Motorbiking Around the Sleepy Countryside of Ninh Binh, Vietnam
(Preface. I’m doing my blog in chronological order, though I am quite behind on things. We were in Ninh Binh about a month ago, and are currently in Mae Hong Son, Thailand. I’ll catch up eventually!)
From Halong Bay, we took a 5 hour bus ride Southwest to Ninh Binh, Vietnam. While the city is just over 100,000 people, the highlights of the area reside almost exclusively outside of town, so we stayed in the mountainous countryside nearby, in a guest house called Trang An Mountain House. The Karsts from Halong Bay were also present in Ninh Binh, though this time they were surrounded by land and not sea, a fun take on such an impressive natural phenomenon. We enjoyed where we stayed, though it seemed the one woman who spoke english working there was given the brunt of the duties regarding guest relations. Breakfast in particular was quite yummy: crepes stuffed with bananas and drizzled with chocolate were paired with Vietnam’s signature slow drip (condensed) milk coffee.
After meeting several people in Hanoi who had Motorbiked Vietnam from Saigon to Hanoi (or were going to do it vice-versa), I daydreamed of biking the country myself. After realizing that I had never motorbiked, and that we had a quite a bit of luggage, I tweaked my dream into learning in Ninh Binh. Ninh Binh (and especially the countryside) had great, wide, well-paved roads and little traffic, and it was a great place to learn. Thankfully the motorbikes for rent have always been automatic, and it only took me 10 or 15 minutes to get a feel for the handlebar acceleration and the balancing of the bike, though it is quite unwieldy and can be prone to tip over at very slow speeds.
While we stuck to back roads at first, the bumpiness of them caused us to quickly switch to the main road, and deal with the little traffic there was. As most people in Vietnam get around on motorbikes, it was quite easy to get accustomed to traffic. Stay on the right side of the road, and other cars and motorbikes passing almost always give you enough space that it never feels unsafe, even on a two-lane road.
Motorbikes aside, Ninh Binh was hot. 95–101 degree days, with the air fully saturated with humidity. Coupling that with the fact that we had been traveling for quite some time now, and our pace of daily sightseeing slowed quite a bit down. Wake up early(ish), see one thing, hide out in the hotel midday, and see one more thing in the evening. Thankfully, we were able to still see many of Ninh Binh’s attractions.
My favorite attraction there was seeing the Bai Dinh Pagoda. It is the tallest pagoda in Vietnam, accompanied by a gigantic Buddhist complex and temples. It was also a huge Vietnamese tourist attraction, but very little Westerners came to see it, so it was quite fun not doing “typical” sightseeing. The only way to get there was by motorbike, which worked out quite well.
We also went to another, more western attraction, Tam Coc, but it seemed to be a tourist trap. There was just one lake where locals offered pricey boat rides, and tons of shops, restaurants, and hotels catered to tourists.
We left quickly, and headed through some stunning countryside (we were biking through a valley) to do a brief hike at Hung Mua. Though it was only 20 minutes up the short hike and another 10 up the larger hike, we were so exhausted from the heat we did the small one and called it a successful afternoon. Still, we got stunning views of the karsts dotting the landscape, and we saw a stone-carved dragon that marked the longer hike.
All in all, I really liked it here. Its fun, pleasant, and a great place to get those motorcicle chops down, but on a short time budget, I would not consider it a top place to visit in Vietnam. Our next stop: Phong Nha, Vietnam, home of some spectacular cave systems.
