Ninh Binh - the legend continues

We had a plan to be in Vang Vieng - Laos at the 2nd of October, so we decided to stay one more day in Ninh Binh. We didn't really have plans so again we rented bikes and rode north, to the villages. We stopped at a "shirt store" located on the side of the highway, and bought a few light long sleeves shirts, and continued. We passed by a small street when Amit said he thinks he saw some ceremony going on, so we went back to take a look. Turns out we came just in time for lunch. Hundreds of people, lots of noise and strange odors, a huge statue of Jesus, and just one person that speaks some English. We were offered a seat of honor with some locals at the center. They gave us food and beer, and made us drink whole cups of it in single sips. They gave us rice wine shots and together we emptied them, everyone was laughing excitedly, trying to figure us out. When we said we are from Israel their eyes opened widely and they noted that this is the land where Jesus came from. They asked us if we are also catholic and to avoid religion clashes we crossed our hearts and said yes. After a loud meal and a lot of alcohol we went into a small cave carved in a boulder nearby where statues of Maria where located and "prayed". The whole scene was ecstatic, their excitement and hospitality were overwhelming, together with their ability to use a camera. It was a true walk into the past, the only sign of modern life there were motorcycles and a few people holding a cellphone, but their lifestyle is that of farmers from the previous century. After that we thanked them a lot and kept going. We saw their church - it was huge and well taken care of considering the size of the town. Next we met a few children playing and we took some pictures together, a couple are a must see - but I give the honor of posting them first to the photographer - Amit. We kept on going until we got to the far ends of the town, and we reached a small Buddhist pagoda by the river, where a couple of people were writing, and one girl was standing on a small canoo in the river, maneuvering only with a long stick. We didn't want to break the harmony of this place so we stood there until a lady signed to us that it was ok to pass. Around the corner we saw another small canoo, and with our hands we asked for permission to use it. We got it, and slowly crawled into the canoo, at first it seemed like it wouldn't be able to carry both of us but if we didn't do sharp moves we managed to stay above water. I tried using the long stick on board, apparently it's a lot harder than it looks, we barely moved one inch but we manages to twist around ourselves a few times. The girl that ignored us up until then silently came near us and handed us a couple of small rowing sticks, and started to sail down the river, we tried following her, one was using the rowing sticks, the other the long stick, but we couldn't keep up, eventually she disappeared and we found ourselves in the middle of a river, with a canoo that had a little too much water in it. We found a small artifact that looked like half a bucket that was good to take water out of the canoo. We started heading back, with a little more experience one was responsible of going forward with the rowing sticks, and the other who was using the long stick was responsible for the direction. Every once in a while we stopped to take some more water out of the canoo. The job was really exhausting but we reached land with our iPhones dry and our spirits elevated. We kept going. The rest of the day we saw some more beautiful sites on the countryside and eventually came back to the hostel just when it started to rain. Our day was amazing, we've seen so much, and we have planned nothing of it. This was our last day in the first phase of Vietnam. Tomorrow we are heading to Laos. Vietnam is special, it's amazing and authentic and full of small heavens, all you have to do is get there, the way to do it - get lost. 

Ninh Binh

After a day in hai phong we decided to head towards Ninh Binh and meet a Dutch couple we first met at Cat Ba. We took a locals bus and were forced to listen to a Vietnamese singer for 3 hours straight. The bus even had a big screen tv so we were able to see ALL the songs' clips! Unfortunately the only difference between them was the colors of the shirts of the singer... 3 hours later, we landed in Ninh Binh. Again, at some random street, and again we followed our rule, and started walking. 5 minutes later a small man comes up and asks us where are we from. When we said Israel he suddenly opened a notebook filled with recommendations, some in Hebrew, and we decided to go with him. The hostel was beautiful, cheap, with great food and great people. The next day we rented bikes and rode around the area with our new friends. We visited beautiful pagodas, Went on a boat ride that has gone through caves maybe 80 cm high. The mountains and the rivers together form magnificent images, here and there you see locals with the pointy hats made of hay, and just when you come out from a cave back to the sunlight again and again you are amazed of the nature and it's creations. After the boat ride we rode to the country side and saw the rice fields, we had to pay about 50 cents to pass on a floating bridge in the middle of nowhere, yes, there is a person sitting next to a bridge in the middle of nowhere collecting money for passing on it. When at the rice fields, riding between 2 huge terrains when only the mountains are in the horizon gives you an incredible feeling of freedom, and after a while - of hunger. So we started searching for a good local place to eat. Every local person we met promised us that if we continue straight 5 minutes we'll get there. After 45 minutes of riding we reached a small place, with no people other than the owner, and he took us to the back and showed us that his kid is tearing the feathers off a dead duck and offered it to us. We said yes, and he promised us 2 ducks and even put some beers in the refrigerator for us. After a while we had 2 ducks, one boiled one roasted, salad, rice noodles, Vietnamese soup, mint salad (!!!) and beer, for the price of about 5$ each. We feasted our souls and took some pictures. The rest of the day went on at about the same pace, riding in the small villages, saying hi to everyone, watching the local children laugh, this place has an unexplainable sense of tranquility, one must come here to understand.  Our next day, was perhaps the most awesome day of the trip, and one of the greatest cultural experiences I've ever had - and all of it will be on the next post!

