Ninh Binh & Hanoi

April 2 - 4

Our journey from Phong Nha to Ninh Binh was somewhat ridiculous... A bus arrived. We were told it was our bus. Then we were told to wait, because it might not be our bus. Then we were told to get on the bus. We got comfy. Then we were told to get off the bus, to wait for the next one. Then we were told to get on the bus again!! Somehow, eventually, we made it! At 4am. THEN... Our taxi got horrendously lost and took many phone calls to locate the hostel. We made ourselves comfortable (cold, but comfortable) on the outdoor chairs and slept for an hour or two. We awoke to find out that we had been conned. The phone number for the hostel (which we got from google maps and used to make our booking) belongs to a crazy man who no longer works for the hostel, but likes to take fake bookings for it. So we didn't actually have a reservation... Luckily the man running the hostel was an absolute gem and squeezed us in.

What a journey! 

And all this to discover that our only day in Ninh Binh would be cold and rainy. But, after all that effort we were determined to make the most of it. We spent the morning roaming around the incredibly beautiful hostel grounds. Cute little bungalows in the middle of nowhere. Love it.

Then we walked into town, through rice fields surrounded by limestone mountains.

After lunch and browse of the town, we hopped on a boat to take us down the river, through several caves, with constant stunning views. All the boat rowers use their feet to paddle! Something a bit different..! 

Towards the end it started raining and turned very cold. 

So we lazed away the afternoon, in the comfort of our bungalow.

A lovely 'family dinner' at the hostel filled us up before an early night.

We had initially planned to go to Cat Ba (an island of Ha Long Bay) the next day, but the forecast had us rethinking our plans. So we headed to Hanoi so that we could get to Sapa the next day.

I was quite sick, so spent most of the morning in Hanoi lying on the couch. When I mustered up some energy, we walked to the women's museum. Outside the museum there was a display of comics on the theme of 'gender equality' depicting how women are often disadvantaged in Vietnam.

We learnt about wedding and marriage traditions in different parts of Vietnam, as well as women's fashion and important women in Vietnam's history. On the top floor there was an exhibition about Autism in different parts of the world (completely unrelated to the rest of the museum) that I found fascinating.

We also stopped by the night market to buy some warm clothes, as everyone kept telling us how freezing it would be in Sapa... (We soon found out how wrong they were! Totally unnecessary purchases!)