Budget: 1,200k Dong or $60; Spent: 505k Dong or $25
Patty here.
We got up this morning at around 9:30am to grab some breakfast before heading to Cuc Phuong National Park to do a hike that leads to a 1000 year old tree. Within the park there is also a conservation facility for various endangered animals.
After eating our breakfast we got a nice surprise when we went up to pay and were told it was free. We asked hotel owner about how to get the National Park and it turned out it was too late to go to the National Park for many reasons. First it was about 60kms away from our hotel. By car it takes about 2 hours to get there and we wanted to ride our bikes which according to the owner of our hotel would mean we wouldn't get back to the hotel until about 1am. Plus, the park requires all visitors to be accompanied by a guide which we would need to find and hire upon arriving. So needless to say we had to change plans. The owner of the hotel gave us a map and pointed out several other sites near Ninh Binh that were near enough to us that we could ride bikes to. We decided to rent 2 bicycles from our hotel for $5 for the whole day and head to the first site called Trang An. The hotel we were staying at is run and owned by an exceptional family. They went above and beyond for us during all our time there. The son whose name unfortunately I can't remember walked us outside to the bicycles and lowered the seat for me and before leaving he asked us to be very careful, and go slowly, because we were very important to him and his business. It was quite cute.
We made our way to a place called Trang An which is an area very similar to the site we went to yesterday. There are boat trips about 2 hours long that take you down the lake through about 10 grottoes (caves) and the surrounding area is stunning with limestone karst mountains, and lush greenery all around. Though it was a much warmer and brighter day than yesterday we weren't sold on paying $10 to do pretty much the same thing as the day before. We stopped on the bridge leading up to the dock where the boats leave to take a picture of the two of us with the timer on our camera:
A guy came up to us while we were on the bridge and asked if we would join him and his girlfriend on the boat ride. Apparently they had been waiting for awhile for a couple to go with. If you can't find 4 people for the boat trip you end up having to pay for a third ticket. We kind of felt bad about not doing the boat ride with them but I think it turned out to be for the best.
Riding our bikes through rural Vietnam turned out to be super fun and quite an adventure. We kind of got lost in a residential area but made many friends on our way through. People we're so friendly, always smiling and saying hello to us as we went by. The kids were especially friendly with us stopping us to practice their English. This one time a group of kids who looked around 9 years old stopped me to chat. One girl said "hello, what is your name?" and I said "Patty, what's yours?" And after she told me her name I put my hand out and shook her hand and said nice to meet you. And the kids all started laughing. Very cute moment.
We finally arrived at the next place called Mua Cave after muddling our way through the area and getting occasional directions from people. The site is basically a tall karst mountain with several flights of stairs that lead up to the top. At the top there is a monument and a beautiful view of the lake, karst mountains, and the farmland. On our way to the steps we stopped for lunch at a little hotel within the tourist site. There we had some packaged noodle soup for a cheap but filling lunch. It cost us $1.50 for both.
We made our way up two flights of stairs to get a feel for the steps and for Jeff to get footage of me running up the steps. After the first flight we quickly realized we are no longer in shape! We were totally out of breath so we took our time climbing the next few flights of stairs. After that, we thought okay, we're ready to race. There were 3 flights of stairs left to the top when we began to actually race. The first flight was the longest of them all and once we reached the top of it I got feeling pretty nauseous. I thought maybe it was because I pushed myself too hard and hadn't eaten enough. Well what was mild nausea and weakness at the time turned out to get much worse later that night. Jeff was tired but in much better condition than I was, so I told him to finish climbing the last flight of stairs without me. He grabbed a picture of the view at the top and I sat on the steps catching my breath. It was quite a view indeed. Here's the view from the top:
Here's the view from where I was sitting which wasn't so bad either:
A beautiful place for sure, just too bad I wasn't in a better condition to fully appreciate it. Once Jeff got back, I was feeling much the same - weak, nauseous, and short of breath
We took our time getting down, Jeff held most of the stuff while I paced myself down the steps. We got on our bikes, Jeff asked a girl for directions back to the city and off we went. Once I was sitting down on the bike I felt quite a bit better. We got going towards the city but had to bike our way through another residential area. At one point we were kind of lost and a group of locals who were all gathered outside a home pointed us in a different direction than we were headed. A little old lady specifically pointed us in a different direction. Something in her eyes told me she was guiding us in the wrong direction. Another girl pointed us in the same direction as the old lady but she too seemed sketchy especially when she made eye contact with the other women and chuckled. We looked down the street to where we were originally headed and where the ladies were telling us not to go, and we saw a big bull dozer blocking the road. We assumed that's what they were referring to. But another lady carrying a baby rolled her eyes at the other ladies, and motioned for us to keep going in the same direction. We were totally confused and didn't know who to listen to. I went with my gut and we ended up going in the direction of the bulldozer. There was a little path on the right of it that we used to get by. A nice guy grabbed my bicycle for me and carried it passed the bulldozer. Finally we were on our way. We eventually got to a fork in the road and didn't know which way to go. Then a really kind lady on a motorbike saw us lost and asked how she could help us. She pointed us in the direction of the city and we kept going. 10 mins later we were in the city but not totally sure where we were going. The same lady that had stopped to offer help with directions stopped again and said she was so worried about us. She asked us where we were headed and said she was going the same way and to follow her. I ended up chatting with her just about the whole way to the supermarket. I asked her where she learned her English and surprisingly she had never traveled outside Vietnam. She had learned her English by watching CSI. haha so cute. She was a teacher and she said on her time off from work she would spend time teaching her neice instead of travelling. Once we got the supermarket we thanked her and went our seperate ways. We picked up some more water since we were quite dehydrated and back to the hotel we went. I think the owner was relieved to see us because he had a huge smile on his face and jokingly said "who are you?". We were pretty happy to be back and I was still not feeling so good.
Once we got back to the room, I rushed to the bathroom and quickly learned what the problem was. I went a few more times and began burping a foul sulfur smell. My stomach began feeling extremely bloated and in no time I was back in the bathroom. I would spend the next few hours going back and forth. My stomach began aching badly and at the worst of it, I was in the bathroom doing my thing all the while needing to vomit at the same time. A combination of nausea, diarrhea and vomiting made for a very seriously awful experience. Jeff ended up having dinner by himself. I was too sick to join him. When he got back, I was very dehydrated and probably lost almost all the liquid in my body. He went downstairs to grab some pop for me. He went down 3 different times to get me drinks. The sweet owner apparently offered to take Jeff to the pharmacy for me, and then again offered to take me to the hospital if it got worse. We were very thankful to have brought all the over-the-counter drugs we needed. I stuffed myself with Tums, Immodium, and Gravol and waited for the feeling to pass. We were watching "Good Morning Vietnam" that night and had to stop it a couple times for me to head to my office for the night aka the bathroom. It was a very rough night. After doing some research on the internet, it was very clear I had gotten what's known as Traveller's Diarrhea (TD). I had all the symptoms, nausea, stomach cramps, chills, diarrhea, and bloating. I hope I haven't included too much info, but what I've written is also for me to remember that Traveller's Diarrhea is a horrible thing and to use it as a reminder to be more cautious with what we're eating.
A good start to the day, followed by a rough night. I guess it's the really bad times that make you appreciate the good times.
Patty
Perhaps your tummy ills are a forewarning for India. Remember, they don't call it the Delhi Belly for nothing!
ReplyDeleteChris