Day trip to Ninh Binh

For today, I had booked a full-day tour again. It was supposed to go to Ninh Binh. At first, I had considered spending a few days there, but somehow I realize that time is limited, and I still have three countries ahead of me. The slightly larger group of 20 mixed participants was quite funny and pleasant that day. Our tour guide, Quy, was sometimes a bit hard to understand, also because he interrupted almost every sentence with the Vietnamese equivalent of 'um', but his tour guiding and even his rehearsed jokes were informative and entertaining... So once again, it was an early start, as the bus was ready for pickup at 7:40 am, and Quy had already called to make sure I was awake 20 minutes beforehand. The weather looked a bit gloomy, but it held up without any rain throughout the day. First, there was a 2.5-hour drive, briefly interrupted by a breakfast break with delicious coffee and a 'Bánh mì', a Vietnamese baguette filled with all sorts of goodies, really tasty and something I have in various different versions often. Then we headed to the actual first stop in Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Vietnam from the 10th century. We moved on to a temple complex, specifically to see the temples of King Dinh and King Le. You could tell it was Sunday, as the crowds were pushing in at that spot; next door was a youth sports festival, which filled the whole area with some techno music... Afterward, we got back on the bus for lunch, already before noon, which isn't typically my time. But there was a large buffet with all kinds of delicacies. Goat meat is typical for the region, which I opted out of ;-) ... To digest, we then had a small bike tour around Ninh Binh, passing by the limestone mountains in beautiful landscapes with many rice fields and richly decorated mini temples. From there, we went just a few kilometers further into the landscape complex of Tràng An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is located near Ninh Bình at the southern edge of the Red River Delta. The geology consists of numerous karst mountains and valleys in a watery landscape with partly flooded caves. We got into a Sampan boat in teams of four for two hours. An older local lady confidently steered us and rowed us through various caves, often reminding us to duck our heads. Occasionally, I received a loving protective nudge in the back from the lady when she thought I was underestimating or overlooking the height of the hanging rocks in the caves. In between, we briefly stopped to visit some temples. Even though on that Sunday there were masses of locals and tourists around, it was still an impressive ride. After that, we headed back to the limousine bus and departed for the Mua Cave, although the name here is actually somewhat misleading, because the main attraction is not the small cave at the foot of the ascent to Mount Ngoa-Long, but rather the view over the winding Ngo Dong River and the rice fields of Tam Coc below. However, it is quite a sweaty climb up over 500 uneven and slippery steps. Halfway up, there is a fork, with one path leading to a pagoda on a narrow rocky ledge to the right, while the left path goes to the statue on Dragon Mountain. I hit both points to capture the incredible view of the surroundings. In particular, when visiting the gigantic stone dragon statue on Dragon Mountain, you should not have a fear of heights or be afraid of climbing, and you should also have good footing. The sporadic chain that is supposed to secure against a deep fall is rather sparsely arranged. And some people present slightly underestimated or overestimated their situation... Afterward, we headed back to Hanoi. Due to significant traffic jams - especially on the last few kilometers - the return trip took almost four hours... After a quick supply run in my neighborhood, I went back to the hotel. It was time to pack my bags again, as the alarm would ring bright and early at 6:45 am to continue on the cruise in Ha Long Bay for 1.5 days.