Day 7 -- Ninh Binh
Tuan and Tuan picked us up early for our 10:15 flight to Hanoi. We were really sad to say goodbye to these guys, especially Tuan the guide. We’d had an amazing time with him -- he was funny and easy going and got a good read on us early that made us feel like were were getting advice for us particularly, not just the generic guide advice. And both of them worked to make things as easy as possible on Mary (who was doing this trip with a big ol’ boot on her recently-surgeried foot).
All of which meant our guide and driver for the next leg of the trip had a tough act to follow, and things didn’t start off all that well. Linh (our guide) and Nam (our driver) met us at the airport for the 3 hour drive to Ninh Binh. And we immediately got in a little faceoff about lunch. We wanted to stop and get some and Linh kinda didn’t. But we managed to come to a compromise, agreeing to stop once we’d gotten out of the Hanoi traffic.
Hanoi is massive. It’s not as big as Saigon, but we drove through or past a lot more of it. Nam was that most wearing of things -- a tentative and pokey driver. By the time we stopped for a bowl of noodles at a roadside place, we were a bit frayed. But good noodles, beers and some very interesting packaged snacks cheered everyone up. And sitting and chatting with Linh endeared him to us more than the awkward effort to talk in the van. Tuan had warned us (in a very polite way) that the North Vietnamese were more conservative and more provincial than the south Vietnamese. I can’t speak to that as a general rule, but it was definitely true of Tuan and Linh. But Linh was amiable and clearly working hard to be a good host and we left our stop in a better frame of mind.
The drive got more interesting as the lumpy, misty mountains appeared on our right. We passed an absolutely massive quarry and cement plant -- the equipment juxtaposed with the ancient hills looked like a scene from a science fiction movie set on another planet. We also passed a dozen or more places selling big rocks. These irregularly shaped hunks of limestone, pocked with holes and interesting edges, are extremely popular in gardens and for growing bonsai. We also passed a pair of buildings under construction that looked like St. Peter’s Basilica or the Taj Mahal or something equally important but that Linh told us were just the private homes of the impossibly rich guy who owns the cement plant and his son. Plus incredibly funky graveyards full of tiny temples, gorgeously lush fields of produce, and more of those tall, skinny houses. Linh explained that houses are taxed based on the size of their frontage to the street, so people build extremely narrow, deep houses -- they look like row houses except they’re standing alone.
We reached Ninh Binh, driving through the very engaging little vacation town set at the base of the hills and Linh asked if we’d like to have a hike before getting to the hotel. Mary was game so we did a really beautiful walk along a wide, flat trail between the hills and the rice paddies, wandering past small homes and little ponds full of ducks. The sun was getting low and the air was clear -- it was absolutely beautiful.
And then we arrived at Tam Coc Garden and realized we’d found paradise.
Sixteen perfect rooms in a series of small houses nestle in a spectacularly lush and perfectly maintained garden. A beautiful swimming pool looks out over rice paddies to the misty hills. A perfect little outdoor tiki bar provides fruity cocktails or cold beers. A wonderful dining room that manages to have the feel of a rustic French home with colorful tropical notes serves fabulous meals. And the most Zen bathrooms imaginable make even those of us having our squishy day feel pampered. Heaven.
