#36 Ninh Binh

On 06.05.2019 we started with the bus towards Ninh Binh (about 2 hours south of Hanoi). Our first stop was at a temple in a cave.

There, through our tour guide, we learned something about the history of this place and about the religion of the Vietnamese.

Basically, there is freedom of religion, most Vietnamese either profess Buddhism or Christianity. But most Vietnamese do not care much about religion, but rather practice rituals learned in the family. As you can see in the pictures, offerings are an important part of it.

What surprised me was to see that cigarettes and beer are also offered. The Vietnamese bring to the temple what their deceased ancestors liked.

In addition, they believe that everything one burns rises to heaven and reaches the deceased. Often you can see them burning money. There is special fake money available here to buy, because real money does not burn so well. But rich people also burn cars and bamboo houses because they believe that the deceased can live and drive in them.

This sounds crazy somehow, but also beautiful that you give exactly what the people liked during their lifetime.

Then we took an hour-long boat trip in the Tam Coc region with traditional rowing boats.

In total, you cover a distance of 6 km. There were two of us in the boat plus our rower. We felt a bit sorry for him because it must be exhausting to row for a whole 6 km. But the Vietnamese have a trick that completely blew our minds. They row with their FEET.

The landscape through which we passed was, like everywhere here, beautiful.

There were rice fields on the left and right of the river, and we passed through 3 caves.

Afterwards, we went to the lying dragon mountain. To get to the top, we had to climb about 450 steps. And that at 35 degrees and unbearable humidity. But the climb was definitely worth it.

Before we got back on the bus, Meykel tried a typical Vietnamese game. "Da Cau" is often seen on the streets here. It requires a kind of shuttlecock, which is shot from player to player with the feet.

It doesn't cost much money and the nice thing is that more and more people join in during the game. People who don't know each other come together, a real social game.

After this eventful tour, our first night awaited us on a sleeper bus. Sleeper buses are a common means of transport in Vietnam for covering long distances. They usually run overnight and are converted so that you can lie almost horizontally. They also have WLAN and you can stream movies without delays or buffering. Really great!

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