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I am the only blonde in the village.
It's been a strange day in Ninh Binh, 93km South of Hanoi. The Lonely Planet says that it's "off the beaten track" and they are not kidding - I've only seen about 3 other travellers and my hair makes me somewhat of an oddity here!
The weather in Vietnam isn't great at the moment, so rather than head directly South to Hoi An I decided to do a little detour to Ninh Binh where it's sunny. The key attraction in Ninh Binh is Nam Coc, which is written about as "similar to Halong Bay but without the water". After the craziness of Hanoi I was looking forward to some gorgeous scenery. Ninh Binh is not quite the sleepy village I'd envisaged - it's actually a fairly large town, complete with the mad traffic (although thankfully there are road crossings here!) - and the occasional cow pulling a cart thrugh the streets.
Having arrived late last night I made firm friends with the lady who owns the hotel and haggled my way to a bargain rate for a nice big room with a view.. I was pleasantly surprised when I realised that I could see the hills of Tam Coc (just like Halong Bay) in the distance. Deciding to have a quiet day of exploring the town and leaving the sights for tomorrow, I set off for a wander... little realising that the main attraction for the day in Ninh Binh would be me!
Ninh Binh really mustn't get many tourists, because all day people have stared, pointed, called out to me, held their babies up for me to play with... a bit disconcerting until I realised they were just quite unused to seeing blonde hair. I was sitting in the park this afternoon and a group of schoolchildren went past on bicycles. Twice. Each one looking shyly past their eyelashes as they stared at the strange white girl with the yellow hair. One little boy plucked up the courage to shout "Hello!" as he went past again, so I said "Hello" back, causing a ripple of giggles from the children. The cheey thing then said "Hello. Money!" which made me laugh a lot (although I suspect I won't find it so funny in a few weeks time - it was no joke when I heard that Westerners are just walking ATMs here). The schoolchildren turned out to be a lot of fun; we got into a little game of "Hello"-ing back and forth, then they got plucky - and pulled out camera phones! I had my photo taken with them all and took pictures of them in return, all the while giggling as they dared each other to sit next to me. Even the bigger kids stopped on their way back from school, passing me a few times on their huge, adult-sized bicycles then coming to sit next to me and practice their English. Deciding it was time to move on, I headed up to a pagoda perched on top of a hill overlooking the town, anticipating some peace and quiet time for reflection. No chance! As I approached the bottom of the winding steps (to a chorus of giggles from the locals who collect the entrance fee), a group of teenage boys eyed me curiously - then followed me up the 200 steps, looking nervously at each other all the way. When we reached the summit, they came over and asked (through sign language mostly) if they could take a photo, then invited me to join them for crisps and beer next to the shrine! I'm not a Buddhist but I'm sure that's not quite what the monks had in mind for an offering! Anyway we happily whiled away some time getting to know each other, munching crisps and joking around. I felt like part of the gang.
On my way back through the town it felt as though every single person looked, smiled, shouted "Hello", waved and giggled as I walked past. One man just stroked his face, pointed at me and said "very white" - I took it as a compliment! Strange days indeed.
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