VIETNAM: One day in the country

We woke up on the 2nd day to rain and flooded streets. This is the street right outside our hotel. Luckily the drains were cleared by the time we finished our breakfast.

We took a tour to the Ninh Binh town areas about 2 hours south of Hanoi to see Vietnam's ancient capital - Hoa Lu. Out in the mountains. We were told that most of the area was bombed during the war, but had mostly been rebuilt.

Our guide walked us around two palaces, one for King Dinh and one for King Le, telling us stories of good kings, infant kings, betraying brothers, Chinese invasions, wicked kings, and worship in his trying English.

After the palaces the guide explained that 5 people from the tour were riding mountain bikes to the next destination while the rest of us would get back on the bus. Mountain bikes??!!! Did he say mountain bikes??!!! Yes, please! So I asked him if I could ride a bike, instead of the bus ride. "No, no, no, not on your tour. You not on list." I tried to ask him to add me but he didn't seem to understand. I asked in about 48 different ways, including lots of hand gestures. "No, no, only 5 on list." "Only 5 bikes." "No bike for you." "You not on list." Finally, after lots of back and forth, holding up the bus, I asked if I could pay extra to ride a bike. "Oh! Yes! 5 American dollars."

And it was my favorite part of the trip.

Can you see the girl with the baby on her hip?

We took a dirt road between Hoa Lu about 12 kilometers to Tam Coc. Along the river, past small houses and village cemeteries, around the mountains, through small villages, rice paddies and even a small duck farm. There were cows grazing, white mountain goats scurrying, ducks farming, and water buffalo loafing. "hello hello hello, beautiful!" the school kids running up would yell as we rode past. We saw others riding home from school on their bikes in uniform.

Next was the boat ride through the streams at Tam Coc. One hour each way - through the river alongside rice paddies and mountains. They told us, "Four Vietnamese per boat, but only two Americans." Linh Lanh was the name of the happy lady with the sweet smile who rowed my boat with her little sister. Linh chatted and laughed with me the whole way. Mostly in french. She told me she worked the rice in the fields everyday, made hand embroidery and rowed boats once a week. On the way back she tried to sell me her embroidery so I asked her to show me how she did it. So she did. Stitched a full row on a pillowcase. Natalie and Jessie F.'s rower was a bit pushier, stopped the boat and refused to go further until they bought some embroidery.

But even with all that craziness, the river was lovely. We went through 3 limestone caves. It was quiet. still. and gorgeous.