Casey Space

For the first time in two months, Josh and I left Hanoi. We signed up for a day tour to Ninh Binh province, about 2 hours drive south of the city.

The tour was a bike ride from a village to the first established Vietnamese capital, then lunch, then an hour-and-a-half boat ride on a lazy river, and finally a little mountain climb.

Bike Ride

Old Capital – Hoa Lu

After being ruled by China for 1000 years, the Vietnamese set up their first capital in Ninh Binh in 968 AD. This was a good location because it was surrounded by water and high mountains to help protect from invaders.

Tam Coc

We took a boat ride on the Ngo Dong River with a lovely lady who rows with her feet. Actually, everyone rows with their feet here.

Our guide told us these are farmers who have completed the rice harvest and are looking to pick up some extra money in the off season.

The river seemed to almost have no current. Our starting and finish point were the same, which I think this was my first river trip that was A to A instead of A to B.

We floated through 3 caves, came to a big clearing where nice ladies had snack bars on boats and did a hard sell of overpriced refreshments. Then, we turned around and went back.

Watch a video compellation of farmers rowing boats with their feet. I believe you can watch the video without an Instagram account.

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Mountain of 500 Steps – Mua Caves

The story goes that dragons makes rain, and it rains a lot in Tam Coc. On the road to the tourist area, we saw a few bare mountain faces with factories in front of them for mining and rock quarry operations. Concrete is big business in this area. The dragon is a symbol of prosperity, several were sculpted around Hang Mua mountain from concrete and painted.

A dragon wishes you luck at the base of the 500 steps, and another welcomes you to the top after a steep climb. We found another dragon hanging out near the opening of Mua Caves.

Pictures of Pictures

With such beautiful scenery, of course there were lots of portraits being taken. I don’t know what the story is behind these and wish I did.

Josh become an unsuspecting influencer photographer with this woman in the red top. He was trying to take a photo of a dragon near by so she asked him to take her photo with this statue. Then, she of course wanted him to send the photo to her, and that is how Josh got his first ever Facebook friend. (He had to get an account here because many transactions are done through Messenger.)

More Travels

Josh and I really enjoyed getting out of the city and into nature for a day. Next week, we both have a week off from school and will be travelling to Cat Ba, an island in Hai Phong Bay. Stay Tuned.