Ninh Binh - Day 2

I wake up to the crow of a rooster, but decide to continue my sleep, since it is far too early and the beer from last night has made me sleep well. The rooster continues to be noisy and annoying and I have images in my head, where I see us both as cartoon characters having a duel which the rooster pays with his life. 

Since I don't carry any guns or slingshots with me, the noisy thing will continue to live in happiness and I put in my earplugs and sleep for a few more hours.

It's roughly 8am when I open my eyes again and get up. After a long shower, I go downstairs to the restaurant where I'm greeted by one of the employees. He hands me the menu and asks me to choose whatever I want. Well, the choice is quite limited. There's omelettes with a choice of baguette and either/and/or cheese, butter, marmalade, yoghurt and honey. This translates to an omelette with a baguette and double cheese or cheese and butter or double butter or butter and honey, etc. 

Then you can choose one of the various fruit salads and one of the various drinks.

While I wait for my breakfast, the owner comes downstairs, greets me and asks about my plans for today. I tell him that I would like to go to the Mua Cave and the 465 steps and to one of the numerous lakes. He hands me a map of the city and the region and shows me where I could go and what I could visit over the next few days. He asks me how I am going to go to all those places and I ask him about bicycles I heard he rents out to guests. In fact, there was a mention in my guide book and on a website, that some of the hotels own bicycles and even scooters and motorbikes and rent them to their guests.

The owner calls his wife, they discuss something and he asks me what time I would like the bicycle. In an hour I say. 

OK, he says and both, him and his wife disappear and walk to different directions.

I go to my room to consult the map, my guide book and some websites and to make a plan for the following days.

The maps

About an hour later, I am in front of the hotel and the owner's wife takes me to a building next door, where she unlocks a gate and takes out one of the bicycles. She asks me where I would like to go and gives me instructions on how to get there.
My plan for today is to Van Lam Village, the Tien Grottoes, the Linh Coc Hai Nham Cave and the Mua Cave and the 465 steps. But I somehow feel that I should reconsider my plan and skip most of it if I want to go to the Mua Cave and the 465 steps, as this will take some time. The other thing is that I can't figure out how far all those things are and how much time I will need to get there. The owner's wife says that it's not very far. Hmm...

I jump on my bike and immediately start humming Queen's song Bicycle Race:

Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle

i want to ride my bike

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride it where I like

You say black, I say white

you say bark, I say bite

You say shark, I say Hey Man

jaws was never my scene

And I don't like Star Wars!

Here I am on my bike on the street around the corner with my selfie stick

Bridges over the hanging gardens of Babylon ... not!

Have I mentioned that it's a ladies' bike with a basket?

An artistic bridge

I will need some H2O later on ... H1-0 that sounds like a miniature train track

Looks like a gate to the city, but I could be wrong.

This must be a gate to the city

And I succeed to find the ticket counter from where you can take a boat to the Tam Coc cave.

I read on a board that the tour takes two hours and I see a long queue, that's why I decide to skip that for today and continue my trip to Tien Grottoes. The Van Lam village is quite touristy with many souvenir shops, restaurants, bars, cafes, homestay, hotels, etc. That means that it's nothing special. I drive through it and drive out of the village to find the grottoes, which according to the map are nearby. Also Google maps say that it's nearby and tells me to turn left, which I do, but there are no grottoes. I ask a few tourists, but nobody knows where they are.
I decide to skip that for today and cycle to the Mua Cave and the 465 steps instead. I fire up Google Maps and follow the instructions.

This is what I see where I have to turn off the main road.

I drive through something that seems to be a tiny village and continue on to some country roads. The first thing I see is a graveyard.

After a few miles of dodgy unpaved roads, Google Maps tell me to turn left and I also see a sign that says the same. Another mile down the dirt road and the first car parks appear. Some look deserted, some have someone in front of them who try to make you park there, some are for free and for some you have to pay. I ignore all those car parks and people who try to make me park at their premises and ride to the very last one by the entrance.
I park my bike between some other bicycles and motorcycles and a member of staff appears and puts a sticker on the bike and hands me the other half of it. Then he tells me to go to the ticket office and pay for parking.
What????
You have to pay.
Are you serious?
Yes.
Bicycles are not free of charge?
No, you have to pay.
Jeez! How much?
I pay something like 50p, but I am not amused. I have never had to pay to park my bicycle. But there's always a first time as people say. Hmm... I also pay the entrance fee and enter the site. A few Germans walk in front of me who haven't bought tickets and one is asking, why should one pay the entrance fee if there's nobody to check?
Good question, indeed. While I start to think about it and regret that I have paid, while others will enter without paying, I see a check point in front of us. The Germans are asked to return to buy tickets and mine gets checked and I am allowed in.

