GIBBONS!!!

Matt and I decided to take a trip out to Ninh Binh to see the gibbon and monkey rehab center. I don't know if it was totally worth the extra trip, but they sure were entertaining to watch!

We took a bus out to Ninh Binh and arrived bleary eyed at around 5 AM - still dark outside and we had no idea where we were. One of the guesthouse keepers was out to meet the bus and we eventually went out to his guesthouse. It wound up being a really nice place and we both felt really lucky to run into the man who we might have otherwise ignored.

After some needed sleep we decided to rent a couple of bicycles and bike around the city (it wasn't too big) and see some of the sights. We first set off to see the limestone peaks by boat and then cycled out to one of the small temples. The caretaker there spoke Vietnamese and French, so I had to try to bust out the truly rusty high school francais to understand what he was trying to say to me. I think I was able to get the gist of what he was saying, which is really better than I could have hoped for.

When we got back into town, we decided to take a look around and there really wasn't too much there at all. So we headed to the guesthouse for dinner. The only thing that they were serving that night was a Vietnamese BBQ - kind of Korean style. It was okay, but what topped it all off was the Ninh Binh water they shared with us after dinner. Um...I only dipped my lip and was coughing, much to the delight of one of the guesthouse caretakers. Matt said that it was at least better than baijiou, which isn't saying that much.

So early the next morning we set out with our driver to the gibbon center and other places within the national park. But the prime reason was to see some primates! The gibbons were amazing! They had some sweet little babies and were swinging all around their enclosures! They would do little mid-air twirls and turns. So much fun to watch! The monkeys that they had there were also very cool - they were really chill. They looked like little bearded men wearing red, black or grey pants. And, go figure, they were called the red pants monkey, black pants monkey and the grey pants monkey.

Besides the monkeys we went on a couple of walks through the forest - saw and hugged (just for Debz) a +1,000 year old tree, and explored a cave which was used for shelter and other things in prehistoric times. After that, our driver stopped by the edge of the road and helped us get on the right bus to Hanoi.

All in all, we made the most of our time there, I don't know if I would go back, but definitely good for a little stop to break up some of the bus riding fatigue.

I am way behind on my blogging, so keep checking back for more!