Day 55! The sleeper bus definitely got to me again today, but that didn’t stop me from getting up to some fun! Today was a full day of food, adventure, and a lot of relaxation. I’ll be on my way to Hoi An while you’re reading this, hopefully sleeping to the rumbling of the highway!

I woke up at 8:30am today to make sure I got my free homestay breakfast! After eating my instant noodles with egg (which I forgot to take a picture of), I promptly went back to bed till around noon!

Lea and I headed toward a side of Tam Coc we hadn’t really explored yet because there were allegedly cheaper tickets for an activity we wanted to do today (Harry and Grace told me about this spot).

On the way we stopped for lunch at a little restaurant that also was a laundromat.

It was another chilly day in Ninh Binh and most restaurants here don’t fully close, which I’m sure is wonderful when it’s warm out! The food helped us warm up a little bit though.

After enjoying our meal we headed to the ticket stand.

At the pier, the only place to get a ticket claims you need to pay 340,000 Dong. But at this stand you could buy a ticket for 250,000 Dong. So even with it being a bit more of an expensive activity than we’d both normally do, we bit the bullet and got one.

The ticket was for a boat trip down the Tam Coc Bich Dong.

This trip takes around 1.5 hours and winds you down a beautiful river, through some caves, and you’re surrounded by mountains covered with lush green trees and shrubs! Also if you look hard enough, you can see goats traversing the mountain side… or kind of looking like they’re figuring out how they got up there.

As most days, I was hankering for a sweet treat. So Lea and I found a bubble waffle stand (which I’m not sure I’ve ever had before) and I got a Nutella covered waffle.

We had about 4 more hours to burn before our next sleeper bus to Hoi An. And since we both didn’t have beds at the homestay anymore, we found a nearby cafe that was reasonably out of the cold, not warm, but no wind at least!

I got another hot chocolate, which I’ve been really enjoying in the cold weather!

After a few hours of relaxing and chatting we headed back to the soup restaurant from the day before to see our favorite restaurant owners!

The day was honestly full of relaxing and eating!

We then hopped back to the homestay, grabbed our bags, and we made our way to the bus which was very nearby.

The bus driver and helper hauled Kilby into the bottom of the bus and put our bags in as well. Then we got on our luxurious space themed sleeper bus!

The seats on this one are about the same length as the last, but since this bus only has two rows, the beds are double the width!

I’m SUPER excited to go back to Hoi An, where we booked beds at the Seaside Bungalow hostel which I stayed at previously! I’m looking forward to the good vibes, good weather, and superb hostel hospitality from T and V!

Now it’s time for a 14 hour bus journey! Thankfully this one has a toilet on it haha!

– Elie