The dry Halong Bay

Okay, no more bus rides for now... So we took a night train to Ninh Binh, the next destination. Train travel is much more relaxed here! Unfortunately, there were no beds available, but we are almost used to sleeping sitting up. It went well at first, but then the train suddenly stopped and there was some commotion among the staff (Vietnamese trains have plenty of staff). Suddenly, it was pitch dark. It seemed like nobody knew what was happening... Or was it just us? Maybe due to the language barrier, we didn't realize that the train had been parked somewhere in the Vietnamese countryside overnight. Hm... then we went back a few meters, which didn't exactly reassure us... and then our locomotive passed us... It was a bit strange but also somehow amusing. We didn't really understand what was going on, but after what felt like an eternity, the lights came back on and the journey continued. The cockroaches that had crawled out of their hiding places in the darkness didn't seem to like it very much, so they soon hid again.

Ninh Binh - well, there's not much to do in the city... But we weren't here for the city anyway. In the nearby area, there is the so-called 'Dry Halong Bay'. Dry simply means 'No Sea'. You can take a nice ride in a rowboat through the impressive green mountain formations... or rather, you get driven.

But since it was still raining, we postponed the boat tour to the next day and instead rented a moped to explore the surroundings and a pagoda built into the rock. The pagodas are sacred places. In Vietnam, ancestors are particularly worshipped, and for Tet, the altar is lavishly decorated. We still haven't figured out the criteria for this, but chocolate is often found on the altar... often paired with Coca Cola or Redbull... a very interesting offering table, we think! 😉

Our rented moped was an old rickety box, but it was perfectly fine. For the short hike to the pagoda, we parked the vehicle under a roof because it was raining, and it cost about 50 cents with 'guarding'... That was okay. (Oh yes, for explanation... in Vietnam, there are paid and guarded moped parking lots due to the large number of motorcycles, especially in cities) The guard noticed that we couldn't lock our seat, under which the fuel cap is also located. He promised to keep an eye on it... When we came back and started driving, we realized that the tank was almost empty 😊 The rascal took the opportunity. But how can you argue with someone who doesn't understand you anyway. Well, the loss was manageable... We went to eat first. When we asked the waitress afterwards for a gas station, she offered to help us out with fuel and brought us a 1.5L bottle of gasoline - slightly more expensive than at the gas station, but okay... And bam, the tank was back to the same level as before 😊 Unbelievable... the Vietnamese are enterprising 😉 Not a bad business idea... Pumped at the parking lot, sold again at the restaurant 😊 Knowledge is power...

The next day, we finally took the boat tour, the rain was finally gone... Since Tet was still going on somehow (how long do they actually celebrate??), the tour was not really the romantic gondola ride par excellence... Oh, and it was also the weekend... I don't know when I last saw so many people... The paddle tour through caves, mountains and fields was of course great, but there were traffic jams from time to time, which gave our boat guide the opportunity to quickly take a deep breath from his PVC pipe... There weren't many Western tourists, but many Asians instead. We seemed like exotic and felt a bit like pop stars or like Prince Phillip and Queen Elizabeth. We smiled politely, nodded, and returned all the 'Hello' greetings. We had to wave to almost every boat and were photographed countless times... The landings continued... First both of us, then Lisa with the woman, then with the woman and children, then Daniel with the man, with the man and woman... with the woman and children... and then the friendly families also wanted a picture, and the whole thing started all over again... We found it very funny, posed happily, and wondered how many Asian living rooms we might soon be hanging on the wall in 😉

After the tour, we drove around the outskirts of Ninh Binh a bit on the moped, to a great cathedral... A mix of classical Catholic architecture with many Asian influences - somehow flashy... Well, with the church in the background, we were of course a wonderful motif for all Vietnamese families 😊