Lan Ha Bay
Ninh Bình - we slept pretty well on the overnight train and enjoyed the passing scenery out the window the next morning. We didn't know if the train was on time or if there would be any sort of alert to tell us what stop we were at, but it turns out we were right on schedule and the conductor even came to tell us when we were arriving at Ninh Binh. Once we got off the train, we called a Grab to take us to our homestay in the nearby small village of Trang An. Our homestay was run by a very sweet family and its location was really peaceful and quiet, nestled amid the giant rock formations this area is famous for. There were few other people staying there when we were, and our room on the second floor even had views of the surrounding mountains. When we arrived mid-morning, we dropped our bags off in our private room and relaxed a bit before heading to nearby family-run restaurant for lunch (fried rice, spring rolls, and fried tofu).
That afternoon, we decided to visit Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve, which we had heard was very beautiful (and good for bird watching). The reserve was about a 45 minute drive, and we were able to easily call a Grab from Trang An to take us there. We were a bit worried that there would be no Grab drivers to pick us us to come back when we were done since the reserve is in a remote location, so we asked our driver if he would be willing to pick us up in a couple hours if we just paid him in cash. After some Google translate, he agreed, and gave us his direct WhatsApp. We felt better knowing that we wouldn't get stranded in the countryside! When we arrived at Van Long, we bought an entry ticket and were directed to hop into a small wooden boat. It was just us and a guide in the boat, and he began rowing us into the reserve. The setting was beautiful; it was like rowing through a wetland (almost like Florida), except all around you are massive limestone rock formations. There were very few other people in boats, and it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. Our guide didn't speak much English, but he knew Carson got excited when he saw birds, so he went out of his way to point these out and get our boat close to them. As we rowed around, we saw many Kingfishers and other birds unique to Vietnam. Carson was in heaven trying to get as many pictures as possible. We were also hoping to spot the rare Delacour Langur monkey which is present in the area, but they were hiding that day. As we rowed around, our guide also took us through a small limestone cave formation in the boat which was really unique and fun. On the way out we saw a couple getting their wedding photos taken on the small boats which made for a very creative and cool shoot. After the boat ride, we met back up with our Grab driver who took us back to the guesthouse. He was a good driver and a nice guy, but we were holding back some laughs in the backseat because on both drives with him, he honked SO much. Now, we'd been in Vietnam and southeast Asia long enough by now to know honking is used differently than in America, and it's very common to honk around curves, to let other drivers know you're passing, to say hi, etc. But this guy took it to a new level. He honked loudly and long about every 30 seconds, even when nobody else was on the road. It was pretty hilarious and we had a good laugh about it afterwards. When we arrived back, we headed out to find dinner in Trang An which proved difficult because there weren't many options and a lot of places were closed. We did eventually find a very good pho place on the river (with a live rooster as a guard), which would become one of our staple dinner choices while we were here.
The next morning we enjoyed our free breakfast of bread, omelets, and fruit at the guesthouse and then rented mountain bikes from the family and headed out to explore the region of Ninh Binh. We biked south towards the bigger neighboring town of Tam Coc, and thought we might hit one of the famous viewpoints in the area called Hang Mua along the way. As we biked, though, we saw how many people were at Hang Mua so we decided we would do that another day and kept biking south. We made a lot of pit stops along the way to take photos and appreciate the amazing scenery and cliffs. We eventually made it to Tam Coc and our first stop was at Bich Dong Pagoda. We parked our bikes and walked across a bridge to reach the lower pagoda and then walked through caves and pathways to reach other levels of the pagodas. It was beautiful and unique with the way it was built into the caves, and there were also nice views of the valley from the upper pagoda. After Bich Dong, we continued biking around without a real plan and and meandered around the dirt paths to small farms and around many rice fields. After a while, we decided to split up because Carson wanted to visit Thung Nham Bird Valley and Melissa wanted to relax at a cafe. Carson biked around the valley and hopped on a small boat with ten other tourists to see many Asian Openbills nesting and flying around. It was cool to see, but at times, Carson was more popular than the nature and kept getting pulled into pictures with the group of Chinese tourists in his boat. Melissa spent the afternoon reading at a small cafe they had passed earlier with views of the surrounding mountains and puppies running around. After a couple of hours, Carson met Mel at the cafe and we biked back to the guesthouse. We made a pit stop on the way back to watch sunset over the mountains. It was hazy since this part of Vietnam has a lot of air pollution, but it was still gorgeous. That night we visited about nearby family-run restaurant for dinner. This one was fun because the family that runs it had young kids who were helping and were really energetic and friendly, and there were also puppies playing under our table. Also, since it was almost Christmas, they had a free small gift bag for every guest to choose before they left. The kids were really excited to watch us open our gift bag, and we got a small bracelet and a funny coaster with a chubby cartoon cat on it. It was a very cute experience.
