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Monday, January 29, 2018

Ninh Binh - 1st day was rain and fog

Apparently the place we're staying is one of the hotels where the cast and crew stayed while filming Kong: Skull Island. They  filmed in the area of Tràng An and Tam Cốc, also known as “Ha Long Bay on land.” It is quite picturesque and the reason we came. Our first day though was a bust - rain and fog. Not weather conducive for seeing much. We stayed at the hotel and had an off day. We availed ourselves to the hotel sauna and steam room (really). 

For dinner we wanted to go out to eat. We asked for recommendations, and they started with Trip Advisor recommendations. We pushed to get LOCAL recommendations, but they hesitated with the caveat "not good for westerners."  We pushed back and joked we did not come to Vietnam to eat with westerners. They relented and suggested a very good Vietnamese restaurant. They also wrote us up menu suggestions. We knew this was going to be local and authentic. Ten minutes after we arrived the waiter brought us a phone. The hotel was checking to make sure we arrived. What a great meal we had all for under $20. 

This is what we took to get to the restaurant and order our meal!  What an adventure!

Quite a nice restaurant though!

Open layout in the restaurant.

Not sure what it said but it added to the ambience...

A salad with beef strips

A sesame cake with a sweet filling

Honey chicken - very good!

A side of rice!
A happy diner!

We took a gamble and it payed off well!  No one spoke english, we were the only westerners in the place,
 and we had a blast.  The staff was so patient and kind.  

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