Ninh Binh day 2

A 9am start, a quick breakfast, a walk around the lake and then we drove to Tràng An, a popular point for boat trips with amazing surroundings. We bought tickets and went to get on the boat but were told that we had to wait for around 20 minutes for two more people to join us in the boat. We were also told the boat trip was between two to three hours which we didn't have enough time for as Aimee had to be back in the afternoon for a work shift.

We had to get a refund but I was so frustrated. It's not an exaggeration to say there were hundreds of boats which weren't being used and dozens of staff just sitting around waiting for customers. We were customers and wanted to give them our money to take us on a boat for up to two hours but they didn't want to know. It was four people per boat and no flexibility on the length of the trip. You'd think they didn't want the money.

Instead we drove along some of the best roads I've seen in a while, winding between what look like rock islands scattered about. It's quite similar to Halong Bay but on land. We found another boat station who actually had some business sense and they took us around for an hour. It was incredibly hot so we were given parasols (see the extra photo). We saw a few gorgeous kingfishers and it was a very relaxing trip but the scenery wasn't as dramatic as the other location.

From there we had to drive non-stop back to Hanoi for Aimee to get back in time for work. The last 45 minutes of the drive were quite stressful with the Hanoi traffic. I collected my large bag from my hotel, asked to use their shower and then sat using the wifi for a few hours, killing time before my night train to Sapa.

The train left at 9.30pm and I was in a room with three Vietnamese people who used Google Translate to ask me if I could swap beds as one of the ladies had an injured leg. I agreed and moved from a bottom bunk to the top. Unfortunately it meant I could feel the movement of the train a lot more and the air conditioning was on full blast right above me. As a result I barely slept.