The following day, we rented bikes again to hit up some spots we missed the day before. We went to Hang Mua first since there were less people this morning. On the road in, there were a few locals trying to persuade us into parking our bikes at their place for a fee, but we had our doubts and kept biking. We were glad we did, because it turns out we could park the bikes right next to the entrance for a small entrance fee. We started our walk up the steep stone path and stairs that would lead up to the viewpoint. This was kind of tiring for us since we hadn't done a proper hike in a while, but it only took about 25 minutes to get to the top. Once there, we had panoramic views over the river, mountains, rice fields, and a Vietnamese flag blowing in the wind. We sat and enjoyed the views for a bit before heading back down. At the bottom, we walked around the boardwalks that were set up through the rice fields and wetlands that had many blooming lotus flowers this time of year. We then hopped back on our bikes and rode north to Tam Coc. It was December 23, and we had decided on something fun we could do for Christmas since this was going to be a very atypical holiday for us. We obviously didn't have much budget or space in our bags for nice gifts, but we decided that we would each take 100,000 Dong (about $5 USD) and split up and go Christmas shopping for each other in the different shops and markets in Tam Coc. We both put our bargaining skills to the test, and surprisingly, were able to acquire about 4-5 items for each other which we hid in our backpacks so that we could open them on Christmas day.
Presents acquired, we headed to a restaurant nearby with a nice patio where we grabbed some burgers. We then got back on our bikes and headed back north. We passed our guesthouse and kept going a bit further to park at the entrance to the Trang An boat ride. It wasn't too busy in the afternoon and the weather was nice so we got our tickets and then were assigned a small wooden boat with two other young girls that were traveling around Southeast Asia as well. Our guide sat in the back of the boat and started rowing us around. The mountains were beautiful and so close to us which felt different than the Van Long ride. The tour took us to a few islands with temples where we were able to get off and explore. Our guide also took us through some caves, including a huge cave that was 1,000 meters long! It was a little eerie going through this in the small boat, but it was a very cool experience since some parts were as wide as a semi truck and others could barely fit the boat through and we had to duck. The entire tour took about 3 hours and we had a great time enjoying the scenery on the water. We rode our bikes back to our guesthouse and stopped to admire another hazy sunset from one of the prettiest viewpoints we had seen (where we also met an adorable corgi named Flower). Later we had dinner at our pho place with the rooster where Carson stayed with the tried and true beef pho and Melissa tried the fried rice.
