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 Okay, Ninh Binh. We
earlier decided to stop in this ancient capital city to
see some of the water caves, and a few of the temples
and experience a city less travelled by tourists. We
were pleasantly surprised, but mostly by our amazing
guide. After our negotiating hassles for bus and taxi,
we enjoyed a nice night in Ninh Binh. We walked up and
down the streets for a few hours then had Chicken Pho (a
Vietnamese soup/noodle dish with Chicken). Dinner for 2
for $2. And it was a great dinner! The next day we got
picked up early by our driver Khanh (last name unknown,
and un-pronouncible to us). We decided to rent a car
driver all day, to save our butts on the motorbikes (and
keep Stephy's parents sleeping soundly). He took us to
several of the local tourist attractions and a few that
aren't known yet (but were great). We hit the Tam Coc
caves, a 2 hour river ride through the mountains
(literally - the water used for rice fields has eroded
away caves through 3 of the mountains) . This was a
tourist trap, but, a Vietnamese tourist trap. There were
a handfull of westerners among the tourists. We were
basically celebrities on the boat.
I was shocked when we sat in the boat and the driver
gave me an extra paddle and motioned to me to get to
work. None of the other local tourists were rowing. I
took it all in stride, and after a few hundred meters,
we were a novalty! Stephanie was relaxing at the front
of the boat, and I was paddling away with my two other
workers. The young lady (about 44 years of age) beside
me was rowing very fast with our 2 foot long paddle made
of bamboo and a roped on piece of metal. Her older
sister had the main oars and rowed half the time with
her feet!!! Shortly into the trip, we discovered that
she spoke French pretty well, and that was the beginning
of our Vietnamese lessons. 2 hours of non-stop learning
about everything, almost nothing sunk in, but it was fun
shouting across the lake "Hello", "Where are you from?"
and "How old are you?" to the Vietnamese tourists. They
absolutely loved it, as we constantly were getting
people trying to row next to us. But because of our 3
man rowboat (actually there was a sun-bathing beauty in
the front that made our 4th) we had more power than any
of them. We did lose some time, when they asked me to
take the main oars, and we circled a few times before I
rove us into a rice field . They seemed to think it was
funny that I couldn't row because my legs were in the
way. They were both under 5 feet tall and didn't have my
obvious drawback for captain of the vessel.
 We really enjoy it when we can get language training
from the locals. They all really enjoy hearing the funny
sounds we make trying to replicate them, and are very
proud of their languages, and their students. It was
great to work on our Vietnamese with the lady in the
boat. Our driver also was very accomplished at English
and seemed to think it was his duty to convince us to
learn Vietnamese so we could come back and travel the
North West of Vietnam with him. Like the locals, not
like Westerner travellers. He took us to a great 500
step hike up to the top of a mountain overlooking the
Tam Coc river boats. We stumbled on a young groom and
bride (19 years each) and they demanded we pose for
photos with them. Each of the photographers had to have
a single photo with us too. We seemed to be quite the
hit in Ninh Binh........I guess our few words of
Vietnamese didn't hurt either! But they absolutely love
my beard over here (so do many of the other tourists).
It is getting pretty out of control now, but the
Vietnamese men envy such growth. Their 20th century
leader Ho Chi Minh had a nice goatee and several of the
Emperors of previous empires had long goatee's, but the
average man has nothing. Although they blow Tyson
Lunsford's scruff away!!!
Our guide was so much fun. He took us all way along back
roads and showed us the "real Ninh-binh". He took us to
a Vietnamese restaurant that not even the Hanoi
Toursists knew about. Lunch for 3 for $4. Another great
deal.
He really seemed to like us, and our efforts to learn
Vietnamese. On the way back to our hotel he insisted
that we come by his house to meet his mother and father
and join him for tea, bananas and orange slices. The
businessman in me made me always ask him why he was
working as a guide for a hotel, when he could have a
booming business himself, with his personality and
excellent language skills. (He also knew some Russian,
French and a bit of German). He said he had a truck, and
3 motor cycles but only books through the hotels which
really take most of the money. I tried to convince him
to setup a website and "go direct" but I don't think he
really grasped the possibilities, or how to do it. We
asked for his name and email address, which he
reluctantly finally gave up (the hotels demand that he
doesn't give it away), and promised to recommend him to
anyone we ever talk to who travels to North Vietnam. We
were regretting the fact that we had already booked our
bus tickets and plane ride to Cambodia, as we would
gladly hijack our trip to spend another 7 days with him
up in the northern parts of Vietnam. His favorite
tourist guide work. He told us about his close
relationships with several locals and how they take in
his guests for home stays, cooking, playing with their
families and showing them all around town. This is
really what we wanted to get out of Vietnam. Next time
for sure.
 Anyone who reads this, if you want his info, I'll send
it out. Just email me!! (or if you don't know me, post a
comment in our blog). His solo tours are absolutely
lucridously cheap. (perhaps he doesn't have the makings
of a great businessman afterall).
Well, we are heading down to Hue tonight on an overnight
"Tourist bus" - air conditioning and lots of
legroom.........apparantly.....we'll see.
Anyways, we miss everyone and are looking forward to
seeing everyone back in California. But with just under
3 weeks left we are still loving the road!!!
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