My First Impressions of Ninh Binh 🇻🇳 | More Beautiful Than I Expected

We just arrived this morning in Ninh Binh and we have the luxury to catch the morning market because we arrived at 6am earlier than expected. We are going to take this opportunity and we're going to take the boat ride on Tam Kok before the day trips and before the other crowds arrive. Look how many boats there are here and no people because it's before they open. They open at 7am. This is what our hotel receptionist told us. They open at 7am and right now it's even before 7am, a few minutes before. So we're going to be so early for this. We have two options. You go by boat and come back by boat. 250. For two or for one? 250. For one. Okay. And 350 for the boat, taking the bus. Okay, we will take right now only this one. Yeah, only the boat. Aha, okay. So for only the boat. Not here. You go trash. Trash. You go trash. So if you only want the tickets for the boat ride, there's a separate counter because they sell for the bus ride entry as well, but we want to do this separately. So right now we only want the boat ride. Thank you so much for asking. Thank you. So Elias asked if we can take the small ride until the ticket counter. This is so funny because we're back to the main station where we arrived with the bus today morning. So we could have bought the tickets today morning, but now we know. So you buy the tickets. Come on. Thank you. You buy the tickets from the central bus station. Two tickets for Tamcok boat? Yes, only boat please. Only boat please. 250 per person and it will only be for two people, which is amazing. So basically. Thank you very much. This is the way we're going to go. Thank you. Come on. Let's go back. Okay. Before we take the boat tour, there's actually one thing I really, really want to take, which is a hat. This type of traditional hat that they're selling. I like that one with flowers, but it's so big. This one is a little bit smaller. Yeah. I think it works nice with my... Oh, so pretty. Inside. Okay. We'll ask inside. At the counter. How much? 80,000. Okay. How do I wear it? Like this or like this? Like this? Like this or like this? Okay. Both are okay. Oh, this is so pretty. I love it. And I have a little bit of a band. Life jackets. Oh my God. Don't mind. Elias is back. It's so pretty. It's so hot in here. In case you didn't believe me, it's hot now. You see it with your own eyes. Thank you. Come on. Thank you. That way. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Let's go. I will go in the front. Here. Okay. Come on. Okay. Yoo-hoo. Oh, where is he? Oh, he's in the back. I was thinking, where is he going if he's pushing the boat? So, right now, there's nobody except for us. Look at this. This is so pretty. Look at this. Oh, look at him. How he's pedaling with the legs. Wow. This might be so hard. I don't think I can do that. Yeah. No, I don't think I can do that. Looks like someone else is doing the same thing. Oh, yeah. I think everybody here is doing like this. Okay. Look at this. Nobody. There's nobody here. This is what you get if you come here at 7 o'clock. This is so crazy. This is actually our luck for today. It's so pretty here. There are so many cafes with a view. Hey, what's up, camera? Thank you. Thank you so much. So, it's good to know that there is a lady taking photos. Oh, I'm actually afraid because I cannot see. I think we're about to enter the cave. It's so peaceful. It's so beautiful. Basically, there are two tours you can take. There's this one on Tamco. There's another one on Trangan. But this one is shorter. Oh, my God. This is so beautiful. This is so random. Hello. Xin chào. What are you doing here? There is a man singing over there and our boat guide stopped us here. He said there is a beautiful photo point up. So, we just got off the boat. And we're going to take the beautiful photo, right? Oh, there are stairs. I thought I was supposed to climb there because I'm not able to do this. We climbed a little bit. Not too long. I think less than two minutes. And we made it to the viewpoint. And there are many people here flying the drone, taking professional photos. And I can see why. Look at this. This is the view. And there are so many people before us. So, let's go take some photos also over there. It's very hot here. But the pictures are perfect. I think it's the harvesting season. Hello. Because we saw many boats carrying rice around. So, it's even more beautiful. The rice terraces are so gorgeous. And I do, do, do encourage you to come as early as you can. As early as you can, we'll do just fine. We stopped for photos here. And there's also, I think, a television filming in the back. And again, there's nobody. This is so pretty. The lotus flower is the symbol of Vietnam, the traditional flower of Vietnam. And this is such a perfect way to see from close, to take some beautiful photos. We did our tour boat. It was really, really nice. You see that there are many tours. Not stopping here to take photos. So, my guess is that if you want to tip your tour boat, you can do it at the beginning. So that you make sure you stop as much as you can and take beautiful photos along the way. Nobody warned us that on the way there, there are going to be ladies or gentlemen singing traditional songs. You have live music all along the way. It's so beautiful because this boat ride does not only include the rice fields. But you also have a little bit of nature. You also have live music. You also have many viewpoints, pretty viewpoints to take photos. It's also pretty when there are so many other boats around you. So, right now, it's starting to get crowded. It's 9. 