We wanted to try and explore some of the more remote jungle areas in Vietnam so the next day we took a day tour to Cuc Phuong National Park. We were excited because we read that you could see a lot of different wildlife in the park, especially some rare langar monkeys. We got picked up for the tour with a group of ten others and headed to the park which was almost a hour drive from our guesthouse. When we arrived at the national park, it seemed very dead. There was really nobody around, including park staff, and we appeared to be the only tourist group at the park. We continued driving and stopped at a trailhead where we did a short but steep hike up to the Cave of Prehistoric Man. This cave is the site of one of the earliest discoveries of human habitation in Vietnam, and during excavation in the 1900's, graves, tools, and other artifacts from up to 7,500 years ago were discovered. The artifacts have been removed, but we were able to walk around and explore the cave which was pretty cool. After the cave, we drove to a building farther in the park where we would have lunch after we did a short hike through the jungle. The jungle hike lasted about 20-30 minutes and we didn't see much other than vegetation and our guide getting somewhat lost on the trail (we really couldn't tell if she had ever led this tour before, let alone been to the park). We then had a buffet style lunch that was ok and we got to know others in our group and bond over how strange this tour was so far. After lunch, we did a longer hike through the jungle and saw some massive old trees that were almost 1,000 years old. This walk was nice and felt more like what we expected, even though our guide didn't really tell us anything and we didn't see many birds or other animals. After this hike we drove back to the park entrance and then got out of the van to walk about 15 minutes down the road to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center. It turns out that the monkeys that the park promotes are actually in enclosures and not in the wild so everyone was a bit disappointed. We walked around what felt like a small but open zoo seeing the different types, and someone who works at the center explained to us the different endangered monkey types and how they are being rehabilitated to be released back into the wild. It was still cool to see the different monkeys (including some babies) and we are glad they are trying to improve the population of the monkeys but the tour was not at all what was promoted or what anyone in our group expected. We drove back and were dropped off at our guesthouse and were glad that tour was over because it was one of the worst ones we had been on. The park is massive, we're sure it does have a lot to offer, but the places we were brought felt really run down and abandoned and the way the tour was promoted was misleading. We drowned our sorrows in another bowl of our favorite beef pho for dinner and called it an early night.
The next morning we woke up excited because it was Christmas! Obviously it didn't feel like a typical Christmas due to the warm weather (for Carson at least) and lack of family around, but we had each other. We enjoyed breakfast at the guesthouse and facetimed our families to wish them a Merry Christmas and catch up. Then we "wrapped" our presents (really just covered them in paper/bags) and opened them up alternating one at a time. Melissa got a North Face Hat (fake, but convincing!), a carved wooden dragonfly that can balance on a finger, a magnet that says "forget work, drink coffee," a bookmark, and a dark chocolate KitKat. Carson got a Doraemon-themed Uno game, a shuttlecock that you kick to play da cau (Vietnam's national sport), a Budweiser beer (the one from the Czech Republic), Oreo wafer rolls, and a Christmas card. We had a lot of fun opening our gifts and seeing what we had found for each other with such a small budget. We mostly relaxed during the day, went for a walk in the afternoon, and then went to one of our favorite restaurants along the river where we had a couple of beers. We played cards, soaked in the views, and at sunset headed back home in preparation for dinner. This evening we wanted something special to celebrate, so we had asked the family who runs the guesthouse if they could cook us a dinner for Christmas since we knew they also had a restaurant. They agreed and they whipped us up a massive meal of many different traditional dishes, some of which were new to us. The meal was delicious and filling and we were happy we were able to celebrate Christmas together in this unique way.
Our half of the sleeper train cabin that we took to Ninh Binh
Our guesthouse in Trang An (too cold for the pool)
Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve
Common Kingfisher
Rowing through a cave in Van Long
Beef Pho
The entrance to the Pagoda was a popular shot
Bich Dong Pagoda
Our biking trails cutting through unique landscape
Reading with a snack and a view (Melissa’s alone time)
Asian Openbill (Carson’s alone time)
Just stunning rice fields and mountains
The presents we received from the restaurant
The top of Hang Mua
Tam Coc
Hang Mua view looking back at the small village
One of many lotus flowers
Rice field farmer
We couldn’t get enough of the views so we biked all over
Melissa’s ride
Taking our bamboo raft through one of the many long caves
Trang An boat ride views
Massive trees in Cuc Phuong National Park
Red Shanked Douc Langurs
Christmas Gift Exchange worth 200,000 Dong
Christmas Dinner
Cat Ba Island - The next morning, we had breakfast and then got picked up in a van which took us to a larger bus that would take us to Cat Ba Island, located next to the famous Ha Long Bay and neighboring Lan Ha Bay. After a couple of hours, we got off the bus with our things and boarded a quick 45 minute ferry to take us to the island. When we arrived, we boarded another bus which drove us to the hostel we would be staying at a few blocks from the beach. The hostel we were staying at was large and very social, but fortunately our private room was actually located in a hotel across the street which was nice and quiet for sleeping but still allowed us to go over to the main hostel when we wanted to. That afternoon, we walked around the sleepy town to get our bearings and planned out our days and activities on Cat Ba based on the weather. We grabbed dinner at a local pho restaurant with good reviews, but the pho was really oily and heavy on the fish sauce (and the whole restaurant smelled like fish sauce) so it wasn't our favorite. After dinner that evening, we grabbed a beer at the hostel bar and joined a Dutch couple for a few rounds of Uno before heading to bed.
