Not permitted past this point: Horses and Carts

Where to start! It's been go, go, go! Busy, busy, busy!!!

 

Lovely sleep in on Cat Ba Island, and rewarded for waking with a fantastic view out the window. Absolutely stunning. A packed harbour, full of busy, working people and boats. Discovered that they don't have more than basic electricity provision on the island every morning - no hot water (argh!), no air conditioner (would hate to be there when it's stinking hot), and no tv (lucky that one didn't bother me!). Wandered along the waterfront street, stopping at the ten million pearl shops along the way. I'm such a sucker for pearls. The woman at the shop in which I bought at definitely saw me coming. I just love them!! Lunch, which was the cause for many laughs for the afternoon, then the hydrofoil (speedy boat) to Haiphong. Why was lunch the cause for many laughs?!

 

Well, you see, the Vietnamese seem to be VERY FASTIDIOUS about times. If they say 1pm, they mean 1pm. This would be fine if you weren't me - near enough is always ok, or Sue and Bill, who are even more laid back than I! We'd already been in trouble in Hanoi when they called us in our room to tell us breakfast was served. They hadn't meant breakfast was to be served FROM 7, they meant at 7. Consequently, I continued my holiday pattern of no breakfast but for a snatched piece of bread! Thanks Bill, and thank the lord for vegemite in a travellable tube! (Is travellable a word!?). So, on Cat Ba Island, when they said we needed to be back at the hotel by 1pm for the bus to pick us up to take us to the boat, that is indeed what they meant. We were late, yes. Not our fault though, the restaurant had taken too long with some food, then took too long to understand that we needed it in a takeaway bag. So the hotel concierge came racing down the street on his bike to tell us to pile on and return for the bus. No way were all three of us hopping on, so Bill jumped on and Sue and I ran. We got back, jumped on the bus, I discovered my bag was not there. So off I jumped. Raced back into the hotel, the porter grabbed my bag, then when he got outside and realised how far up the road the bus now was, on the bike for us. Raced up the street, found the bus, hopped on and made it to the other side of the island 45 minutes later for the hydrofoil. Hooray!!!!!!! We just laughed though - they are so on the dot with time, and so helpful and concerned if you don't cooperate!! lol.

 

Anyway, boat to Haiphong, the 3rd biggest city in Vietnam. The guidebook says it is the Hanoi of 10 years ago. I think it is the Hanoi of 300 hundred years ago. I'm fairly positive very few non-Asian tourists venture further than the bus station at which they change buses. We had to meet a lady who was bringing us our train tickets which had been delayed in getting to the hotel. That was a challenge in itself as the boat guide was insistent we had to get on the bus to Hanoi or else we had to get on the smaller bus to Ninh Binh. Well, yes, we needed to get to Ninh Binh, but we needed our train ticket first! Hoang arrived in time though, gave us our ticket, which she'd had to go to her home village to collect, and we were granted permission to leave this bizarre place! First though a 2 hour wait for the 5.30 bus. We'd been told we could get a bus every half hour, yes, even on a Sunday. We found a little beer garden and had a drink, and were the town spectacle. Everyone kept pointing at me then rubbing their face then pointing at me. Apparently I'm so fair, it's a town joke! hehehe. Then to find somewhere to buy some food for dinner in case Ninh Binh was a disaster, and also for breakfast on the train. This shop was not a supermarket! It had piles stacked roof high of phaner pie, sponge type biscuit with marshmallow and coated in chocolate, potato chips, chocolates, custard cakes, hot beer and vodka. We stocked up on phaner pie (really nice!), potato chips (natural classic flavour, turns out they're cheese and onion!) and what appeared to be cheese pods and coconut pods.

 

Returned to station and were soon on board the sleeper bus to Ninh Binh. Into our little cubby hole at the back. Bill zonked out straight away, Sue snoozed a little, as did I. Realised we were getting far away from civilisation as we know it when we were dropped off in Ninh Binh with no traffic, no noise, three little cafe/restaurants that were dark and looked about to close - and this cracked me up - A STREET SIGN DICTATING NO HORSES AND CARTS PERMITTED ON THE ROAD AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good old belly laugh! Into cafe, had a drink, had them call us a taxi to the train station. Discovered a whole wide awake world that side of town. I went for a walk and found everything open, as in the big cities, except no people out using the available amenities. Seriously. The bridal shop was open.

 

As train arrived, we were all ushered up the platform (quite a few people by now) and told where to stand according to our carriage number. As train rolled in, we were very glad we had a sleeper berth, even though they were to be hard not soft as soft sold out, as the first carriage contained timber slat bench seats. Imagine that for 12 hours! Into our 6 berth sleeper to discover that 4 people were already in there, yes, 4 + 3 = 7, for a 6 sleeper berth. A lady had her baby in with her. Imagine MY panic! That child was an angel though, even though I had ear plugs in I woke periodically, and Sue confirmed that it didn't wake, or make much noise, all night. Total angel. Quiet children DO EXIST! She was doing Namh Dinh to Saigon, straight through. 24 hours or so. Pure torture that would be! Morning arrived before we knew it and we all felt tremendously refreshed.

 

Off the train and into a taxi, to hotel. Wrong address! Oops! Bloody internet~!! Found the place, settled in, then decided to get a driver to take us to a few places for the afternoon, seeing as it was virtually all we had. The lady at the hotel picked the places for us, and even picked a restaurant for us. Had our lunch, were wowed by the Citadel, visited a pagoda (name escapes me, but it was gorgeous, so lush and peaceful) and Emperor Tu Duc's tomb. Rich bastard he was. When he died, the servants who buried him and his fortune returned to be beheaded. 200 of them! The emp had been such a prick he'd made so many enemies, that they needed to be sure of absolute secrecy of his final resting place. His tomb doesn't contain his body, just is a place for worship and offering. Go figure. He'd had 104 wives, and countless concubines, and NO CHILDREN, but for an adopted son!

 

We've just been for dinner, as car returned us to hotel (also turns out we are about 10km out of the city, again, bloody internet) we drove past what I can best describe as a beer hut. So we wandered down there for dinner, and just asked for a rice, noodle and squid dish. My god, what a feast. We ate until we could eat no more - and enjoyed every bite. The beer was initially cold, which was a change, given that it's usually served with ICE! hehe. It turned to hot beer as the crowds flooded in and the turnover was too quick for the one small fridge!

 

So now I'm making headway with backing up photos to my zip drive, and even uploading to flickr. Hooray!

 

Somewhat early wakeup tomorrow, bus collects us at 8am to go to Danang. Once we find hotel, we'll head on to Hoi An for the afternoon (only 30km apart), hopefully to find some elephants on the beach!