Hai phong

We have one rule, after you get off the bus - first start walking, otherwise it gets a lot harder to avoid all the taxi drivers offering you a ride. After Cat Ba, a boat and a bus eventually led us to some boat port in the edge of the town, or in other words - the middle of no where, so we started walking. After a few minutes and several taxi dodges, we reached a place that looked like a travel agency, but I guess it wasn't , since no one was there other than an old lady with no English who was yelling something to somebody. Just when we were about to give up on her, some random car parked next to us, and not just any car - a large white ford, not something you see here very often. A guy came out and started speaking broken English with us, and eventually offered us a free ride to the center of town. Turns out he is a manager at the port and was just passing by or something , anyway, again, we beat the system! Hai phong is a big city, it reminded us of Tel aviv a little bit, except there were no western tourists AT ALL, not one, and barely any hotels. We don't have many exciting stories from there - one empty club louder than the gates of hell, and a whole lot of heads turning to look at the weird couple of westerns with huge bags on them, but we are starting to get used to it by now. Next stop - Ninh Binh, the greatest adventure we've had so far!  (just a teaser for the next post)

Cat ba

Alas, we reached cat ba. No one is here. A couple of tourists here and there, but the place is nearly deserted. Right when we got off the bus some guy offered us a nice room for a reasonable price, we took it, and started looking. The main street was pretty dark and the only thing standing out was hundreds of blinking lights far inside the sea. We continued walking until we made our minds to go into a small restaurant which was located on the water. In order to reach it you had to walk down some stairs on on a small and shaky bridge. The only other costumers there were 3 old European ladies, and 15 happy vietnamese men yelling together before each shot they took. We ordered some food and beer, and a bit after we started eating, one of the men invited us to a finest can of Hanoi beer, he made us drink it all in one sip, and was a bit disappointed to find out I finished before him (My Oktoberfest instincts kicked in). After that he offered us watermelon, after that shots from some unidentified taquila-like drink, after that he took us to sing karaoke with him and his friends while some other friends played a chess-like-but-different game. By the end of the night, I was singing at the top of my lungs songs in English and Vietnamese alike, and Amit was playing with the little girls of the owner of the restaurant. Later we heard some tourist say "its cat ba - you have to make your own fun" and we couldn't agree more.