9.15. Look at this. Look how many boats are here. So many people starting to have this boat tour. But I think it's also nice. I'm so excited. A girl being a girl. Oh, is this jackfruit or durian? I've never seen jackfruit. I've never seen in real life. This is so cool. On a third place for photos. So, it's a viewpoint. So, these are my shoes today. And I'm telling you that it's easy to climb with such shoes. Maybe with high heels, it's a little bit more difficult. I saw somebody with high heels. But this is okay. It was a beautiful, beautiful experience. I think I would rate it 100 out of 10. But we arrived just in time. Because it just started to rain. So, our tour took a little bit more than 2 hours. Because we stopped for 2 viewpoints and 1 lotus bridge. So, right now, how about eating something? Now, we're going to rent a bicycle. Because what many people are doing is cycling around. The distances can be long but also short depending on your destination. And today, we're going to test this. So, I'm really excited about this. Because it's been a while since I last cycled. So, we rented the bicycle. We're going to be here in Ipin without taking the bicycle. Without taking the bicycle, yeah. This is mine. This is so interesting. It's the first time I'm seeing like this. So, this is how you lock it, right? Like this. Oh, my God. And when you will open, you will... Oh, this is so cool. This is so ingenious. This is going to be so easy for us. Okay. You're leading the way, okay? Because you know the way. So, I will follow you, okay? I'm so happy I remember how to do it. It's so easy. But the brakes are not working. So, I might not be recording for too long. This is Elias just in front of me leading the way. And what I wanted to show you is really funny. Because... Wow, this is me. Because look at this rice over here. I think it's rice, right? That they put to dry. And the kids playing around. And then... Elias over there. But the view. Look at the view. This is so pretty. Here is me and Malina. Hello. But it's closed. I'm going to leave you the location of the place in case you want to come. But check before because it might be closed. It's I think the chicken farm and... Or duck farm where you can feed the ducks. But we didn't come for this. We came to see a nice view and to also eat something. Ah, the ducks are there. Ah, this is so pretty. It's on the main road. So, it's really easy to make it. Ah, the baby ducks. Look at them over there. I'm still on the bicycle. That's why it takes me so long to speak. But look at them. So cute. They also have a small dog. Vietnamese people really love dogs. If you want the lake view, you have the lake view. If you want the bridge view, you have the bridge view. And if you want the rice terrace view, you have the rice terrace view. Let me see yours. It's the same but I have tomatoes. Yeah, it's the same. I have more vegetables and you have tomatoes. The banh mi we had was pretty decent. I will give it a 6 out of 10. And right now we just left the cafe and we are cycling along the main road. And it's so pretty. The view is really really pretty. The only scary thing is that there are cars and scooters around. But it's pretty okay. Not too crowded. It's decided. Renting a bike here in Ninh Binh is an activity itself. So, it's part of the trip. So, you have to do it. And we found a very beautiful road. I will leave you the location. On one side you have rice fields. And on the other side you have a river with beautiful trees. So, this one is also a place for beautiful photos. Hello. Honestly, this city is amazing. I really don't understand why I didn't know about it so far. And why I didn't come here earlier. We were just cycling along the road. And we saw the locals harvesting. So, they are just living their life. And we can witness how they are living their daily life. We just stopped to watch them. The locals stopped watching the machines harvesting. This is so pretty. We made it to Hoa Lu ancient town. I think, how is it in Vietnamese? Look how beautiful the range it is. And look at that. I think it's a pagoda, right? Oh, and maybe during the day you can also take a ride or a trip on the boat. I really love that there are so many river views here. And I think we are going to cross the bridge. And walk a little bit on that side. Maybe see what restaurants or shops they have over there. I think it's very interesting how many places here remind me of China. And actually, Ninh Binh was the capital of Vietnam after they broke free from China. And it was a capital only for, I think, 40 something years. 42 years. Because after it was moved to Hanoi. Look on that side. So many shops, right? Souvenir shops, coffee shops. And then here, walking, I think, all the way to the pagoda. I think so. So pretty. One word to say. Magical. Magical, magical, magical. These boats are so beautifully illuminated. There is somebody turning on the lights for all of them. And my guess is that later on you can take a boat ride in that beautiful boat. So magical. Hello, this is for me. What do you have there? It's sweet? Sweet. I'm not sure if it's a lake or a river. Hello. We are from Romania. From Romania. This is my student. We are practicing English with a Korean friend. Can we ask you some questions? Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Hello. Can you say hello? Hello. What's your name? My name is Elias. My name is Malina. So a teacher stopped us and she is telling us that she brought her kids today to practice English. They will ask us some questions and we can reply, we can answer to the questions. So the questions were like, what is your favorite color? What is your favorite animal? What is your, how do you stay healthy? What is your name? How old are you? It was really funny. And Elias and I played along the way. Yeah, we had a conversation. So we had a really nice conversation. And they were actually, yeah, speaking good English. Honestly speaking, after visiting most of the countries here in Asia, all of them, they are very beautiful. But the Vietnamese people, they are very kind. Exactly, very kind and very... Open for the foreigners to talk with them. Yeah, warm-hearted. We have many previous episodes from Vietnam. We had only beautiful experiences with local people. So I think we'll be back for the first time again. Because Vietnam and Vietnamese people have a very special place in our hearts. What we're going to do is stroll a little bit around. Maybe eat something and then head back to our accommodation. Because tomorrow we have another day of exploring Ninh Binh. So if you are watching until now, don't forget to give us a thumbs up. And if you, hi! If you want to be part of our family, we have a small family of 34,000 people. Hi! Of 34,000 people. So if you want to be part of our family, subscribe to Molina's Vibe. And this being said, we'll see you tomorrow. Bye! It's a new day of exploring. A new beautiful place in here. And today, as yesterday, we are going to go to the ticket counter. Because the first thing we want to visit is the beautiful Mua Cave. Hi! Two tickets, please. Two adults. Come on. Thank you. Come on. We ordered a Grab, which is the local obligation that you can use here to order a taxi. We wanted to arrive as early as possible to avoid the crowds and the heat. On the way here, we saw some water buffalo from the car. Hello. Xin chào. Hello. Thank you. Come on. Thank you. So right now we entered Hang Mua, or Mua Cave. It's actually a sort of a bigger park. A natural park. Yes, you can actually stay in the park and you can visit everything a little bit earlier. You can take photos and videos earlier than the tourists. The entrance opens at 6 a.m. Right now it's 7 a.m. We didn't want to be too early though. And as you can see right now, there are a few people around. But it's not really crowded. What is really interesting is that this place is called Hang Mua, which means Mua Cave. But most of the people are coming here for the mountain. There is a view for which you need to climb 500 stairs. So let's see if we can do it. There is a long way surrounded by lotus flowers on both sides. And I think this is so pretty. Maybe good for photos, if you want to take beautiful photos. And right now, I think it's the perfect time, perfect time, perfect season. Look, people are even getting dressed especially for taking photos here. The water here is really, really free. There are beautiful trees. There are beautiful lakes. There are beautiful, I don't know, statues over here. And we are heading right now to the viewpoint. They say here, to the viewpoint. So, let's go. To the Lion Dragon Mountain. The first, second, and third step out of 500. Wow, the sound of the nature. What is really unexpected for me is that the stairs are pretty high. So, it really feels like you are climbing two stairs in a step. So that's why I think it's a little bit harder than I expected. We are more than halfway up. And I'm so sweaty. It's really difficult. But look how rewarding the view is. And at some point, we had to choose left or right. And we took the left way. So, we have this beautiful view on the way up over there. Which I think is really pretty. It's really rewarding. And you can see over there in the back. We were just over there, down, taking photos. So, it's really rewarding. But the good thing is that you can take your time. You really need to come in the morning. Because it's so, so hot. And you need it to be as cold as possible. But I want to show you, here, the view of Tumcoc River. Which is the river that we did yesterday. So, there is a glimpse of the river here. And I think it's really spectacular. You can see the rice fields over here. And then, the small pagoda, that one over there. And on that part over there, you see the road. And then, you see the lotus field. We just finished our hike. And people started to come. Here is the cave, also. There is also a cave that you can visit. It's really pretty. Hard, but beautiful. I think it's a little bit overrated to go to the top. Because the most beautiful view is probably from the drone. The view that you don't see. You can go halfway through. I think, not halfway through. Almost at the end, right? Where I stopped was almost at the end, right? A little bit after the middle. So, at that point, you can have a very beautiful spot for photos. Exactly, you can see the other side of the mountain. And you can also go to the other side of the mountain. So, no need to climb. I mean, if you want to do it, yeah, of course you can do it. But don't feel the pressure to do it. Of course, there are many other places that you can visit in Vinh. It used to be once the capital of Vietnam. So, it's understandable. There is a lot of history here. There is a lot of beautiful landscapes. And I will leave you more details in the description of the vlog. I hope you really enjoyed what we did. Our exploration. And if so, don't forget to give us a thumbs up. And if you want to be part of our family. We have a small family of 34,000 people. Don't forget to subscribe to Molina's Web. And this wraps up our trip from Vietnam. I already have my next trip planned. And I will see you in the next episode. Bye!