Day 6–Pu Luong to Ninh Binh, Vietnam

Waking up to the incredible beauty of our resort brought peace to my soul. I opened the curtains and found the view outside had remained spectacular. Somehow, I forgot. The downside to this beauty was our departure. All of us wished we could have enjoyed the tranquillity longer, but travelers must be travelers…

When we arrived in Ninh Binh, Andy had mentioned there were some stairs he’d like to climb. His goal was the beautiful views. Not knowing anything about them, Corell and I decided to join him.

Vietnam does not have Uber. Instead, they use Grab. The service allows you to see the cost ahead of time and either pay by card or wait to pay by cash. It’s pretty slick and inexpensive too.

Andy quickly ordered us a car, and we were off. Within minutes we reached the destination.

Because I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, I had no expectations for the area. The lotus leaves filled a field and the park provided paths to walk amongst them. We took a few pictures but had no time to walk around them.

While the park had many other activities as well, we knew our mission—500 steps. We started slowly as the muggy weather forewarned us of the challenge we were about to embark upon. I’m not sure the expectation matched the effort though. By the time I finished, you could have likely wrung my clothes out. They were soaked.

I knew the climb would be tough, but I kept with the mantra “slow and steady wins the race.” Thankfully plenty of beautiful views along the way gave me a chance to catch my breath and hydrate. Corell, Andy, and I stayed together and provided both encouragement and support to each other. Our ascent was fun.

When we finally reached the top, we needed to do a bit of bouldering. The summit had a fifty foot (my estimation) dragon that stretched across the mountain. Below we witnessed boats of people moving down the stream in one direction and the town in the other. Where we were, we shared tight quarters with many other adventurers. The footing was tricky, but we took our time and reveled in the victory!

My body struggled after we finished our ascent. I drank all my water but needed more. At one of the turns down, there was a shop nestled in the rock crevices. I stopped and grabbed grape flavored water. My body quickly recovered, and our knees continued to find feeling with every uneven step down.

Eventually we reached the flat ground and made our way to the Grab. Soaked, Corell and I quickly showered for our next activity—a boat ride. Our group divided into three groups of two, and we boarded our boat. Kirsten and Andy, Roxana and Corell, and Blake and I started out.

I’d liken this experience to the gondolas of Venice as someone else powered the vessel. Both Kirsten/Andy and Roxana/Corell experienced expert foot rowing. Their boat people (what’s the correct term) placed their feet on the oars and made circular motions to power the boat. The ride lasted nearly two hours, so their arms were likely fatigued—especially with us not being their first customers.

Blake and I must have had the rower with the strongest arms as she utilized her arms the entire time. I was amazed!

Along the way, Blake and I took time to learn about each other. We come from different parts of the U.S., but many of our collective experiences were the same. In addition to sharing the lives we’ve lived, we also observed the environment. We went in bat caves, watched goats hang out high in the mountains, and saw the dragon where Corell, Andy, and I had been. This time became one of my favorite memories

Once we finished, we returned to our rooms before heading to town for dinner. Blake, Roxana, and Corell tried and loved duck. I took a bite and didn’t hate it. The company was superb and our walk/Grab home was also nice. As days go, this one will remain memorable for a long time.