The weather the next day was gloomy and rainy so we grabbed our free hostel breakfast (chicken noodle soup; very Vietnamese) and relaxed in the morning and did some trip admin. We ate a decent lunch of vegetable curry and tomato soup from the hostel kitchen and then went on a short hike along the coast when there was a break in the rain. The island was not very busy this time of year and many buildings and larger hotels were under construction and being rebuilt following the devastation from Typhoon Yagi that hit Cat Ba in early September. The views along the coastal trail were beautiful looking out into the bays with the large rocks jutting out of the ocean. We walked along the beaches and saw some interesting crabs and small sand balls that they had rolled which created some artistic patterns in the sand. The crabs were very shy, but if you sat still for a while and watched you could see them come out of their holes and form the little sand balls. In the evening, we grabbed a quick dinner at a restaurant near the hostel and then made our way back to the hostel for trivia night. We formed a team with two Brits, Jamie and Hannah, who we immediately hit it off with. The trivia was a popular event and somewhat challenging, but we did pretty good overall. There were also some ways to win extra points like singing and dancing, which one guy on another team was REALLY into. There was also a "performance" halfway through where a bartender created a new pho inspired cocktails. We all got to try a bit, and it was surprisingly decent, even though it really did taste like pho. In the end, we didn't expect it, but we somehow we came in first place! We didn't even dance for extra points, but Hannah did sing one song which may have helped. We won a round of free drinks which was a nice token so we celebrated our victory over our cocktails (though none of us like the pho cocktail enough to order that one).
The next day we had better weather so we signed up for a boat tour of Lan Ha Bay through the hostel. When we first arrived on the island, we were torn about which bay to visit since Ha Long Bay is the "famous" one. After doing some research and talking to other travelers, we decided to take a trip on Lan Ha Bay instead, which is a lesser known, but just as beautiful neighbor to the busy Ha Long Bay. We were picked up from the hostel in a van that morning and driven all the way to a port on the other side of town. We boarded a nice double decker boat along with about 25 others and hit the water. As we departed, we slowly went past the massive groups of rocks that make this area so special (Ninh Binh is actually called "Ha Long Bay on land" and we could totally see why!). The boat made a stop amid these rock formations in the morning to swim, but it was partly cloudy and cool so we elected to just admire the views instead of jumping into the cold water, though some others were braver than we were. The cruise continued as we made our way through Lan Ha Bay and even skimmed part of Ha Long Bay where we made our way to a small floating village where we were given kayaks. We got in our tandem kayak and paddled off with our group where we were able to get really close to the massive rocks and even paddle through caves. We kept our eyes peeled to the forest amid the rock formations in case we could catch a glimpse of the extremely rare Cat Ba Langur monkey, but we weren't lucky enough to see them. Eventually, we all got back on the larger boat and we headed to a local floating fishing village. Along the way, we had a nice buffet lunch on the boat of rice, meats, egg, and fruit. Once at the fishing village, we departed the boat and carefully walked on boardwalks above the water that were positioned in square patterns. In each open square were fish that were being raised to huge sizes before they would be sold to market. It was pretty cool to see the giant fish and observe how these villages are set up within the bay. Afterwards, we got back on our boat and cruised around more before making a stop at Monkey Island. Apparently the government had put monkeys on this small island for tourist purposes and we weren't very interested in swimming to the island or getting close to monkeys that have been fed around humans since they can be aggressive, so we stayed on the boat with a lot of the others. It was pretty entertaining watching the monkeys interact with the people from the boat who did make the journey, though, but made us even happier with our decision since the monkeys were troublemakers. Our boat cruised back to the port at sunset which was beautiful. We got off the boat and then boarded a small van to drop us back off at the hostel after an incredible day. In the end we were really pleased that we had done the day trip to Lan Ha Bay since it was much cheaper and we still saw such incredible scenery with far fewer other people and boats around us.
