Muddling through South East Asia

November 9th, 2009

Yes that is Dog

Think of those wide dusty deserted streets that Sergi Leone loved so much, it’s high noon, a lone gunman walks through the streets, the people stare and shuffle away or close their shutters. That gunman is me. The town is Ninh Binh. I’m just looking for a saloon to drink whiskey maybe play me a few hands of poker but all I get is closed doors and averted gazes. I catch a few children stealing a peak, but they are quickly hustled away.  It’s a good thing I’m not American, someone might challenge me to a duel.

 First impressions can be wrong, or at least a little weighted in one direction or another, but this one was bang on. Ninh Binh is a dusty little once was town, with fading commie glories and sad aging hotels and locals who have no interest in, or want for tourists. What once fed the township here I dont know but it is clear from the edifices that the town did aspire to something, perhaps a weekend jaunt from Hanoi for the Party elite in the Ho Chi Minh era, but all that’s left now are the remnants of money and me walking at high noon.

Amusing once perhaps

Neglected

Ox & Cart

There are a few here and there who will proffer a smile, and Luc who fed us vietnamese moonshine (Happy Water) but essentially the town is solely a place to go, to go somewhere else. Truth be told the train does still stop in Ninh Binh, but no one gets off,  they only get on. We actually used our little hotel as an R&R stop, to get a little extra sleep.

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