{"id":5473,"date":"2024-11-27T13:13:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T13:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/?p=5473"},"modified":"2024-11-27T13:13:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T13:13:30","slug":"cat-ba-to-ninh-binh-by-a-plethora-of-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/?p=5473","title":{"rendered":"Cat Ba to Ninh Binh by a plethora of means"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a spoiler alert, yes, I did make it to Ninh Binh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Vietnamese Coffee with Condensed Milk <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I slept OK. Woke up a bit, some of which is normal for me, and some of which was probably travel anxiety. And some of which had to do with what happened yesterday after I wrote the blog entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a whim, I double checked the requirements for a Thai Visa Waiver & discovered something I’d not seen before; That the timeframe on that waiver is cut in half for Overland entry to Thailand, from 30 days to 15.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muttered some things about the SEA region in general that I’m not too proud of, but I did a bunch of research on this, looking at everything I could, and I still missed it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the big things that’s had me contemplating giving up & going back to NZ, because it seems like it keeps happening. I miss something or don’t even know that I should look for it. I did the best research I could, and it still keeps happening.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once this trip is over, I am not going to do another one of this style in a region like this. I’ll use a travel agent or a tour company or something, because it’s just exhausting & demoralising.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have options, the simplest one being to just fly to Thailand instead, and I’ll probably go with that one unless I think of a reason not to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

On with today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headed out reasonably early for me on this trip & got breakfast at the same place I did yesterday. I’m not entirely sure what it’s called, but I think it’s part of the Waterside Hotel. Which is a really long way from any water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Packing up back at the hostel took way less time than I expected, so I went for a walk, and tripped+fell into a cafe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The bus arrived roughly when I expected; After the 1200 I was told, and before the 1230 it was scheduled. A Danish couple I met on the boat tour was also on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip was … Complicated. And with very little warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Bus picked up people going to Hanoi & to Ninh Binh<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Once it got to the office\/storefront, all the Ninh Binh people had to get off to collect their bags to board a different bus. This is where disaster nearly struck, because in the sudden “everyone off” I forgot my daypack & had to race back to get it. We were still picking up bags at that stage, so it only took a few seconds, but … That can’t happen again.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The new bus drove to a frankly dilapidated port, where we got off to wait for a boat <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A boat (with life jackets) duly arrived, and we all went back to the mainland <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The third and final bus was weird. Probably a sleeper, with three rows of double decker reclined seats, and a weird compartment that your feet go into right behind the seat in front, like a ride at a theme park<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Waiting for the boat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    A bit run-down, though they did have a little shop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    On board the boat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    My view from the bus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    But, eventually, we got there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I think I found the bus ride a smidge more anxious than the scooter in Hanoi, but that was mostly a combination of “what will happen next” and the driver hitting the horn all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Got dropped off with the Danish couple again, who were headed for a different place down the same street, and found the Anh Huong Tam Coc Homestay homestay. It’s family run, and it’s a little odd to have the person checking you in referring to “My Home” when talking about the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Room is comfortable, looks like I can book a tour or two while I’m here, and it has the thing I need the most right now, which is somewhere to fall over & pass out; That was a tiring day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As a spoiler alert, yes, I did make it to Ninh Binh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[94],"tags":[96,128,129],"class_list":["post-5473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sabbatical","tag-bus","tag-cat-ba","tag-ninh-binh"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3O6N9-1qh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}