The weather was great the next day as well, which was perfect since we had signed up for a trekking tour of Cat Ba National Park. We were a little nervous since our last national park tour in Ninh Binh was disappointing, but we had talked to the agency about this one and it seemed much more promising. After our chicken noodle soup breakfast, we were picked up at our hostel in a van with only three others in our group plus a guide. When we arrived at the park, our guide first went over our hiking route which would take a few hours and cut right through the park. The hike was relaxing through some beautiful forest, and it was nice to spend time in nature. It wasn't too challenging, but did have to do five different ascents and descents that got our heart rates up. We were really focused on spotting the Cat Ba langur, but we ended up with a different (and scarier) rare animal sighting- during the first long gradual ascent, a group hiking a little ways in front of us spotted a King Cobra next to the trail. The snake was kind of just chilling and didn't have it's hood up to show aggressiveness, but our guide and the guide from the other group watched the snake and held sticks on it to keep it from moving so our groups could pass safely by it. Once we were all past, the guide used the stick to pick up the cobra and fling it into the jungle away from the trail. Our guide said he had seen regular cobras before, but he had only ever seen three King Cobras in all the treks he had done for ten years so we felt special to see one in the wild (but also a little terrified). We continued hiking and stayed alert in case there were any other snakes, and worked our way up and down the mountainous jungle. It was very pretty and we took rest breaks at high look outs. There were points during the hike where you were hiking on rocks that were extremely sharp like a knife so we had to be careful with our footing since we didn't want to accidentally fall on these. After a few hours, we made it to the small village of Viet Hai within the national park. We stopped to try the famous fish pedicures, where you put your feet into a tank of small fish that eat the dead skin off your bare feet. The fish LOVED feet- as soon as you put them in the water, dozens of fish came over and starting sucking on your feet. It was a very weird and ticklish sensation. Melissa got kind of used to it and sort of liked it, but Carson only tried it very briefly which was enough for him. After the fish pedicure, we made our way to a restaurant where we had delicious buffet lunch of chicken, shrimp, fish, tofu, veggies, rice, and more. After lunch, we hopped on some bicycles to ride to the port of the small village. The village had open rice fields that were full of water buffalo and many birds, and the bike ride through this and along the coast down to the port was beautiful. We left the bikes at the port and hopped onto a small fishing boat. We cruised along the bay again and stopped to jump into a another kayak which we paddled around while waving and chatting with some local fisherman. Once we finished kayaking, we got back into the boat and headed back to the main port through Ha Long Bay at sunset. There was an unforgettable moment when our boat driver was talking on the phone and was steering the boat with just his foot while he stood on a chair so he could hear who he was talking to away from the loud motor. We arrived back at the same large fishing port we had been at the previous day with the cruise boat, and when we got off the boat we took one final look at the incredible Ha Long Bay before we boarded a van back to our hostel. Fortunately this tour was much better than our last, and we really enjoyed all of the activities we got to, including spending more time out on the water. That evening, we grabbed a final meal at a restaurant we had frequented a couple of times, and Mel finally made friends with the restaurant's adorable cat.
