At the halfwaypoint in Vietnam

I can't believe we have been in Vietnam for over 2 weeks. It actually took us a little time to warm to the place and I think that it is possible to read too much about somewhere before you get there. Search for any travel info or about Vietnam and you come across an overwhelming amount of negative feedback on scams and people feeling like they had been ripped off. I really think people need to give this country a break. Or at least give as much air time to the things that are great as the things that vex.

From what we have seen, Vietnamese people are hard working and friendly. There are a few unsavoury characters thrown in to the mix (insert 85% of Hanoi taxi drivers here) but on the whole they are just trying to get by and have a bit of fun at the same time. We have been welcomed on numerous occasions by large family groups; sometimes to share tea, mostly to share shots of rice wine. The best way to enjoy ourselves, we have found, is to not sweat the small stuff and be sensible about prices we want to pay without being ruthless and unrealistic in the bargaining process. We began to appreciate this place a lot more once we began to go with the flow a bit and put aside our western expectations about bus timetables and road rules.

The first week or so we spent in the north in Hanoi and Cat Ba Island in Ha Long Bay. I guess you could call this our breaking in period. We went on a tour around Ha Long Bay which we thought was OK. Compared to other boat trips we have done (Croatia and Turkey) the crew seemed a little fatigued but it is hard not to enjoy yourself when you are surrounded by some of the most dramatic landscapes on earth. The moment we left the tour to stay on Cat Ba Island under our own steam we really began to take pleasure in our surroundings. We stayed in wooden bungalows on the beach and just whiled away 4 days swimming and relaxing with a cool Belgian couple (Lien and Kwinten) before we jumped back on another boat and bussed it back to Hanoi.

After one more day in Hanoi (during which time we managed to corrupt both the computers in our hotel with a virus that had made it's way onto our memory card somewhere in China - OOPS) we caught a bus to a place called Ninh Binh. Ninh Binh is 2 hours south of Hanoi but after a late start and a detour down a pitch dark side road in order to weld something in the engine our bus managed to stretch this to 4 hours. Our first experience of Ninh Binh then was in the middle of the night being dropped off about a kilometre from where we were staying for the night. Silver lining is that it wasn't raining and when we did finally get to our hotel they were really friendly and refuelled us with pineapple and cold water.

I cannot speak highly enough of Ninh Binh. One of the best places we have visited on our trip so far. Our first morning saw us on a scooter riding in convoy with a French-Canadian couple (Catherine and Jack) out to Cuc Phuong National Park. This was one of our best days travelling so far. The roads rising out of the paddy fields and wetlands were so much fun to ride along. I played the part of wing mirrors as our scooter didn't have any. After a few wrong turns and the help from some locals we got to the park and sat down to eat at the restaurant by the gate. A Vietnamese photography club had just finished a morning of searching for wildlife and were toasting their success with numerous shots of rice wine which we were not so much invited as recruited to join. As you can imagine 30 people with an avid interest in photography and rice wine in their veins = a lot of photo taking. When it was time for them to leave they left us the rest of the last bottle which we put away for later.

We visited the primate rescue centre that is located in the park. A really great facility that does its best to combat poaching and ignorance by running a breeding programme alongside the rehabilitaion of rescued animals. After that it was time to ride 20km into the centre of the park. Such an experience. The noise of the insects and birds was deafening. Little pockets of butterflies would spring up as we rode by, until we rounded a bend where the road was flooded. While the boys figured out the best way to get across, Catherine and I crept close to a puddle where thousands of butterflies were drinking. I have never seen so many. As we got nearer they all suddenly launched into the air and we were completely surrounded in a cloud of white and orange. It was such a beautiful moment.

On our way home we rode through herds of water buffalo being brought in for the night. As the sun began to set we had to keep stopping so that we could take it all in. At dusk a lot of insects came out but it took a while to figure out what it was that was hitting us (Steve was still scooping them out of his eyes the following morning). When we got back to the hotel we were making such a lot of noise about how amazing our day had been that we convinced an Aussie couple (Glen and Brie) to do the same thing the following day.

We spent 3 nights in Ninh Binh in total (we extended our stay after day 1). Another highlight was being rowed along a river through a myriad of caves and grottoes (Trang An). Rainbows end log flume eat your heart out. Basically if you come to this place and don't have a wicked time there is something wrong with you.

We caught an overnight bus to Hue when it eventually was time to leave. Not the most pleasant experience but compared to some stories I have heard we had a dream ride. We spent our day in Hue wandering the Citadel and relaxing and then had a hilarious night out with the people we had met in Ninh Binh. We stumbled back to our hotel room some time just before 3am comfortable in the knowledge that we could sleep in the next day before catching the afternoon bus to Hoi An only to have a phone call at 8am informing us that we had missed the morning bus, the afternoon bus (that we had booked to be on) was full and if we wanted to get to Hoi An that day we would need to leave immediately! So dazed and quite confused we were rushed onto a bus with only 1 spare seat. Steve took it in his stride and announced that he was fine on the floor and a kind British guy donated a cushion for the trip. Our hotel had given us half a watermelon as we didn't have time for breakfast so we cut this up at the rest stop and all in all it was pretty funny.

We are now in Hoi An and just having a lazy day today. Tomorrow we will visit My Son ruins, maybe on a tour or possibly by ourselves. Might get some clothes made as I split a pair of trousers getting onto a scooter. Now all I need to do is find somewhere that I can sort my photos out....

xxc