Ninh Binh- Hanoi Descends, Conical Hats and Goat Meat

The 5 hour bus ride north from Phong Mha to Ninh Binh on a VIP sleeper bus was actually pretty comfortable. 

Interesting that they make you take off your shoes before boarding the bus. The buses tend to be quite clean tho 

Ninh Binh is an off the beaten path scenic spot about 1.5 hours south of Hanoi.  Except that …all of Hanoi seems to know about it and most decided to descend upon it this weekend for the famous boat ride through the karst limestone mountains- 

It is a pity that so few here seem to wear the traditional conical hats- 

But where does one get one nowadays?  They seemed in short supply-

The boat ride- paddled by older Vietnamese women-was quite scenic, meandering along the river through caves and by the surrounding limestone mountains- 

And passed temples and caves-

There were Westerners sprinkled amidst the literally thousands of Vietnamese but maybe 1 in 100. 

I had rented a bike for the day and used it to bike amongst the mountains and then over to a small mountain famous for its 500 steps and spectacular sunset views. You can judge the latter-

IAs sometimes happens in my trips, I stumbled upon a local wedding (on a beach)-

The local specialty is apparently goat meat so I ordered a plate of it for dinner. That, however, turned out to be a complete fiasco. 

 First. they aren’t big on knives in Indochina - no 2nd Amendment apparently- so I was flummoxed as to how to cut it up.  The waiter, seeing me struggling- came over with a pair of scissors and then showed me how to eat this goat delicacy. Not good when you need instructions on how to eat tho this has happened to me before here. 

Well I used the scissors but ended up shooting half the goat meat across the room so someone else got it  

As with other dishes, you are supposed to put the cut up goat meat, rice and lettuce, etc on rice paper, roll it all up and then dip it in sauce. Great in theory, assuming one is facile with chopsticks. but in reality what happens is that the roll falls apart, the ingredients fall out and the juices get all over your hands and next to nothing ends up in your mouth. 

To add insult to injury, the supposed delicacy was tough as hell and it took me hours to chew up a couple of pieces.  Finally i gave up and just ate the rice. 

It is really bad when the highlight of your dinner is a bowl of plain white rice, but maybe it is an authentic Vietnamese. experience. 

Phong Nha- Cave Bonanza and 10 More Years

 Phong Nha in north central Vietnam bills itself as the adventure capital of Asia with trekking, zip lining, kayaking, rappelling,  cave swimming and camping and other activities all centered around a vast cave network, including the largest cave in the world (by volume)  discovered in 2004. Phong Nha naturally attracts a younger crowd- tons of young Europeans here- but you see all ages.  Several million visited last year of which 600,000 were foreigners. 

The setting for all this is pretty spectacular when the mist clears- 

I visited 3 separate caves- 2 “dry” and one “wet “ in my 1.5 day visit- 

The “dry” caves still had underground rivers and stalagmites, stalagtites and Stalag 13ites in various animal and human shapes, including an elephant, camel and king with a scepter on his throne-

They had one that they couldn’t explain how it had been formed, but I just named it a “cactus”, closed the case and moved on- 

The visit to the “wet cave”, called the Dark Cave, was for me a unique experience. You first took a zip line across a river, then swam into the cave, careful not to dunk your headlamp and thereby electrocute everyone in the cave, then slowly made your way barefoot in the dark to the end of the cave, slipping and jamming your toes against rocks continuously along the way. 

At the back was a million year old muddy pool so full of ancient minerals  that it allegedly gave you 5 more years of life. Well, I figured if you really slopped yourself in this ancient healing mud might you actually get 10 more years?  My guide, some might cynically say seeking a large tip, readily agreed-

But I was only part of a crack team of mud spelunkers assembled from around the globe (girl from Argentina, couple from Israel, me from US and our Vietnamese guide/photographer)-

A fun group and experience, tho some of us wallowed in the mud more than others. The guide said I definitely looked 10 years younger. I gave him a big tip for his great guiding skills. 

Adventure centers started with Queenstown in New Zealand about 25 years ago and have spread around the globe. Given the beautiful setting, unique experiences and  low cost, I believe Phong Nha will only grow in popularity, particularly as more Americans discover it  

 

Hue Fun

 I rented a high speed 100% carbon fiber state of the art bike for $2/day with one speed to save on weight to tour the city of Hue-

Hue is the former (1804-1945) imperial capital of Vietnam.  The Imperial palace is a large complex in the middle of the city that Hue is making a great effort to fully and faithfully restore.  Hard to capture its size and grandeur in pictures-

Interesting and fun to see so many Vietnamese women in particular posing for pictures in beautiful traditional garb (photo permission)

I also visited the tomb of one of the Emperors - Te Duc- which was a peaceful oriental place- 

I eventually got the hang of cycling through the city where the primary means of traffic control seemed to be the horn  I had my little bell to ward off the swarming motorbikes, cars trucks, etc  

Walking or cycling along the Perfume River in the middle of the city was a delight.  It had a bridge of many colors and you could pick your favorite-

I stayed at a very hospitable guesthouse whose hosts- Mi and Lam- were so kind and attentive-  

it did set me back $19/night tho it included a robust breakfast-

You can’t get away from noodles in SE Asia even at breakfast.   

Onto-