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!