A Day in Ninh Binh
By Lauren Gerzina & Justin Hayes
Bikes, Row Boats, and A Steep Climb
We had an early start to our day, so we couldn’t really order food from anywhere since most places don’t open until 8am or so. So we opted to order hot coffees on Grab to which we would add some protein powder for some substance.
Our bus arrived at our apartment at about 7:40am. Including us and our Aussie friends, there were about 12 people on our shuttle to Ninh Binh. Our tour guide, Ky, was very enthusiastic and bubbly, making us excited for the day ahead.
Our tour started in Hoa Lư, the ancient capital of Vietnam founded by the 10th century King Dinh Bo Linh. Coincidentally, there was some sort of marathon happening in the ancient city when we arrived. We crossed an old bridge (that was decked out in signs for the marathon) into the city and headed toward a Buddhist temple dedicated to the king.
After exploring the temple a bit and learning about the king and his queen Dương Vân Nga, we headed back to the bus to head to a restaurant. Once we arrived, we hopped on bikes and took a short-ish ride on some (mostly paved) back roads amidst the backdrop of the beautiful Ninh Binh mountains. It was lightly raining by the time we got there so our guide gave us all (very cheap) ponchos.
Our bike ride ended back at the restaurant where we had a nice buffet lunch. Justin and Pip (who is also gluten-free) took their best guesses at what items on the spread were allergy-friendly, but overall, the food was very good.
After lunch, it was time to head to the boats, but unfortunately, it had started pouring outside. Justin’s poncho from earlier had completely ripped apart so he got a new one from a stand conveniently located next to where we got on the boats.
We boarded our boat with two other people from our bus – a guy and gal from Germany who were coworkers back home from different cities, but who happened to meet up on their respective travels. The woman rowing our boat handed us some umbrellas and we were off!
It was beautiful. While the limestone mountains were reminiscent of the scenery we had encountered in Ha Long Bay, It might have been more beautiful. Perhaps it was because there was more lush vegetation or that the mountains were larger, but it was truly stunning. The boat ride was fun as well; we went through various caves that revealed even more beautiful vistas as we exited. Despite the rain, it was a wonderful experience and a must do/see for anyone coming to Northern Vietnam.
Once we exited the boats, we had one more exciting (albeit daunting) adventure. We boarded the bus once again to head another 10 or so minutes to the Lying Drying Mountain/Mua Caves. Ky told us that it was a 500 step climb to the top to see the Lying Dragon, which was just a tad bit intimidating. Lauren was feeling a bit stuffy and having trouble breathing, so she decided to sit this one out at base camp with the two Germans.
Justin, Pip, and Elle began the journey up the steps, and boy were they steep. Some areas were like climbing regular stairs while others felt like the stairs were double or triple the size of normal ones. It was quite steep, and while it might have actually been 500 steps, it felt like 1,000 steps. We stopped various times throughout the journey up to catch our breath. But each stop we made, the views got even better. We saw gorgeous views of rice fields and the city on one side with the mountains and river on the other.
When we got to the top, we realized that getting up to the dragon would require a wait in line as well as some more strenuous rock climbing than expected. We decided that since the rocks were wet and slippery, we wouldn’t risk it, so we just got a selfie with the head of the dragon and began to make our way back down.
Getting down was not a lot easier, especially on the first part of the descent where the steps were extremely steep. You had to basically walk down sideways to keep your balance. Regardless of the difficulty, this was also definitely worth the trip for the views alone.
While Justin was climbing the steps, Lauren had a nice conversation with the two Germans. She spent some time discussing Amazon (the girl did not like Amazon due to their treatment of workers, yet still bought a lot of stuff on Amazon), politics (and how people seem to not like discussing differing views with each other), and places to travel. It was a very pleasant conversation and the food/drinks at the café were very good.
After we made our way back to the bus, it was time to head back to Ha Noi. After a 2 hour or so bus ride, we were dropped off at our hotel. We ordered some Pho on Grab, put on a load of laundry and then passed out.
