as we're a couple we didn't want to stay in the accommodation offered which was a large dorm. We found a small family run place which was a basic but brilliant and cosy bamboo hut with a balcony which was perfect for us and fitting to our surroundings, also amazingly affordable (£5 for one night!)! Feeling bloated from lunch we commenced the tour on the dirt track a little top heavy!
The casual guide took us (a group of about 20 people) around all the rice fields giving us plenty of opportunity to take photos, the countryside was second to none, the sun beating down made it a sweaty affair however extremely peaceful. We also stopped at a small market town, most of the stalls were for tourists, selling everything from t shirts and hand knitted bags with owls on, to key-rings and beer! The tour lasted for a couple of hours and finished in the late afternoon, the rest of day was ours until dinner, we decided to just chill out on the balcony of our bamboo abode!
Once again dinner was amazing, chicken and chips and rice and vegetables in abundance! It was a real treat to eat some western food for a change! After spending the better part of 2 hours eating and having a few beers we retreated. The lady at our Homestay gave us a large pot of tasty green tea which tasted a bit like porridge, we were relaxing on the balcony (always being careful not to hit our heads on the low wooden beams!) when we heard the unexpected boom of giant subwoofers (delivered by mopeds) blasting generic club music! It just didn't seem to fit the surroundings! Amazingly picturesque, and idyllic by day and a sweaty rave by night, it spoiled (like after eating a juicy Sirloin and then having toxic waste sweet for dessert! ) the atmosphere and the tranquillity of the overnight stay, but only a little as the thumping music only lasted for a couple of hours, leaving the sound of insects chirping as the soundtrack!
The second days itinerary was breakfast, a hike then free time until the bus took us back to Hanoi.
Breakfast was a western buffet with a Vietnamese twist and to say we filled our boots would be an understatement, eggs, toast, sausages, coffee, juice, pancakes, french bread, pastries, sticky rice, pineapple salads and anything else you can think of!
The hike began with a short bicycle ride to the foot of the mountain, and just before we set off they gave us some hot local green tea that tasted like mud, everybody had some so the old lively (hahaHAR was said a lot!) and curious (asking all of us our ages in bad English and trying play cupid with the folks in our group of 10)! local wasn't offended!
The heat was relentless, everyone was sweating profusely whilst walking up the narrow dirt track, we didn't see that much on the way up because trees enclosed the path like a tunnel however, we passed through one rice field and there was a mud drenched and crazed buffalo on the lose! The group was a little split up but everyone was in sight, a few people up ahead including the tour guide were chased and almost bulldozed by the buffalo with murder in his eyes! One man dived headfirst into a small ditch, to all the nearby farmers amusement! The buffalo eventually wandered off, nobody was hurt and witnessing the whole scene was quite hilarious! Another 30 minutes of steady uphill walking led of to the top of part of the mountain, it was definitely worth the dry mouths and uncomfortably sweaty clothes. The view was iconic of Vietnam, we were overlooking terraced rice fields running up the mountainside, with workers in pointy leaf hats in the fields!
Unfortunately the harvest was completed last month so the next harvest was underway, which explains the muddy terraces, usually they are either green or bright yellow, still the views were sensational!
The decent was as easy as expected even though we were both in flip flops, there was no sign of the charging buffalo either which was a result! After some more disgusting tea we had a few hours to kill before the bus back to Hanoi, we spent it taking some pictures and basking in the sun!
It was a weekend full of great surprises and we didn't expect half the things we were treated too, this left us feeling grateful, a little tired but refreshed and ready for our last week teaching at the Kindergarten!
