Day 4 - Hanoi / Ninh Binh

Woke up an hour too late to catch the tour group to Halong Bay. A little disappointed as that was supposed to be the highlight of my trip. Decided instead to take a train down to Ninh Binh, small city roughly 100km South-West of Hanoi, 2.5 hour journey by train. Took the soft seater - 37kD. Meal provided. Train was at 1545hrs so had time for the 'bun cha' that I'd missed yesterday. Yummy! I love meat afterall.

Kept getting stared at on the train by both the men and women, well the older women at least. I should be used to it by now. Been stared at from Day 1, but it's still unnerving. And I have no idea WHY they do it. Wasn't sure if it was due to my dressing (I ran out of clean clothes and so was dressed in shorts and a strappy top) or because I looked local and was therefore scandalous that I was travelling alone with a foreigner, or I was just paranoid.

*apparently Vietnamese girls don't smoke, don't drink, live with their parents till they get married, and are home by 2300hrs. They are demure, obliging and discreet. I am the exact opposite of that, and I sometimes feel as though they are able to reach into my mind and see what an Un-Vietnamese life I lead. :p I don't even know why I care. I could be COMPLETELY wrong!*

The 2 little old ladies to our left and the younger guy directly in front of us finally decided to strike up a conversation with me (of course, afterall "she looks JUST like one!"). First question they asked (directed to G this time) was if I was his wife. Apparently, it's more polite to say 'not yet' than it is to say 'no', and I really didn't want to be a social outcast, so G just anwered with the former. That got them excited and they appeared to be really happy for us for they kept looking at me, nodding their heads and smiling, and kept up a steady stream of conversation with G. It was all so surreal. I am now engaged.

Arrived at Ninh Binh at 1800hrs. Walked to Queen Mini Hotel (rooms from US$3 per night) 30m from train station. Had dinner of french fries (had meal on the train less than an hour ago), then took a walk around. It was already 2030hrs by then so nothing much to do. Spoke to the manager of the hotel about places we could see tomorrow. We had the option of getting them to organise a private tour, or we could go by ourselves by motorbike (US$5 per day) or bicycles US$1 per day. The adventurous me opted for the bicycles. Also since we had to catch the 1600hrs bus back to Hanoi so G could get to football practice at 1930hrs that evening, going by ourselves would give us the flexibility to pick and choose what we wanted to see and how long we wanted to stay. Woohoo!! Can't wait for tomorrow!