Ferry to Cat Ba Island (also pictured the cable car you could take to get to the island)
Walking around Cat Ba Island
Unique sand designs created by small crabs on the beach
Our boat for cruising on Lan Ha and Ha Long Bays
Moody morning on the bay
The weather cleared up as the sun burned off the fog and clouds
Kayaking on Lan Ha Bay
Fishing boats on the bay
Walking on the boards of one of the floating fishing villages
Fisherman rowing back to their floating village
Fishing villages
The King Cobra (too scared to get close to take a picture with our cameras)
Beautiful forest trails in Cat Ba National Park
A different spa treatment for your feet
Biking to the port after lunch
Purple Sunbird
Our boat this day was a little less glamorous
Kayaking in the bay was a highlight!
Our boat driver talking on the phone and driving LOL
Hanoi - Today was a travel day for us to head to Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi. After having breakfast at the hostel, we were picked up by our bus mid-morning for the 4-5 hour ride to reach Hanoi. We arrived at the bus drop off in Hanoi which was just on the side of a busy road in the city's famous Old Quarter. We grabbed our things and hopped into a Grab which took us to our guesthouse in a local neighborhood near The Temple of Literature. The host was very kind and loved to practice guitar and photography in his free time. We were pleasantly surprised by this guesthouse since we had very limited options when we went to book a few days in advance. We were going to be in Hanoi over New Year's and we just assumed that since it was a huge city it wouldn't be hard to find a place to stay. There were still plenty of options, but not very many good ones (we refuse to stay in a 15 person hostel dorm room on NYE), but our guesthouse ended up being quiet, clean, and very cheap. It was farther out from the Old Quarter, but still a cheap Grab ride or 30 minute walk away. After we got settled, we headed out to find dinner in our neighborhood which was a challenge at first because there were not a lot of food options around us in this residential area. We ended up choosing one that the host recommended, but it took us a while to find it due to the small and confusing side streets and alleys that Google Maps struggled with. We eventually found the restaurant and tried Bun Rieu Cua, a type of crab paste noodle soup. Melissa decided to go all out and get all of the recommended toppings, which included pig ear, sausage, fish, snail, and beef, while Carson played it a little more safe. We though the soup was pretty good, but Melissa would probably opt to exclude the pig ear and snails next time. We headed back to the guesthouse through the maze of local streets, and noticed how most of the apartments had open glass doors and windows where you could see right into the house and observe whole families enjoying their evenings. It was interesting how open things were and the lack of privacy that people seemed to have. Back at the guesthouse, we watched some of the new season of Bake Off before calling it a night.
The next day was New Years Eve so we slept in and then headed out to explore Hanoi. The first thing we visited was the Temple of Literature. The temple was founded in 1070 to worship Chinese philosopher Confucius and then became Vietnam's first University, the Imperial Academy, where it taught generations of scholars for hundreds of years. The temple is composed of five courtyards and was really interesting to explore. The ground were beautifully landscaped with plants, trees, ponds, and statues all giving it an air of tranquility within the temple's walls. After exiting the temple on the northern end we stumbled upon Hanoi's famous "Train Street." The railroad tracks pass right through this small street that has active businesses running out of it, sometimes just inches from the tracks. We found a sign with the train schedule and realized a train would be coming soon so we found a bar where we could sit along the narrow sidewalk out. We each grabbed a Hanoi beer while we waited and placed the beer cap on the train tracks so they would get flattened. After about 10 minutes, the train was incoming, and the business owners started yelling for people to get out of the way and stay back from the tracks. The train came speeding by just about a foot or two away from where we were sitting. We snapped photos and videos and grabbed our flattened beer caps after the train had passed. It was a fun experience but it gets super crowded so we didn't stick around after the train was gone.
