Ninh Binh - Days 4 and 5

Since I didn't want to be waken up by the rooster, I put on my earplugs before I go to sleep. But sometime in the early morning my deep sleep is disturbed by something. In my dream I feel an itch on my neck and turn around. I dream that I look straight in the face of the rooster who seems to be very angry. He jumps up and down and makes noises I can't hear thanks to the earplugs and then I turn around and continue my sleep with a huge smile on my face.
It's shortly before 8am when I wake up. I take a shower and go downstairs for breakfast. The Germans aren't there, in fact nobody is there. I order my breakfast and study my Lonely Planet guide and the maps to see where I could go today. I decide to cycle to Trang An for a boat ride and to explore a bit the area on the way to and back. One more place I would like to see is Phat Diem, which is some 20 miles to the other direction, so I leave it for tomorrow.
I ask the owner about the Germans and he says that they left last night instead of this morning. They changed their plans as they said they might do.
I go up to my room to pack my rucksack for today's journey and go downstairs to get my bicycle. The owner's wife asks me once again in a harsh tone where I'm going today, but she smiles at the same time. Funny lady!

Gate to the city

Stairway to heaven

Selfie time!

Ponds and lakes

The rivers of Babylon

My bike

Fields of gold

Approaching Trang An

Trang An

You have to cross this bridge to go to an island to buy your tickets for the boat ride. I have to park my bike before the bridge, so I choose to lock it around a lamp post, but a security guard is not amused and sends me to the car park across the road. There is a section for bicycles and of course you have to pay. Another 50p or so to leave the bike.
I then cross the road, go over this bridge and walk a bit around the tiny island.

On the island

My friend Van from Hanoi recommended that I visit Trang An and go on a boat ride. She showed me a video of when she was last here. She hired a boat for herself and once on the water, she put on some relaxing music and enjoyed the ride. I thought I could do the same, but when I find the ticket counter, I don't see an option to rent a boat for yourself. I open my guide book, because I am sure it says that you can, and indeed, it says it and it mentions a price.
Well, I don't ask, but I see that there are three possible routes and not two as the guide book says. There is a shorter one, a medium one and a longer one. There is also information on how long it takes and how many stops there are on the route. I choose the longest one, which is supposed to last about two hours. I buy my ticket and walk to the boats. A guy asks to see my ticket and tells me to wait a moment. I see a young girl standing a few yards ahead and recognise her from before. She was cycling ahead of me and I overtook her once, but then I stopped to take some photos and saw how she passed by. We look at each other and she starts a conversation. She is from Portugal, but studies in Denmark and is now travelling across Southeast Asia she says.
A moment later the guy calls us and asks us to get on a boat with a Vietnamese couple. Off we go!
I am happy to have met someone I can have a conversation with and we talk for most of the tour.

Random people

First stop

Here we change boats

Selfie time!

Tunnel of Love (Bruce Springsteen Album)

Second stop

Selfie time!

I would have liked to enjoy the silence while floating through the caves, but the Vietnamese lady behind us is an a very chatty mood and doesn't keep her mouth shut.

Third stop

Venice?

After the tour that has taken way over two hours, the Portuguese lady and I hug each other goodbye and go separate ways. I decide to cycle back to the city and pay my favourite restaurant another visit.

It takes me almost two hours to cycle to Pyzzi Pizza and when I park my bicycle outside the large window, one of the ladies sees me and opens the door for me. She guides me to the table where I sat the previous days and brings me the menu. I have given up hope that I will ever get what I order, so I pick a salad, a small sausage and corn pizza and a beef burger. What is being served after a while? A beef burger, the wrong salad and ground beef pizza. I smile as always, say 'thank you very much' and start eating. I give a generous tip and cycle back to my hotel. I stop at a small shop on the way to buy some water and some sweets.

I have a translation to do and some articles to write this evening and it's past midnight when I finally go to sleep.

I put my earplug in again and sleep unusually deep this time. I am not disturbed by the rooster and have some trouble waking up in the morning. Without opening my eyes, I feel that the weather has changed and that it is raining. This means no trip to Phat Diem. Pity! I stay in bed for a while and open my eyes around 8:30am. I get up and draw the curtains aside and see that everything is wet outside. It must have rained all night. It is overcast and the weather app on my phone says rain until lunchtime and sunny spells later on.

I go down for breakfast and the hotel owner confirms what the weather app says. I decide to have a holiday from my holiday as the Dutchman in Sapa said and stay longer at the breakfast table and have a few cups of tea with the owner and his members of staff.

I then go up to my room and spend a few hours working. In the afternoon, I walk towards the city centre and try to explore a bit the area, but as the guide book says, it's nothing really interesting. It's not ugly, but nothing exciting either. So I have dinner at Pyzzi Pizza for the last time (I get two out of three ordered meals right, which is an improvement), walk back to my hotel where I bump into the owner sitting outside with some of his friends. They invite me to beer and I stay with them for a while. Last thing I do tonight is to book my ride to Hanoi airport tomorrow morning. I have the feeling that I have made something wrong while booking, but I am not 100% sure. I go through the booking again and again, but can't see what is wrong. But my feeling says that trouble is in the air.

Oh well, we shall see!

Good night everyone!

Some videos