Kỳ Vĩ

Nin binh, a mountainous wonderland.

It's my favourite trip on our travels so far. The company nailed the details, and Chris, our tour guide, ensured our comfort and tour quality.

It was an early start again, picked up at 630. Was better that way as we dogged peak hour traffic as we had a 2 and a half hour trip ahead of us. One stop on the way for refreshments.

The first stop was the mountain, where we were only given 1 hour to go to the top and across to the dragon. By the looks of it, that seemed like not much time, so I strapped buggy in good, and we headed for the top with some pace. I left the group behind in this instance as I wanted to make sure we could get to the dragon in time. The tour guise stated that if we had enough time we could head there, so I didn't want to miss out!
The path was strenuous but was easy enough with a path well built. The path it's self was consisting of 489 stairs that took you up. The satisfaction of reaching the top with my buggy was undeniably a great sense of achievement. We took some moments to absorb the views and ponder the marvel in which the scenery provokes. We couldn't rest too much, though. We were on a quest to reach the dragon. This is where it got tricky.
There was no path, only rocks and sharp ones at that. Using your shoes to cushion the sharp rocks was the only way to edge yourself around the borders and on the side of the rock faces. We did this slowly. In between people and bolders, holding on to grooves in the rocks, we moved with presence and agility. Using the body in such a mindful way, conscious of my precious cargo.
We finally make it, gripping the dragons tooth as the only means of support. Some deep breaths were taken in reverance.

Buggy was getting tired now, and fair enough. My champ had been up since 6am, and it was nearly 10 am. It was good we came early, though. As we were on our way down, bus loads of tourists were on their way up. I was grateful to capture a more relaxed time at viewing at the top.

It was time for our boat cruise through Trang An Grottos tour. We were loaded in small canoes with an older local man who would be taking us down the Trang an, little did we know he would be paddling the vessel with his feet!! Down, we go. The water and movements sent buggy to sleep straight away. I used this time to absorb the serve beauty around me and take in the formations of these ancient caves as we glided through. Our guy was paddling with speed, over taking other boats that were cruising. What stamina, I thought, realising he would be doing this for the next 2 hours.

We went through neatly planted rice fields where we saw local people working and the iconic view of mountains, river, rice fields, and the Vietnamese hats poking out from beyond the crops. Bugs woke up on the way back, and I somehow became vigilant of the balance act that was needed to accommodate a moving baby to ensure we didn't have to undertake a man over board procedure. The water in the canal wasn't deep, maybe knee-high, but still wanted to avoid the whole ordeal anyway.

It was time to stop for lunch. I get nervous at meal times. These tend to be the buggies' challenges for us. A beautiful spread is made up of 70% local food and 30% not. Trying to cater to different people. We tried catfish that was caught locally in the canals in which we had just been cruising. There was sauce and dips that were a local cuisine for 2000 years, and of course, without a fail, there were rice and fresh fruits. Tyde kept trying to climb all over me, and with my best efforts to eat something, I decided to discreetly pull away from lunch so tyde could play on the side.

Next, it was time for our Jeep tour. We had front seats cruising around. Right up tydes alley, although being at the front, all he wanted to do was shift the gear sticks and pull on the keys in the ignition. I turned him around to the side where the door was, so it was out of sight out of mind, and we could enjoy the wind in our hair and the mountainous views that surround us. We visited temples, and Tyde took pleasure in climbing the various sets of stairs that were there to reach the monuments of worship and pagodas.

Tyde had the opportunity to sit in the driver's seat for some photos, which he loved playing around, pretending to drive the Jeep Uaz469 from the Soviet Era. I had to pry his fingers from the steering wheel when it was time to go. I'm glad he had fun.

Was time to make the 2 and a half hour trip back to hanoi. Tyde slept the whole way, exhausted from today's adventure and quick power nap at the beginning. Works well, though.

Dropped everyone off, saying farewell, and we got back to the hotel. Because of Tydes' late nap, we had a chance to grab some dinner, which was around by the St Joseph's cathedral. Today, i was sick of pho and fried rice, so to be honest. I opted for something plain which Tyde was guaranteed to eat. Spaghetti bol. I was right, though, when we got back, he ate enough for me to feel like he had gotten some substantial calories. Phew.

Night routine underway.
Goodnight world. See you tomorrow .Read more