Day 294 - Mua Cave and Bird Valley - Ninh Binh
Saturday, April 27th, 2019.
Sunshine and I had a great morning. Gregory woke up with a cold and Daniel just wanted to hang out at the guest house. We took Grab and went to the Ecolodge Hang Mua. A beautiful natural area maintained by an ecolodge resort. You have to pay 100,000 VND (about $4.50) to go in but it is worth it because they have decorated it beautifully with ponds and trees. Some people complain that the entrance looks fake because it is man made but it is clean and beautiful -- and well maintained. I recommend wearing tennis shoes, although Sunshine wore her sandals. You walk up a path that takes you to the beginning of the 500 steps to the top. Even if you feel like you are going to die, continue climbing because the view from the top is just stunning.
When we finally made it to the top, all sweaty, we found a lot of tourists as well as locals wearing their best dresses with their hair done taking many selfies and Instagram pictures. The rest of the tourists from around the world, like us, were wearing shorts, t-shirts and had sweaty faces and messy hair! Oh well, we still took a lot of pictures which makes it harder at the end of the day to decide which ones should go on Facebook or the blog!
After coming down, we sat in one of the cafes and had an ice tea while we enjoyed the view. I really enjoyed this alone time with Sunshine. She has become a very smart, mature and loving girl. The best thing that has happened on this trip is that we have become closer and she has become more affectionate towards me. Before, she hardly ever came to me and now, every morning she knocks on the door and comes to get her hug and kiss from Mamma. I know this will change once we go back home because she will be with her friends all the time!
Anyway, when it was time to go, I tried to get Grab but I kept getting the message that all the drivers were busy. I asked a taxi driver to take us back to the hotel. He explained that Grab drivers don’t go come out this far. I decided to pay the full fare and not tell Gregory. [Gregory's note: and she still thinks I don't read her blog] I think many times I think I would have done more things alone with Sunshine if the taxi were not so expensive. I think it is much easier to just grab a taxi and not worry about where you are and just pay whatever they charge. Did I mention that Gregory wanted to rent two motorbikes to move around town! Well, not me, I just don’t feel comfortable so I chose not to do it! [Gregory's note: everyone here rides motorscooters. It's the easiest and fastest way to get around, and you don't sit around waiting for Grab. But Lili won't do it, so we sit around waiting for one of the very scarce 4-wheelers to drive us and charge whatever they feel like.]
After we got to the hotel, we walked to the main road to look for a restaurant for lunch. We found delicious pho, fried tofu, and fried noodles much tastier than at our homestay. After lunch we went searching for an ATM. Luckily Gregory found a real ATM machine and got the cash since most places here don't take cards. We wandered around the stores until 3:30pm and then we took a Grab to go to the Bird Valley nature reserve. He asked what time he should pick us up, which was great because we knew Grab probably wouldn't come out here. We told him 6:30 but he didn't look happy.
Gregory was not feeling great so we had decided to take a boat at the Bird Valley Park. I had read that the boat ride takes you to see many of the birds that come back to their nests. Well, we took the wrong boat, we took one that took us around the caves. It was really cool actually. It was a small skiff. Our rower was an old woman who spoke a little bit of French. Her name was Anne. The ride was about 20 minutes and Daniel enjoyed holding the flashlight showing us the mineral formations on the ceiling and the bats hanging from the cave roof. I think Disney must have come to Vietnam and got inspired here for the Pirates of the Caribbean.
After the boat ride, we found the Mermaid Cave trail and of course, the kids wanted to go that way. Sunshine was disappointed not to find any mermaids. [Gregory's note: so was I!] Some of the walkways were made of bamboo and it was slippery. Many times we had duck not to hit the ceiling. It was long but really fun. I think the kids really enjoyed it. When we came out, we walked about an hour [15 minutes, to be exact] to make it to the viewpoint where you see where the birds and that’s why the guide recommended that you get there at 5:00pm. Sunshine and Gregory stayed by the lake while Daniel and I climbed to the viewpoint up the hill. It was fascinating to see the number of birds coming in flocks and landing on the trees. The view of the limestone karsts (just learned that word) was stunning all around the river. We also saw many boats with people watching the birds landing. These were the boats that we wanted to take. Oh well, on our walk we saw birds, frogs, butterflies and a lot of nature. It was just beautiful.
We walked fast to meet our taxi driver at 6:30pm. He didn't show up. I asked for help from a Vietnamese lady who before wanted to practice her English with Sunshine. She told me she was a tourist herself and didn’t know how to call a taxi but she told the guard, who called a car for us. Other locals overheard the conversation and offered us a free ride but the guard said no, since he already called his friend! I was worried that we would not find a ride back home and by then an hour had almost passed! [Gregory's note: all this was happening in front of a large, 4-star resort that is part of the Bird Valley Sanctuary. Worst case, we would have stayed for dinner and asked the hotel to call us a taxi. There might be a little extra drama being injected into the situation here.]
