If there’s one thing that makes the 9-5 everyday burden a lot more bearable (aside from salary obviously), it’s the long weekends scattered all throughout the year. These call for exciting vacations of course. These holidays may be three or four months away yet flights are already booked, accommodations are already paid, itineraries are already set and all the weeks before *the big escapade* are spent counting the days (and/or saving money). That pretty much sums up my previous weekend—except I had my trip planned quite late. April 30th is Vietnam’s Liberation Day and May 1st is Labor Day. That gave me four days including Saturday and Sunday. I shouldn’t waste such long weekend, should I?
I’m not exactly looking to go into another country. Surely, four days is too short for that and after our trip to Singapore last year which was really fun though it left me more exhausted than relaxed, I try to avoid travels that would feel rushed. That said, I was thinking of spending the holidays outside Hanoi. I’ve read some good things about places outside the city that are beautiful so like why go farther, right? As what they say, if you want to truly know Vietnam, head outside its big cities.
So first things first, research! Since I’m really into countrysides and beautiful landscapes, my search brought me to Ninh Bình and Ha Giang. Actually, I saw other provinces as well but these two stood out for me. Ninh Bình — because my friend has long been inviting me to go and like, she showed me a video before about the place and there’s this tourist spot that really attracted me (more on this later). Ha Giang — because the views are simply breathtaking; it’s in the northernmost part, close to China and not many tourists come there (yay!). The only thing that kept me from choosing it is that I don’t know how to ride a motorbike *yet*. Like most places in Vietnam (if not all), it’s just something that’s best explored on your own wheels. Such a pity. 😦 Though yeah, it’s a good addition to the list of my motivations to learn motorbike.
So yeah, I picked Ninh Bình because it’s close and I was hoping to practice motorbike there as well. God knows how difficult it is to do it here in Hanoi. Although you can also explore it by riding a bicycle especially that some roads are too narrow to pass through, motorbike is best if you’re looking to go to farther areas. I invited my friends and sure enough, they were up for it. Just one big mistake though and something you should really look out for if you find yourself in this situation in the future—book your bus or train tickets ahead of time! Like waaaaay ahead. Maybe it’s sheer stupidity or ignorance but yeah, tickets won’t just be way more pricey the closer it gets, it can be easily sold out too.
Thankfully, my friend’s Vietnamese friend was extremely helpful. She managed to book us bus tickets on Friday (I know, so late) after a lot of inquiries and some failed attempts. We were initially planning to go by train but (surprise!) no more tickets were available. She could book us a bus departing to Ninh Binh at around 5:30PM on a Saturday but nothing earlier. We didn’t have much choice so we grabbed it. Our trip would just be 2D1N then we’re coming back to Hanoi on Monday evening. It’s always a good idea to put at least one day buffer before you need to *go back to reality* to give yourself some rest and possibly, to not be tempted to apply for one-day leave.
Hanoi to Ninh Bình took about only two hours. To be honest, waiting for our dinner to be served in our homestay felt longer. And I swear, it’s not just my hunger talking. Oh, and it’s not worth the wait, too.
Anyways.
We didn’t exactly have an itinerary. I mean, my main aim was just to practice motorbike and maybe, go to that pagoda high up on the rocks—the one that attracted me most from the video. But the motorbike owner had other plans. Early on Sunday morning, we *excitedly* approach him to rent two motorbikes hoping to convince him to teach us as well. After about fifteen minutes of going round and round, trying to get ourselves familiar with the inner workings of the machine, feeling so scared yet triumphant that I was able to control it *without* incident a lot better than when I first tried to learn it, he decided that we are not ready and refused to let us rent. :(((( Although, to be fair, I bumped into their gas refiller thingy and almost broke it while trying to park the motorbike. Ooppss. 😅 And yes, it did scar me for life. Honestly it’s been ages since I last had one. Nothing like a scar to make a trip extra memorable. But hey, that’s what practice is for, right? To be better! Did he really expect us to be experts in less than fifteen minutes? Tskk. We are stubborn so we did what any stubborn person will do—we practically begged him again and again to just let us rent for practice *only*, strongly promising that we won’t go far. Still a no, though. 😐
Alrighty then. We went back to our homestay with our hungry stomachs and broken hearts. 😭 Okay. Where’s that pagoda up on the rocks? Let’s just go there instead. It’s called Hang Múa Cave and fortunately, it’s only 2km from where we’re staying so we just used the bicycles to get there. It might be just 2km but it took us longer to get there because how can we not? The views from each side of the road demanded us to take everything slowly and in a way, reminded us how simple life could be. I was having like an eye stare contest with the lavender lotus flowers which were all over the area and after a while, I thought I was having hallucinations because I really can see them moving to the left. I needed to ask my friend about it to confirm my sanity. It was indeed moving, in case you’re interested. 😁
@Hang Múa
Idk why the name is seemingly endorsing the cave more when in fact, I found nothing too fancy about it. What’s worthwhile was the climb up on those steep steps right on the huge rocks so we can witness the beautiful view below. I told you it’s worth it. 😉 For a while, I forgot how disappointed I’ve been about what happened earlier. The view is just beyond beautiful. I remember thinking, “This is it! This, right here, is the Vietnam I’ve seen from those postcards.” I really wish we could’ve stayed on the top longer. A few weeks perhaps?
