Yesterday we had planned to go to Nihm Bihn National Park which is a landside version of Halong Bay with striking limestone carste hills. However it was cancelled for that day because the guide phoned in sick and an alternative guide could not be found at short notice. We deferred till the following day and replanned over breakfast. The hotel tour director had told us about an ancient village 1.5 hours away and we decided we could tackle that independantly with a car and driver.
When we arrived with our driver who spoke a little English a stallholder in the central square offered us a map of the village with a marked path and places of significance detailed. Fortunately there were English subtitles. Copies were limited so we offered ours to a young Vietnamese couple to copy with their moblie phone. We strolled the village and visited several of the 400 year old houses and two of the Community Houses/Temples. We eventually found the main gate with the plaque that explained that because the number of significant ancient houses is diminishing UNESCO had funded the restoration of five wooden traditional long houses in the village. These houses are composed of buildings clustered around a courtyard and each building seemed to have a different function i.e. sleeping , living area. I am fairly sure they were designed for multi generational living but will try to research the village on Wickipaedia.
I took numerous photos but they are not impressive because the angles were cramped. The houses were beatifully maintained and the furnishings gleamed. I gather that the deal is that the funding was granted on the basis that visitors be permitted as there was no pressure to buy or donate.
We enjoyed our walk, handed back our map and had a drink with the stallholder. We came back to Hanoi for a late lunch of Bahn Mi. These are crusty baguettes with your choice of filling, delicious.
Last night we went to our hotels sister hotel for a special dinner for my birthday.
It was every bit as good as our previous experience and we were fussed over because the staff at our Essence had phoned ahead.
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