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Today we couldn't have a lie in as we planned a day trip to Bai Dinh province to see a Pagoda (Buddhist temple) and some caves. So up we were at 7am. We also had to pack all our stuff up as we had to move hotel rooms. When we arrived at this hotel we got an upgrade to a family suite but since then someone had booked that suite so we had to change.
We had a 2 hour minibus drive to the pagodas with Peter our tour guide for the day who looked exactly like Ed Miliband! He was great though.
We weren't that interested in the pagoda as we just wanted to see the caves but as its part of the same trip we had to do it. Two things I like about the Buddhist temples though is that 1, they are beautifully decorated with sparkly bits and 2, I love the smell of the incense burning.
The pagoda was a series of levels, each with separated by steps going uphill. Safe to say, by the time we got to the top we were unbelievably sweaty!! But the view was amazing.
After lunch we headed for the caves yay! There were about 30 people in our group so we had to split into 3s to board a small bamboo rowing boat. There were 4 on our boat altogether, Mark, me, a Vietnamese tourist and the rower.
There were extra oars on board so Mark and I had a go at rowing too, Mark got a little competitive. The caves were awesome though. There were 5 caves altogether but because of the high tide we could only go through 2 of them.
For the last cave, we had to sit on the floor of this small boat otherwise we wouldn't have fit through the cave and would have banged our heads on the roof of the cave. Then coming out of the cave, I had to lie flat being on the left hand side. Such a small gap to fit through but awesome.
After heading back to Hanoi, we headed out for tea to our favourite pub. 5 minutes after leaving the hotel, the heavens opened!! It absolutely chucked it down! Rain, thunder and lightening. By the time we got to the pub, which was only 10 minutes away we were soaked! So what else to do but to have a few cocktails, watch the storm from the balcony and wait for it to pass.
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