Chapter 6.1 - Late Night Check-in: Ninh Binh

25.2.

3:06 am

*Shake Shake Shake

The bus is shaking in all directions. How could I sleep here? Still 45km to Ninh Binh... The homestay owners know that I am arriving around 4:00 am, but unfortunately, there is no response to my WhatsApp message. I hope I don't end up standing in front of a closed door later! I booked an extra night for this reason...

5:55 am

The worst night is over. I finally have a room and a bed. I made a really dumb mistake when booking on booking.com. Instead of February 24-27, I entered April 24-27, but I realized it much too late... No wonder I stood in front of closed doors early in the morning at 4:30 am... I had been in contact with the landlord the whole time, but apparently, he also didn't realize that I was always talking about February and not April.

When I arrived at the Newway Homestay after my first 1km night walk and thought they had forgotten about me, I walked another 2km to the Tam Coc Riverhomestay... Cancelled the old room, called Riverhomestay. Fortunately, Nam, the receptionist, picked up the phone. I booked again through the app. When I arrived and he told me that I have the room at the River homestay in April, it dawned on me... I had been setting the wrong period in the app the whole time...

Then I desperately searched through all the options in the booking.com app and found my current homestay. Relatively cheap, considering I could check into the room at 5 am in the morning.

I asked Nam to talk to the owner since my only option was to book from Feb 25-27 with check-in from 1 pm, so I could get in the room this night. It worked.

Nam offers me a motorbike, which I gladly rent.

Now I am going out for the first time. Google is leading me to a dark rice field... The homestay is definitely not here!

I drive back to Nam. Ask him for help again. He calls the new owner again, types the correct address into the navigation for me, and tells me that the owner will receive me.

After a 5-minute drive in the cold, it finally ends...

The owner is standing on the street waving and welcomes me with a hot glass of water. Very nice after this night drive.

The room smells like vomit, but it's okay otherwise. I don't have a key, I'll ask for it tomorrow. The bed is hard, but it doesn't matter. The main thing is having a room.

Apparently, the stars were once again so favorable that I was able to get this room for 588k spontaneously. It was a struggle.

11:19 am

I wake up, I showered and brushed my teeth before going to sleep. I must have gotten used to the lingering smell of vomit, or it's gone. Nevertheless, I still feel exhausted. Someone started yelling through the neighborhood at 6 am on a megaphone. Earplugs are quite handy.

4:20 pm

Had lunch and visited the Bich Dong Pagoda with Scott, Kevin, Roisin, and James from Phong Nha and Keiran, who I hadn't met before. Now we are sitting together, relaxed, and having a beer in the rice fields. Luckily, the weather was good today. I still have to pick up my laundry later. Somehow, it turned out to be a good day after all. Thanks God!

6:23 pm

Back at the homestay. I'll take another shower and then we'll all go for dinner at 7:30 pm. After that, we'll go to a bar. I'm excited.

9:41 pm

As soon as we arrived at the bar, we placed our orders. For dinner, I had steamed fish in a clay pot, with rice and some vegetables. It was delicious.

The rum and cola just arrived. It's not particularly good. I might still order one more or maybe have two beers 🍻

12:13 am

Lying in bed. Good night, my dears

P.S. In Vietnam, beer is actually brewed with rice and hops