From Mai Chau to Ninh Binh

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

My night was okay, considering my cold. Otherwise, I slept well, except for a few unexpected wake-up calls from roosters in the middle of the night, which fortunately didn't last long.

I decide not to bike today, but to stay on the bus. Hoping that everything will be better tomorrow. We take the bus up another pass and the road is wet. We see two accidents, but that's not surprising here.

We stop at a small market and look at the various fruits, tubers, and roots. Rice is roasted over a fire here in narrow, about 30 cm long bamboo tubes. That's a specialty here. We taste the rice later. It is cold and dipped in a spice mixture. It's not really to my taste.

I miss out on fantastic scenery as I doze on the bus. Twice, when I briefly open my eyes, I can see people in streams gutting freshly slaughtered animals. The landscape is amazing. Surrounded by mountains, we drive past rice fields.

For the cyclists, there are 55 km in the morning and another 30 km in the afternoon. Our hotel is in Ninh Binh, a small city (according to our guide, Loc), because it only has 150,000 inhabitants. The Thuy Ahn Hotel is very nice and well-equipped with a kettle, tea and coffee supplies, safe, TV, minibar. The bathroom is also fully equipped. I probably didn't need to bring my travel kettle.