And this is what I see:

Three Kings?

This is one of the two caves. The Lonely Planet says that this cave is not terribly impressive. Well, the book is absolutely right! You walk in for a few seconds and then you have to stop, because there's water.

I walk out and try to find the second cave and the steps to the top of the mountain.

And here it is. Nothing special and quite small, at least the bit you can see. Water stops you from going farther in.

And these are the steps. According to the guide books, it's 465 steps. I will come to a number just shy of 600, because it forks off at some point and you can climb onto two summits.

Somewhere half way on the way to the top.

What do you see? Let your imagination run wild...

This is one of the two peaks with an altar on top.

I have reached the top!

It is quite narrow up here and there's not enough room for people. I decide to walk to the other peak when it starts getting too crowded and too noisy. I go down to the fork and look at the steep stairs going up and ask myself if I really want to do this. Yes, I do. But I am thirsty and decide to have a stop at the next shadow. 

I go up a few steps until the first corner where I see a small shop. A shop up here? It even sells cool drinks! I have a look at the prices and notice that whatever you buy is 25.000 Dong, a bit under a pound. I buy something to drink and sit on a chair under a tree for a while. The owner of the shops must be watching a soap opera on her mobile phone, judging from the noises I hear. I wonder what networks she's with, because I get no reception up here.

The peak I was before

The peak I want to reach

And here I am! But it is not the highest point, it goes a bit further up. 

The highest point. There are steps up to a certain point, and then you have to climb some rocks. I don't do up to the highest point, because a) there are too many people and manoeuvring is quite difficult and b) it looks too dangerous. So I take this photo from underneath the dragon and the highest point.

Do you see the heart shaped pools?

How romantic!

I leave the Mua Caves and the peaks and decide to take a different route back to Ninh Binh and pass by this temple.

My bicycle

There is another temple on the way. These two temples are not on the map the hotel owner provided and they are also not on Google and Apple Maps, so I have no idea what they are called.

I continue riding on the road ahead of me hoping that it will lead me back to town.

Not sure what this is. As it is quite late now, I decide to ride back before darkness hits and return another day.

I try to follow a route on that shabby map, but I have the feeling that I'll end up somewhere else. In fact, when I consult Apple Maps, I see that I am quite far off and have to return and turn off somewhere. So I drive back a few miles and follow the Apple Maps instructions for a long time. I am relieved when I see something that looks like a gate in the very distance.

City Gate on Trang An Road

It's a few more miles to the city centre and I am hungry like a wolf after cycling 30 miles and having spent all day on the road. I ride through a busy road with many eating places and don't know where to stop. Suddenly I see a sign on one of the buildings that says Pyzzi Pizza. What a funny name! I park my bicycle in front of it and enter. A young lady stares at me, while a second young lady jumps from somewhere to greet me and to guide me to one of the tables. She brings me the menu and I have to chuckle when I see the composition of the meals. I order the beef burger, spaghetti bolognese and the green salad with passion fruit sauce. Not even a minute later, the young lady comes back to the table to ask again what I want to order, because she didn't write it down and forgot it. So I tell her again.
A quarter of an hour later, the salad comes and it doesn't look like the one I have ordered. I don't touch it, because I want to wait for the meals. The young lady however, thinks that I don't like it and asks if there's a problem. I explain to her that I want to wait for the meals. Five minutes later the meals arrive and there are not what I have ordered. It's not beef, but chicken and it's not spaghetti bolognese, but beef meatballs.
I call the young lady and tell her that it's not what I have ordered.
It is not?
Yes, it's not what I wanted.
What did you want?
Spaghetti bolognese, beef burger and green salad with passion fruit sauce.
Ah!
Yes.
Hmm... Sorry for that!
Never mind, I will eat it, it looks good, I say and smile.
Thank you very much sir!
The meal is indeed delicious. I leave a good tip when I leave and we all bow at each other goodbye.
I cycle through afternoon rush hour and stop at one of the shops to get something to drink before I continue to my hotel.
The hotel owner is sitting outside with some friends of his drinking tea. We have a bit of small talk and I go upstairs to my room. I wonder if there are any other guests, because I didn't hear any noises and didn't see anyone yesterday and this morning.
Tomorrow will be another long day and I need to organise it. But first I have to do a translation.

Good night everyone!