Our time in Ninh Binh was awesome - for me my favourite place of the holiday so far - with beautiful countryside and limestone mountains to cycle around (accompanied by the friendly greetings of the villagers that we passed by).

The region's jewel in the crown is its caves (known as Halong Bay on the land). For a small fee, you get to be rowed around a series of caves (some which involve significant amount of ducking!). The stamina of the old lady that rowed us was unbelievable - fully deserving of a good tip after rowing us for 3 hours without a break in the midday sun!

We visited Trang An, which was located within walking distance of our homestay. The homestay was fantastic - run by a lovely guy called Dzung. We had a great time drinking cups of Vietnamese tea / coffee with him (although trying his father's 40% proof rice wine may have not been the best idea at lunchtime!).

We are now in Hue in central Vietnam - having booked our flights already from Hanoi to Hue, this involved a slightly convoluted trip of:

1. getting the train back north to Hanoi (2.5hours)
2. overnight stay in Hanoi
3. getting a taxi to Hanoi Airport
4. flying to Hue Airport
5. getting a taxi from Hue airport to our hotel

This compared to just continuing on the train south from Ninh Binh to Hue on the sleeper train - something to bear in mind for future reference!