EC-Rider Travels

This morning we drove south from Hanoi to the ancient capital of Ninh Binh. Despite being 8am on a Sunday morning, Hanoi was buzzing with life. It is the flower capital and we saw a number of bicycles laden with the most beautiful flowers. We travelled for about an hour and a half through flat countryside of cultivated land, divided up in to long strips belonging to different families. They were growing varieties of fruit, vegetables and herbs interspersed with bright green paddy fields, once again many of them with a cemetery built amidst the rice.

We arrived at Ninh Binh, once known as Hoa Lu and the capital of Vietnam or Dai Co Viet as it was then, from 968-1009. It lies in a flat valley surrounded by the Tang An limestone mountains, which would have formed a natural wall of protection. The Halong River and its many tributaries run through the former capital which would have once served as convenient waterways.

We stopped just outside Ninh Binh at the Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve where there were a mass of flat-bottomed bamboo sampans with grinning, conical hatted, rowers waiting to take us (and many others!) for a gentle ride. We paired up and were expertly rowed (forwards from the back of the boat) through the freshwater marshes and swamps, towered over by impressive limestone karst with deep caves. It is one of the few wetlands remaining in Southeast Asia and is the home of the endangered Delacour langur monkey which can only be seen here. Sadly not today! In fact, with the exception of some rather amazing looking storks, we saw little wildlife which was sad, but heard amazing bird sounds which we are still trying to get to the bottom of.

We then went to look at the Dinh and Le temples, built in the 17th century and dedicated to the first two emperors of Vietnam: Dinh Bo Linh (968-979) and Le Hoàn (979-1005). The former grew up in the area as a warlord and having defeated twelve rival warlords, proclaimed himself emperor, reunified the country and in 968 founded the first imperial dynasty of Vietnam. He was assassinated in 979, his six-year-old son took the throne, and Lê Hoàn served as his regent. He soon gained power, married Dinh Bo Linh’s widow and deposed her son, declaring himself emperor. His sons fought over his succession, until Ly Cong Uan took over the country in 1010, moving the capital to Hanoi and declaring the Ly Dynasty… I think!

The Dinh Temple is built in the shape of a Chinese character. As you enter there is a stone, royal bed with a dragon engraved on it (a sign of strength) where Dinh Bo Linh’s throne would have been placed. The temple is in three parts: for the community, the mandarins and the emperor’s statue is in the centre with statues of his three sons on his left and right. The temple remains very sacred and devotees still worship here today.

Le Temple is about 200m away and similar, with three parts and Le Hoan’s statue in the centre, Queen Duong to his left (so she does not have her back to her first husband in the temple to the left) and his fifth son and successor Le Ngoi Trieu on his right.

With the little grey cells feeling a little over exercised we happily returned to the cool of the bus and were taken to lunch in the home of Nga and his family. It was Nga’s 84th birthday (we think!). He was a war veteran who with Ha’s help, told us about his time during these desperate years and answered the many questions we had. He was a communist fighting against the south and still suffers nightmares today. It is hard to believe the horrors which happened so very recently. Once again they gave us the most delicious lunch of numerous tasty courses.

We were then taken to the Tam Coc La Montagne Resort where we stay for a couple of nights. The back of the rooms (sadly not the way mine faces!) has a pretty view across the wetland to the extraordinary limestone mountains. On the other side there is a very noisy main road. It is quite a big resort with lots of lovely intentions, but I think very much in the recovery stage after COVID! We are the only ones staying. We had a quiet afternoon and supper in the hotel.