Bliss out in Ninh Binh

By Mel
We were originally planning Ninh Binh towards the end of our Vietnam leg but the combination of rain and smoky skies at our next destination helped us make the decision to swap!
After the frenetic energy of Hanoi I was more than happy to take it down a gear and find somewhere chill to recharge for a few days and Ninh Binh, or more accurately our cute hotel near Trang An, offered this in spades!
Jake, Ha and their family have set up a beautiful little spot right near Trang An. We spent a couple of days here unwinding, sampling local food and coffee, doing puzzles and then when there was an eventual break(ish) in the weather we cycled up to Trang An. Trang An is UNESCO listed for its “ spectacular landscape of limestone karst peaks permeated with valleys, many of them partly submerged and surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs”. Yep, even shrouded in cloud and rain it was stunning! We worked off lunch by rowing around for 2 and a bit hours - through four caves, along several temples and monuments to emerge in time for a ride home in the fading light - and yet more drizzle!

By Andrew,
Ninh Binh was a bit of a sprawling city, surrounded by smaller villages. As we drove through town we were glad to be staying in one of these smaller outliers. Sprouting around the fringes of Ninh Binh town were an incomplete assortment of ugly concrete monstrosities, suggesting that there are plans to join SaPa, and turn this part of Vietnam into another tourist hotspot.

You can't really blame Ninh Binh for jumping on the bandwagon, because the scenery was stunning. The area is described as a land-locked Ha Long Bay, and this is a good description. Limestone karsts jut up from the rice paddies, creating magnificent vistas. UNESCO and Hollywood both agree, filming a scene from Kong-Skull Island here, and awarding World Heritage Status (not in that order). As Mel mentioned, we visited the Trang An WH Area and took an obligatory boat ride around the waterways. Despite the weather (or perhaps because of it), the views were fantastic. It was quite touristy, though, and felt like being in Jurassic Park...if Jurassic Park was run by Disney.

Sadly, the toxic air in South East Asia was starting to have an affect on our health, and I was the first to crash out. My energy level plummeted, everything ached, and I developed one of the worst chest infections that I'd had in a while. After I'd spent half a day in bed we realised that we had a difficult decision to make. We were due to start a week- long motorbike adventure around northern Vietnam in a few days, which was intended to be the second major highlight of the trip. We'd seen footage of the HaGiang Loop online, and it looked stunning, but the thought of spending days on a motorbike was hard to reconcile right now. We made the heart-breaking decision to abandon these plans, and look for something more low- key instead. Two days later Mel also went down, and we were glad not to be on a remote mountain adventure. The HaGiang Loop would have to wait until next time (and a better time of year!).Read more