Where/what is Ninh Binh?

Ninh Binh is a small city in the north of Vietnam, quietly sitting beside the reunification express railway. It is perhaps one of Vietnam’s best kept secrets that has suddenly entered the limelight. The main attraction is Tam Coc, a small village just out-of-town situated amongst some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. The area has rightly earned the nickname of Halong bay on rice paddies, and for many travellers it is an apt substitute. In fact, after seeing both I would definitely visit Tam Coc over Halong Bay if I was to go again.

As mentioned previously we were dropped off on the side of the highway 5 hours down the road from Haiphong. After a little bit of communicating with the locals by pointing to words in our phrasebook we managed to find some accommodation. The handy thing with Vietnamese is it is written using the Latin alphabet, although the accents and dashes added do make it very hard to pick up, but you do have the ability to scribble a word down on paper and people will generally understand what you are asking and point you in the right direction. So we found a hotel and booked our train tickets. Almost all the tourist hotels in Ninh Binh are conveniently located just down the street from the train station. Almost all the restaurants with english speaking staff sit right outside the station, and compete strongly for your custom as you walk down the street. Beware the dog meat restaurants. As mentioned before we had learned the Vietnamese word for ‘water buffalo’. To the untrained English eye it is spelled exactly the same as the word for ‘dog’, but the accent is around the other way. (I will not tell you which is which, mainly because I can’t remember). So we happily wandered into a ‘Cho’ restaurant only to have the waiter point to the various plates being served, and meats hanging around and say “Dog? dog, dog, dog, dog.” We politely declined, to nobodies surprise.

Working for our hotel as a sort of manager/marketer/receptionist was a man called Mr. Dai who was by far the best hotelier we had met on our trip. He was enthusiastic and determined to show us a good time whilst in Ninh Binh. We booked a day tour to Tam Coc through him as he also functions as a tour guide/moto taxi driver. He then asked us if we wanted to go out that night to see some live music. Feeling adventurous we said yes. At the pre-planned time of 9pm, Mr. Dai showed up a little drunk saying he had some motos ready to go. Feeling that riding on the back of a drunken moped in Vietnamese traffic was not the best of ideas we told him we would find our own way. It was an odd feeling walking around Ninh Binh at night, as no one there quite knew what to make of us.

It turns out Dai’s directions were a little optimistic about how close the bar was. We ended up getting frustrated at one point, and asked some locals where to find it. We were pointed to a karaoke bar just around the corner with a very similar sounding name to the one we were looking for. As we walked in we were greeted with much excitement, and were being led to a private room when we realized it was the wrong place. The waiter happily called the number Dai had given us, and put us in the right direction which was another kilometre down the road. Eventually we found the bar. As we walked in I swear the place went silent, with heads turning to stare as we walked around trying to find Dai. He eventually found us, and brought us to his table where we were shouted some beers and sat down to watch the show. It was a kind of live karaoke, where a backing band knew all the most popular Vietnamese pop and rock songs.

During the evening Dai kept on telling us that we’d have to go up and play as he’d seen us playing our guitars at the hotel. We politely told him no thanks. He got up to sing at one point, doing a few ballads before announcing to the crowd that he had some special friends from New Zealand who wanted to come up and play. Fully taken by surprise, there was a moment’s hesitation before I decided to get up and play a song. I don’t know if my finger-picking minor-mellow-classical type style went over very well but it was a thrill to randomly play in a karaoke concert in Ninh Binh, Vietnam.

River near Tam Coc village

Temple amidst the mountains

The next day we set out early to explore the village and surrounding area of Tam Coc. It was easily one of the highlights of the whole trip, and I will have to let the images speak for themselves. The best part about Tam Coc is that we didn’t have to do any pre-planned tours with anyone else. We just set off for a walk down some rural paths, right into the heart of the mountains. Our first stop was a small temple, where an old monk and his wife greeted us happily in French. He proceeded to instruct us on how to pray with incense sticks before sitting down to show us his skills on traditional Vietnamese instruments; the Dan bau (Vietnamese monochord), a dan nguyet (two string moon lute), and dan nhi (Chinese style two-string vertical violin). He then excitedly gave us a turn on the instruments with a crash course on basic technique. The wife then sold us some postcards, which looked about twenty years old and we were on our way.

Our next stop was a restaurant in the village of Tam Coc to try some of the local delicacy of goat meat. It was actually quite good. We then got back on the moto taxis and went to the Mua Cave, where we climbed a good 450 steps to an amazing view of the whole area. At the foot of the steps was an artificial pool, with a small island in the middle supposedly housing some spirit. The cave is just a passageway under one of the mountains, leading to quite a serene little spot next to a river. After spending a day in the sun riding mopeds and walking up mountains we went back to the hotel to relax for a few hours before jumping on the train to Hue.

View from up high

Artificial pool at the bottom of the hill

Other side of the cave

 

Note: Goat meat is really good. Riding on the back of mopeds isn’t as scary as first imagined, in fact it’s pretty exhilirating. Seriously consider Tam Coc over Halong if you are stretched for time, money or patience.