Crossing cat ba island with a school bus

Our mission for the day was to get to cat ba. The way to get there is to reach ha long city, and from there take a fairy into the island. The way everyone do it is by buying a tour pack that includes transportation, a place to sleep, and some other things maybe, all in an astronomic price comparing to the place (50$-160$) . We wanted to see what it's like so we bought a 6$ ticket just to get there and see how it is. We did our way with a whole bunch of full pack buyers and one tour guide that offered the whole deal for 20$, and the option of being shot by the locals if we didn't take the deal, so we pulled out our guns and said "no deal" (ok, without the guns part). When we reached ha long bay all we wanted was to cross into the island but the prices skyrocketed to 60$ for a 1 day pack, hopelessly we looked around for cheaper prices, and found a somewhat cheaper 15$ for the fairy. 30 minuets later we were joined to a group where our "guide" bought each of us a 2$ ticket we didn't know where to buy, and so we got screwed. with a promise to ourselves that this won't happen again we started our ride with a Spanish couple that were in the same mind as we were. They are the coolest people we met so far I think, they are traveling all over the world with bicycles, a tent, and a small notepad to write words they learn in various languages, and then immediately forget. They entire way the four of us were making fun of the obnoxious "guide" that completely avoided us and not let us join the rest of the group, in a few things on the way there. It was the funniest 3 language conversation we had on the trip so far. When we finally reached the bay of cat ba island, it was starting to get dark, and the place was completely deserted, just our boat, and a few locals that were willing to sell us a ride to the center for some more astronomical prices. Our biker friends had an arrangement, all the "full pack" tourists had a private van, and www were the only 2 left without a way out of that end of the world bay. At that time we understood that it was time to live up to our promise and not get screwed again, and started to walk on the road with no plan, and a lot of hope that it's impossible that NO ONE comes here. The only thing that lifted our spirits was the fact that the locals were following us and persistantly tried to sell us a ride, at a somewhat lower price. Finally, we saw a bus in the horizon, and started pacing more rapidly towards it. The locals were taking their last chance by trying to convince us we can't go on that bus because it's private, but we kept going, and finally had our victory of going to the center in a bus with 16 funny local kids at the price of ~0.8$, instead of taking a tourist bus at a price of 9$. I think the experience itself was more elevating and fun than anything we might have missed by not going with the rest of the tourists. The kids were all laughing and excited, and the ticket man on the bus was playing with them, stealing one girl's shoe and hiding it behind us, forcing her to ask us to move for a second. The people on the island that are not trying to sell you stuff you may be willing to pay a lot for, are the niceset people we have seen in our life maybe. They offered us a seat with them while they were eating, inviting us to rounds of vodka, offering some of their local meals for us to taste, letting us play with their children and sing songs with them (apparently karaoke is a big hit around here), and hopelessly try to teach us a game that is like chess, but with Chinese letters on coins, and different rules... Cat ba was magical, but the details of that are for another time

The miracle of crossing the road

I woke up into Chinatown. Well, not exactly Chinatown but being an inexperienced traveller I was hardly perceptive enough to spot the differences. After a light breakfast and a quick chat Amit, Rentere (I think that was her name - anyways, we called her reni, moreover, we hardly called her at all), a Dutch girl we met at breakfast, and I took off to see the market. The market itself wasn't at all that exciting, it was the street that blew our minds away. Infinite amount of motor bikes flooded the pavement which in some places is called "road" and in others "sidewalk" though there isnt much of a difference between them, at least not when it comes to safety matters. When we reached some main road we needed to cross we received our first "crossing the road" lesson, and it went something like this: dozens of motor cycles raging down the road, not ever thinking to slow near some white strips drawn on the road, and one taxi driver yelling "pass pass" at us. After a few seconds he realized us westerns are not good at taking orders, and slightly pushed us into the road. In a miraculous pattern the bikes started passing around us in a magic like way second only to the parting of the sea previously performed by Moses. We started walking, slowly yet "safely". Finally we were on the other side, looking back we couldn't believe there is any way to cross this road, yet this is the way to do it here - just start walking, and if you believe, pray.

Long flight, first night

For me the trip, like the previous one, started at the train station, one large bag, one small, one friend with a couple of bags. All I can recall from the ride to the airport are some stories about malaria, and counting melaron pills. As we walked into the Austrian airplane heading to our first stop (Vienna), we acknowledged the classical music and I thought I won't hear much Hebrew from now on. After a few hours of waiting, and 10 hours of flight to Bangkok, we met 3 people from our high school there, and that thought evaporated quickly. Next stop - Hanoi, where we were supposed to meet Amnon, this was carefully planned, he even asked the guy at the hostel to save us room - but there was no need, the only flaw of the plan was that we never asked what the name of the street was, nor did we know the name of the hostel. So after a few minutes of waiting on line near some wifi spot, waiting hopelessly for Amnon to log on at the time we carefully arranged, we decided to head to the old city - where our chances are highest to locate him. We split a cab with some American dude that told us about the ping pong show in thailand, and some more horror stories about malaria and near death drowning situations.A 50 minute ride took us into a street which it's first impression can be described as a "lousy hell". No traffic rules, kids on motor cycles, smells of fish and piss, and a whole bunch of happy people. As we are looking around for wifi trying to contact Amnon again we noticed Amit forgot a bag with all his malaria pills back in the cab. Luckily we ordered it from the airport so we had a number to call and 15 minutes later the taxi came back and the price of the ride doubled. Finally we contacted, and met up and had a few drinks at a bar nearby. So far all is good, no conclusions or thoughts other than - a two connections flight is definitely exhausting, good night!