Adventures in 2024

Ninh Binh, Trang An - it's popular and famous for a reason. This area is very pretty with its waterways, rice fields and karst mountains punched out of the ground here and there.

The motor cycle ride was beautiful and interesting, taking me through steep narrow roads over the hills and then along a river and farmlands composed mostly of rice paddies. I stopped at a couple of caves along the way, one on the roadside and the other at Hang Bua which was also near the highway. I rode for too long today and suffered the penalty of a sore back.

A ride into a very remote hillside village - Mường Lòng. I was wondering whether I was on the right track, or indeed country. No maps on Google, no English language either and internet was limited. Somehow I managed and, after a long day of riding ended up at a nice place with a sumptuous meal.

" As you set foot on Thanh Chuong Tea Island  , you will immediately be lured by the serenity and rustic ambiance embraced by water on the four sides."  Ah, the lyrical waxing of the promotional web sites for the tea and rice plantations in Vietnam.   Sucked in by its allure - I had to go see the tea !

Vịnh Mốc is a tunnel complex built during the Vietnam war. The tunnels were built by the villagers to shelter them from the intense bombings by the American forces.

I like the country more so than the sea, less people and less litter and quite different to where I live. A route wending north, west and back eventually to Ninh Binh is one I took. So off I went on m y two wheeled steed.

Hoi An is a vibrant UNESCO listed city . It has a charm due to its preservation of buildings and aesthetic dating back to the 15th century. When I arrived, the tet holiday celebrations were ramping up, lanterns illuminated the city and river and people were everywhere on the streets. I needed to escape a little while and hired a motorcycle for a month. This particular trip was a warm up loop back to Phong Nha .

The goal of my visit to Vietnam was simply to do the Tu Lan cave system in the   Phong Nha Ke-Bang national park. These caves blew my mind away and are deservingly on the world heritage list. I was also so glad to have tacked on a few more weeks to explore some of the  northern areas of Vietnam as well.

I attended the PRANZ packrafting meetup in Murchison 11-16 Jan and had some trips later. It was a great few weeks of rafting with like minded people from various places in NZ and the world. PRANZ is an active, very well organised packrafting association in New Zealand. They are welcoming and have great trips and rivers to packraft on.