Ninh Binh and the cold

Saturday the 25th til Tuesday the 28th of January: After I arrived at my Hostel in Ninh Binh in the morning, I spent the whole day snuggled up next to the fire. It was cold and it was pouring. We even had a freaking halestorm. But it was a good chance to get to know some people. The next day I joined a group for a scooter ride to do a boat tour at Trang An. It was really nice. Although it was quite busy, it was very quiet, as the boats don't have motors, but are rowed. The guide took us through little channels, past temples and pagodas and through narrow caves. Afterwards we went to the Hàng Moa Viewpoint. It's a hot spot for Instagramers. We saw many young women climbing the 500 steep steps on high heels (or later barefoot after they realized that high heels are not the best foot wear for this endeavor), quite entertaining 😋 But it got a bit dangerous at the top, where everybody wanted that perfect pic with the view and the dragon. The path there is very narrow and the lime stone pointy and slippery. That only a certain amount of people fit up there and that it might be a good idea to let someone down before you go up was not understood by many. So I got out of there as quickly as possible. The next morning a Dutch traveler, Carolyn, and me did a little walk to Thai Vi Temple and Bich Dong Pagoda. It was a beautiful walk through rice fields, past little channels and villages. The temple and pagoda were interesting and not so overrun by tourists, also because we started quite early. In the afternoon I joined Tom (who I got to know in Sa Pa) for a scooter trip to Hua Lu. It was Vietnam's Capital in the 10th and 11th Century, after it gained independence from China. The history is very interesting, but unfortunately hardly anything there is explained in English, most information is in Vietnamese, so I read up on it on Wikipedia 😅. There is not much left of the ancient capital, but the temples and surroundings are pretty. On our way back, we stumbled into some Tet festivities in front of a temple. Two female teams did a tug of war contest. Even old ladies joined in and the supporters of the teams tried to distract the opposing team members by shouting at and even hitting them, even the old ladies!!! 😱 Not hard though, but it was pretty crazy. After 2 Ban Mis for dinner, I spent another evening at the fire (my new fragrance is called "smoky wood" 😋). On Tuesday the weather was pretty miserable again, cold and rainy, so I filled my wait for the night train with nice food, good conversations and writing the blog. At this point I must say I am getting a bit sick of the weather. Vietnamese hostels are mostly not well prepared for cold temperatures like this, as they often don't have cosy common rooms inside, but sitting areas outside and no heating. The last couple of days I have always been cold and damp, or smoked. I really hope that it's going to get better soon, when I move down south. The weather forecast is not looking too good though 😑. Fingers crossed. I need some sun and warmth!