Nihn Binh ninnies

3 days ago we arrived in Ninh Binh. Our home stay was called quoc khanh home stay . we went on MotOr  bikes to a place where you ride a row boat. I went through  the place where they made the film  KING  KONG SCULL ISLAND.  WE WENT THROUGH 30 CAVES I LOVED IT. WE WALKED THE 500 STEPS   AT THE TOP I SAW A DRAGON A TEMPLE ACTUALLY TWO TEMPLES   THERE WAS A GUY SINGING kAROKE IT WAS HORRIBBLE I HAD TO RUN  DOWN THE STEPS AND COVER MY EARS AT THE SAME TIME . BUT AT THE END I DID GET A   DELICIOUS    MOCK TALE WITH SPRITE MONEN STRAW BERRY AND MINT .  WE WENT FOR A REFRESHING SWIM ALSO A RIDE   ON A RAFT AROUND THE   WATERHOLE   POOL MY DAD WAS EXHAUSTED  IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MURKY  BROWN WATER HE FAINTED WHEN WE GOT BACK HOME AFTER WE HAD DINER IN A BAR AND BREKEY AND LUNCH FOR DINER NOODLES FOR BREAKFAST  PAN CAKES AND A SMOOTHIE FOR LUNCH JAM ON TOAST. I FOUND A RHINO BEETLE

Parents note:

We arrived in Ninh Binh after a 3 hour train ride from Hanoi to find our guest house nestled among sheer limestone cliffs and ponds covered with lotus blossoms and dragon flies. Paradise except for one thing. It was hot. Damn hot. Hotter than hot. and our room didn't have air conditioning  It did have 4 fans but that just doesn't cut it when you could brew a cup of tea with water coming out the cold tap. 

Right on the front steps of our guest house was a large muddy pond where the local families farmed some type of small fish, snails and clams.  It had a small raft that you could punt around on but when I took the kids out, a wind picked up and blew us into the far corner and I had to get off and swim the get the raft back to sure.  There was no exhaustion and no fainting - (that was just creative license from Tasman) but it was really smelly Nihn Bihn was a much smaller place than Hanoi and the change of pace was good for spirits - especially as the family that ran our guest house loved the kids and spoiled them rotten. Even though Jeanie refused to talk them, they still regularly brought her yoghurt treats and ice creams.

Close by the was the Tam An national park which you see by lady-powered boat. Bascially you all sit in these little row boats and one lady uses her feet to work the oars and row you through caves and into temples. IT was a pretty amazing experience but the highlight for Tas was getting to the park via Motor Scooter.

 We also visited Hung Mua which had us climbing 500 steps up to a temple.  Needless to say, it was hot when we climbed and by the time we reached the top we were all bright red in the face and covered in sweat.  I carried jeanie on my shoulders and was going weak at the knees when this skinny local man jumped out at me at the top holding a portable microphone and singing vietnamese karaoke songs that sounded like a cross between an out-of-tune vilolin and the neighbours pig as they stuck it that morning.

The best part of the walk was getting back to the bottom and 'swimming' in a cold mountain spring that ran beneath the caves.

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