November 27th
A decent morning with clear skies and a temperature of about 20C. The breakfasts here are no match for the hotel in Hanoi but filling and tasty nevertheless. We have decided to spend another day with Truong visiting a variety of sites. This time he charges us 49 USD due to the longer day/distance.
About 15 minutes outside of Ninh Binh is Hoa Lu the ancient capital of Vietnam. Founded in 968, Hoa Lu remained the capital until the early 11th century under the Dinh and Le dynasties when Emperor Ly Thai To moved it to today’s Hanoi. Very little remains of this ancient site but there are two temples built in the Chinese style consisting of three parts: Bai Duong used for the community, Thien Huong, in memory of the royal mandarins of King Le, and finally, the altar in memory of the King.
There are two old temples named Dinh and Le temples worshiping Kinh Dinh Tien Hoang and Kinh Le Dai Hanh, dating back to the 17th century. We visited both and were almost alone as we sauntered through them….what a pleasure to visit such sites in a relaxed way without hordes of tourists or time constraints !!!
Dinh Temple
Le Temple
Afterwards, we head for the Bai Dinh Pagoda which is 20km west of Ninh Binh. This is one of those sites where you can love it or not so much…it is almost all new and it is massive, covering an area of 539ha.
In English, ‘temple‘ is a more general term designating any building where people go to worship, while ‘pagoda‘ more specifically refers to a Hindu or Buddhist temple.
If one is devout there is clearly a lot to digest here….we were told that after Tet (New Year) there can be upwards of 100,000 visitors a day here ….when we visited we again had the place almost to ourselves although as were leaving bus groups did start piling in.
We did a circuit of the most impressive pagodas and shrines and even this took several hours…
The 13-storey Stupa is on the way in from the carpark where we left Truong…
..more steps to climb to reach the Silver Buddha from which area there is a 360-degree view of the complex of temples and the surrounding landscape….
….the Golden Buddha in the Bai Dinh Pagoda was truly impressive:
As we wound our way down we could not resist rubbing the statues for good luck, as countless thousands have in the past…..
At the bottom there is the option to take an electric cart to the car park for 30m Dong each > definitely the smart thing to do and we had a fun time entertaining the toddler to the great amusement of mother, grandmother et al!
A quick Coke to energize us and we head off towards Kenh Ga Boat Village…..as we get there Truong again tells us to walk through the village and he will meet us at the other end. This village is about as local as it gets and we get tons of hellos from the kids who just got out of school and many other people are smiley. It is poor and a tad sketchy, as well as lots of construction of what are massive homes for these parts > Truong says these are being built by the “Mafia”…..not the first time we have heard this term. As near as we can make out these people have profited greatly from the one-party system, including proceeds from activities which are suspect at best. An interesting walk which we would have never done had we not gone on this “tour”…
Well, time is running and we pass through the countryside which looks lush even though the rice growing season hasn’t yet started. Of course, we also run into the inevitable construction…I don’t know where the money is coming from but there is a tremendous amount of infrastructure work that we have seen…
Next and final stop are the Van Long wetlands which are a winter stop for migratory birds from the north and apparently, the Delacur langurs which are one of the world’s most endangered primate species inhabit this refuge.
Here we take another rowboat tour, this time it is on a 2-passenger boat which are rowed almost exclusively by local women > 100m Dong (6 CAD) for us both, with the tour taking about an hour. Quite low key, no life jackets, and a pleasant woman who tried hard to point out items of interest to us through imitation and hand gestures.
and sometimes you get lucky…
We passed several caves and then she pointed out a hawk (?) on a ridge which I just managed to see and shoot (my camera is not intended for birding)….
Then as we headed towards the landing we could see large flocks of egrets….a nice ending to the tour….
It’s been an action-packed day and we are happy to head back to the Friendly Home for some well-earned refreshments and dinner at the hotel which Truong topped off with complementary shots of “happy water”. It’s been a long post but we did experience a lot.
Sitting here recovering from an early and unwanted storm, I’m envious. With my medical appointments not sure what I’ll be doing this winter? A couple of weeks at an all inclusive in Cuba?
A couple of weeks in Cuba is better than PEI….Florida on a DIY basis…or fly to s/e asia..