Sunshine and I had a great morning. Gregory woke up with a cold and Daniel just wanted to hang out at the guest house. We took Grab and went to the Ecolodge Hang Mua. A beautiful natural area maintained by an ecolodge resort. You have to pay 100,000 VND (about $4.50) to go in but it is worth it because they have decorated it beautifully with ponds and trees. Some people complain that the entrance looks fake because it is man made but it is clean and beautiful -- and well maintained. I recommend wearing tennis shoes, although Sunshine wore her sandals. You walk up a path that takes you to the beginning of the 500 steps to the top. Even if you feel like you are going to die, continue climbing because the view from the top is just stunning.
When we finally made it to the top, all sweaty, we found a lot of tourists as well as locals wearing their best dresses with their hair done taking many selfies and Instagram pictures. The rest of the tourists from around the world, like us, were wearing shorts, t-shirts and had sweaty faces and messy hair! Oh well, we still took a lot of pictures which makes it harder at the end of the day to decide which ones should go on Facebook or the blog!
After coming down, we sat in one of the cafes and had an ice tea while we enjoyed the view. I really enjoyed this alone time with Sunshine. She has become a very smart, mature and loving girl. The best thing that has happened on this trip is that we have become closer and she has become more affectionate towards me. Before, she hardly ever came to me and now, every morning she knocks on the door and comes to get her hug and kiss from Mamma. I know this will change once we go back home because she will be with her friends all the time!
Anyway, when it was time to go, I tried to get Grab but I kept getting the message that all the drivers were busy. I asked a taxi driver to take us back to the hotel. He explained that Grab drivers don’t go come out this far. I decided to pay the full fare and not tell Gregory. [Gregory's note: and she still thinks I don't read her blog] I think many times I think I would have done more things alone with Sunshine if the taxi were not so expensive. I think it is much easier to just grab a taxi and not worry about where you are and just pay whatever they charge. Did I mention that Gregory wanted to rent two motorbikes to move around town! Well, not me, I just don’t feel comfortable so I chose not to do it! [Gregory's note: everyone here rides motorscooters. It's the easiest and fastest way to get around, and you don't sit around waiting for Grab. But Lili won't do it, so we sit around waiting for one of the very scarce 4-wheelers to drive us and charge whatever they feel like.]
After we got to the hotel, we walked to the main road to look for a restaurant for lunch. We found delicious pho, fried tofu, and fried noodles much tastier than at our homestay. After lunch we went searching for an ATM. Luckily Gregory found a real ATM machine and got the cash since most places here don't take cards. We wandered around the stores until 3:30pm and then we took a Grab to go to the Bird Valley nature reserve. He asked what time he should pick us up, which was great because we knew Grab probably wouldn't come out here. We told him 6:30 but he didn't look happy.
Gregory was not feeling great so we had decided to take a boat at the Bird Valley Park. I had read that the boat ride takes you to see many of the birds that come back to their nests. Well, we took the wrong boat, we took one that took us around the caves. It was really cool actually. It was a small skiff. Our rower was an old woman who spoke a little bit of French. Her name was Anne. The ride was about 20 minutes and Daniel enjoyed holding the flashlight showing us the mineral formations on the ceiling and the bats hanging from the cave roof. I think Disney must have come to Vietnam and got inspired here for the Pirates of the Caribbean.
After the boat ride, we found the Mermaid Cave trail and of course, the kids wanted to go that way. Sunshine was disappointed not to find any mermaids. [Gregory's note: so was I!] Some of the walkways were made of bamboo and it was slippery. Many times we had duck not to hit the ceiling. It was long but really fun. I think the kids really enjoyed it. When we came out, we walked about an hour [15 minutes, to be exact] to make it to the viewpoint where you see where the birds and that’s why the guide recommended that you get there at 5:00pm. Sunshine and Gregory stayed by the lake while Daniel and I climbed to the viewpoint up the hill. It was fascinating to see the number of birds coming in flocks and landing on the trees. The view of the limestone karsts (just learned that word) was stunning all around the river. We also saw many boats with people watching the birds landing. These were the boats that we wanted to take. Oh well, on our walk we saw birds, frogs, butterflies and a lot of nature. It was just beautiful.
We walked fast to meet our taxi driver at 6:30pm. He didn't show up. I asked for help from a Vietnamese lady who before wanted to practice her English with Sunshine. She told me she was a tourist herself and didn’t know how to call a taxi but she told the guard, who called a car for us. Other locals overheard the conversation and offered us a free ride but the guard said no, since he already called his friend! I was worried that we would not find a ride back home and by then an hour had almost passed! [Gregory's note: all this was happening in front of a large, 4-star resort that is part of the Bird Valley Sanctuary. Worst case, we would have stayed for dinner and asked the hotel to call us a taxi. There might be a little extra drama being injected into the situation here.]
We made it to our guest house too tired to go out for dinner. No one volunteered to go to the main street for food, so we ended up buying a few snacks from next door and that’s what we had for dinner. The kids went to their room to rest while Gregory and I talked to the hosts and asked for help to buy train tickets for our next destination. We also decided to spend another day in Tam Coc (I thought this was the name of the guest house, turns out that is what the town is called) because there is so much to see! [Gregory's note: it was the name of the guest house, too.]
For pictures please click here
For pictures please click here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yFCrsLajxfhA8AkHA
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