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Sometimes it's hard to know where to go. As a traveller, you want to find somewhere "off the beaten track", but since we often work off word-of-mouth from other travellers, we generally end up retracing the same touristy steps as others before us or rocking into a town where there's nothing to do and people why you're there. "Did that white guy get off at the wrong bus stop?" Anyway, when we had that group of locals in Saigon keen to share their knowledge of lesser-known destinations in Vietnam, we were keen to follow their advice. That led us to the karsts of Ninh Binh and Bai Tu Long Bay.
Karsts, or karst topography refers to a landscape where rock has been dissolved and eroded over time, leaving unique rock formations. The result for the limestone of northern Vietnam is near vertical cliffs and awe-inspiring mountains poking up seemingly out of nowhere. The land runs flat and all of a sudden cliff face climbs to the sky. We first saw this unique geological feature around Koh Phi Phi in southern Thailand years ago. However, nothing compares in my experience to that of the scenic northern Vietnam. Ninh Binh is perched right alongside a range of these karst mountains and is an otherwise pancake-flat landscape in every direction. The result is a rural area mostly undiscovered by tourists that is ideal for days of back road exploration on bicycles. Naturally, we grabbed bikes from our homestay regularly and pedalled ourselves around the majestic and eerily quiet rice paddies and farmlands. We also hired ourselves a rowboat (equipped with tough, grizzled Vietnamese paddler lady) and took to the little rivers and estuaries that run under the caves and grottoes beneath the mountains.
Once headed north again we knew we wanted to see these karsts surrounded by seas, too. But having heard countless horror stories from fellow travellers about the state of tourist-infested Halong Bay, we dug back in to our notepad of locals' recommendations and set sail for Bai Tu Long instead. Neighbouring Halong Bay, this area is an extension of the famous karst bay, takes a little longer to get to and is a lot more peaceful. I could count on one hand the number of other boats we saw during our 3 days, 2 nights on the water. We swapped our bicycles for kayaks and drifted off between the rough mountains in search of the perfect shell-strewn beach. Whilst not on the kayaks we gorged ourselves on 7-courses of fresh seafood per meal (not even exaggerating!), practiced tai chi with a master at dawn on the deck, and lounged on the sunbeds watching the sunset with cocktail in hand. Was I seriously bored with this lifestyle a week ago?
Sadly cocktails and cruises aren't free and so we need to thank our Suitcase Of Dreams gift givers. Thank you Mitchell for the gift of a boat ride through the caves. Thank you Sasha for the money to go towards the cruise around the bay. It was everything we imagined it to be and loved every moment out there. And a HUGE thank you to Sjane's sister Kylie who pretty much single-handedly financed our time in Vietnam. She said to not come home until we'd visited her beloved 'Nam. I can say without hesitation that it's been one of our favourite countries to date. We've loved it and wish our visas weren't about to expire.
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