Tip: You know you're in Ninh Bình when there's like huge rocks everywhere.
The next day, we woke up early to do the Tràng An boat ride. If you've been to Ninh Bình, you must be familiar with their boat rides that would take you to numerous caves and temples. When we got there, the place was jam-packed. It took us almost two hours to finally be able to ride the boat. One more reason to avoid the hugely popular tourist spots next time. Travel, just like about everything else, is something you need to try to see what works for you. I mean, some are content going to those popular tourist attractions while others find that they can get more out of their travel when they venture on the roads less traveled. Anyways. I can't exactly say it's worth it. I guess I'm not into caves that much. Though the ancient temples were fascinating, the thing was, stopover on each of them is only 10-20 minutes. Definitely not ideal for me. Also, we didn't have an English-speaking guide who can tell us a thing or two about each cave and temple so…
And a mandatory feet pic. 😀
That boat ride took our whole morning so that left us only few hours before our bus will pick us up back to Hanoi. So we were having second thoughts if we should proceed to Bái Đính Temple—the largest and one of the key spots in that province. Reviews say that we better spare a whole day if we’re planning to visit the place. Okay. We obviously can’t afford that time but it would be like a waste if we spend the rest of our time in our homestay. By that time, our bodies were tired already because of climbing the beautiful pagoda the other day, riding the bicycle (or in my friend’s case, learning it), and climbing more temples on Tràng An’s boat ride. Errrrr aren’t they fond of hiding their gems up above? Thankfully, Bái Đính Temple offers ride through their electric cars. And we soon learned why—a quick research tells us that it’s 700 hectares. The electric car will only take us from the entrance or ticketing booth to the temples themselves and it took us about ten minutes so imagine the distance. I was telling my friend Olive that, “Seriously? They couldn’t just put their entrance closer to the temples?” And she was like, “No, that would be bad for business.” It cracked me up. 😂
The first time I set foot to a temple was back in my city about two years ago. It was a Taoist Temple. And I remember liking it. They had this sort of wish thingy that goes like…
A ritual among devotees is where one prays to the gods to grant one’s wish. The ritual includes washing of hands, going inside the chapel barefoot and dropping two blocks of wood. If the blocks of wood are both face up then one could make a wish. If not then it is not yet the time for one’s wish to be granted and one has to come to the temple some other time.
Source: Wikipedia
That day is quite vivid still because that’s when I made my wish to be a teacher. Now Bai Dinh is obviously a lot bigger and maybe, more commercialized. I don’t think there’s a limit to the visitors who can come inside everyday so instead of feeling the serenity of the place, the silence, the holiness, those sort of things you seek in a religious place and I found on my first temple experience, being inside Bái Đính Temple won’t feel any different if you walk the streets of a busy market any given day. I think it would be best to not just let anybody come inside any religious place unless they’re either a devotee or purely interested to the religion. I just.. aside from preserving the sanctity of the place, I think they’re the only ones who deserve to be there and appreciate its beauty. Would I even qualify? :X Needless to say, I won’t be going to another temple soon.
@Bái Đính Temple
The trip back to Hanoi was like a daydream. The bus picked us up about half past four so that means heading to the city with the sun setting on my side of the window. The skies were like painted with all these pleasing colors in random strokes—deep orange, yellow pastel, light and darker shades of blue, a touch of purple, a ball of rich red in a perfect circle and it’s amazing how something so seemingly random can look that beautiful combined together. I would’ve showed it here but I was too at awe to take a picture and you probably know what I mean anyway. Whoever said that endings can be beautiful too.. I agree. I completely agree. 🙂
walking life barefoot. 