We were really craving an American brunch since we had mostly been eating soups or basic bread/jam combos for breakfast throughout our travels in Asia. Melissa found a restaurant in the Old Quarter that specialized in large brunches, so we made our way there. We ordered eggs benedict, bacon, hashbrowns, sausages and more. We stuffed ourselves and spent more than usual, but it was well worth it and scratched the itch. With full stomachs, we then walked to different markets in search of some warmer gear for our upcoming motorbike tour up north where it gets pretty cold. Along the way we passed many pop-up stores set up to sell goods for Tet, the upcoming lunar new year celebration (a much bigger deal here than the regular calendar new year, but we wouldn't be here for it). At the market we haggled for a hat and gloves for fairly cheap, and then we went back to our guesthouse to relax and change before meeting up with Jamie and Hannah (our trivia friends from Cat Ba) and some of their friends for drinks that night.
We met up with the group at a brewery near where the fireworks show would be at midnight and had some drinks and hung out. We hadn't eaten yet but the rest of the group had, so we split up for a bit to find food. We tried to get dinner at a pizza place nearby, but it was booked up, so we went back to the brewery and settled for burgers which ended up being way better than expected. We caught back up with our friends at another bar nearby, and then headed out to get a good spot to watch the fireworks show around 11pm. It was pretty crowded, but since we had a big group we were able to hold our ground and entertain ourselves by watching Hannah learn to shotgun a beer. There was also a young Vietnamese guy next to us that had brought his cat with him. The cat was so cute and chill and was wearing a onesie and just letting himself be held in this crowd of people which we thought was hilarious. The fireworks started at midnight, and since we were a lot taller than most of the people around us we had a great view of the impressive firework show that lasted about 20 minutes. After the show, we walked to a roof top bar nearby where we had to walked through a clothing store on the bottom level to take the stairs to get to the roof top. We had a couple more Hanoi beers and then we all decided to head out. The clothing store on the bottom level had closed up shop by this point, so we had to walk through the dark store and lift up the gate to exit which was pretty hilarious. We walked back to our guesthouse and reflected on a pretty good New Years!
The next day, we mostly took it easy. We ventured out to walk around a different neighborhood and wanted to try bun cha for lunch at a restaurant we had read about. We made our way there and found the place taking over a large swath of the sidewalk and bustling with locals. We watched for a minute to try and figure out how the sitting/ordering situation worked and wait for a spot to open. Eventually someone left, so we sat down at a low table with two very small chairs; we still weren't entirely sure how to order since there were little order sheets next to us strictly in Vietnamese. Eventually a no-nonsense woman came over to quickly take our order, and fortunately she took one look at us and basically told us our order for us (two bun chas and a spring roll), so we just nodded and let her work. While we waited for our food, we watched the cooks grilling the meat on the sidewalk. Eventually our order came to us and contained a bowl of tangy dipping sauce with fatty pork and veggies marinating in it, a side of cold noodles (to be dipped in the sauce), and fresh herbs and greens on the side with a spring roll. The meal was so good and absolutely one our favorites so far in Vietnam; plus, the experience of the restaurant was fun! After lunch, we stopped at a cafe next door that was also really busy and full of locals, and Mel got an egg coffee (this one served more traditionally all in one cup instead of in three different cups like she had in Da Nang). We strolled around town a little more before heading back to the guesthouse to relax and watch the final episodes of Bake Off.
The next morning we checked out of our guesthouse mid-morning and took a Grab to a cafe near where our bus would pick us up that afternoon to go north. We had lunch and did some blogging and planning on our computers at a cute cafe to kill time before we made our way to the pick up point of our bus that would take us to Ha Giang.
The Temple of Literature
Train Street
The train is about 2 ft from your seats
Bun Rieu Cua
Bun Cha
Egg Coffee
Overall we had an awesome time in this section of Vietnam! Ninh Binh and Cat Ba both had some of the most beautiful nature we had ever seen, and we loved being able to explore these areas in so many ways (walking, biking, hiking, boating, and kayaking). We liked our initial impressions of Hanoi too (especially the food), but were looking forward to spending more time there after the Ha Giang loop. We spent a couple big holidays in these cities, and even though they weren't typical, they were definitely memorable!
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