It was the best of times, It was the worst of times

I had been warned by a number of travelers that the intensity of the Vietnamese tourism industry would make me wish I stayed in Laos - these sentiments were confirmed only a few long hours after crossing the border in which time myself and four fellow travellers had been extorted and repeatedly nagged and yelled at - I eventually found my way to Ninh Binh surrounded by friendlier locals.

The countryside surrounding Ninh Binh is marketed as "Halong Bay on land" so I rented a motorbike and set off exploring ... what i found was more stunning than tag had suggested - more apt a description would be "Halong bay on rice paddies" (fortunately for me: at harvest time) - I spent hours riding the tracks surrounding the paddies and through the narrow hay strewn streets of the tiny inset villages, watching the harvest and climbing the looming limestone formations, taking a rowboat ride through the paddies and caves, enjoying lunch and ridiculously strong rice wine at the home of a friendly local family (who nevertheless, in true Vietnamese style asked for a financial contribution) - somewhere in the mix I managed to lose my wallet out of my back pocket as i bounced along, however, that was not going to dampen the day. The sky darkened, the track around the rice paddy narrowed and I found myself pulling battered bike and body out of the paddy mud - unfortunately it was not a job for one so I hobbled with a deeply cut knee a few hundred meters to the small glow from a ridiculously quaint bungalow. With the help of the locals I extricated the bike and washed both it + myself of with water from their well. After dinner, home made whiskey and a smoke we were revived enough to take another look at the bike - a couple of hours draining and drying critical components and the bike sputtered to life. Deeply ingratiated to the newfound friends I decided to forgo the offer of a bed for the night and head home (in the course of the repair one of the guys slipped his hand where I didn't want it - I still are not sure why, but didn't really want to find out). I rode home still covered with mud and smiling after the most memorable and enjoyable day of the trip so far.

The next day after taking the bike to get fixed (500 000 Dong! that's ridiculous, oh, its only 40bucks) I had to chose between the "RICE" and "Get back on your Bike" schools of thought - I choose the latter after the hotel owners hesitatingly agreed to rent me another bike (not before unsuccessfully recommending that I have a driver) - fortunately this day was less eventful and almost as enjoyable. I went to bed planning a two day motorbike trek further afield.