Seeing What Buddha Sees In Ninh Binh, Vietnam

This funny warning sign displayed in the garden of the Bich Dong pagoda outside Ninh Binh is the most appropriate photo I can use to illustrate a post about tourists not showing respect to the image of Buddha.

Wearing a suit and tie in 100 degree heat hopefully is only symbolic but it makes an important point.

Either because of pure laziness to read a couple of paragraphs in any travel book or due to lack of common sense or decency, some tourist are completely oblivious to their behavior and the importance of respecting Buddhism and customs of a foreign country.

I really wanted to make the above picture the main image of this blog which would have greeted everyone but I have so few website visitors anyways I’d be crazy to filter out the impolite ones.

My return to Ninh Binh was like coming home after spending 3 weeks here during my last stay. I knew I would stay a few more days again which meant a whole month combined time in Ninh Binh.
That’s crazy, who would have thought?

Thank Buddha I am not religious so I can have all kinds of guilt free moments of uplifting spiritual experiences anywhere in the World.
After climbing 450 some steps outside Ninh Binh to a top of a karst mountain where Buddha overlooks the majestic landscape was such a place.

I have already spent peaceful and memorable times around other Buddha statues during this trip in Ha Tien, Vietnam and Sukhothai, Thailand.
Spite being a foreigner and not having extensive knowledge of Buddhism it seems obvious to me that a visitor of a Buddhist pagoda should be at least in the mindset of respect.

Furthermore travel books also have a brief section of Buddhism 101 regarding how to behave and how to dress in pagodas and around images of Buddha. Some museums and palaces do turn visitors away who are wearing shorts or tank tops but it is not everywhere.

The funniest indiscretion I witnessed happened at a very popular spot for photographing the face of Buddha surrounded by tree roots. There were even a few guards who kept an eye on the non stop flow of tourist.
At one point I noticed that a guard was screaming at someone … not in English of course. The poor woman had no idea what she was doing wrong but her lack of travel research was quite apparent.

When she sat down just a few feet from the head of Buddha to take a picture she sat in true western style: planted her butt on the ground and FEET POINTING TOWARDS the Buddha! Mistake number one, the guard was furious, he was screaming and really scaring her.
I also noticed she wore a tank top and short shorts revealing way too much skin for a location where images of Buddha were everywhere among ancient ruins. She was also wearing her hat. Three strikes! OUT!

If you think, true to the style of this blog I am about to report another annoying tourist behavior that happened during my stay in Ninh Binh, you are right.

The setting was particularly beautiful, trees blooming with red flowers, a bamboo bridge leading to a small island in the middle of a circular turquoise pond at the foothills of karst mountains which almost completely enclosed the area. Another interesting visual was the stairway to a Buddha statue zig zagging up the mountain side.

There were no tourists in sight and I had the pond and mountains all to myself … for about 5 minutes. A loud family with 3 kids arrived demonstrating behavior and noise levels appropriate for Disneyland perhaps.
For the next 30 minutes while they went up and came down the mountain there was not more than 1 minute of combined time of silence, no exaggeration.

I was not annoyed I was just observing. I knew if I got annoyed I could not tell this story here because it would be complaining. Without feeling annoyance and intense hated for this family I am now only reporting and making a point about how foreigners do and maybe should behave at Buddhist sacred places.

While the family made their screaming ascent and descent I was taking pictures on the small island. I was wondering why the parents did not take advantage of this situation to educate their kids about how to behave at peaceful, quiet, Buddhist religious places how not to offend locals who most likely have different customs in a country far away from home.
I was making assumptions about the intelligence/dehydration levels of the parents, considered the fact that the kids inherited these genes/traits from the parents and contemplated the joys of bringing kids on vacation.

I know not everyone is the same; what one gets out of traveling, the way of enjoying places and the definition of respect is different for all. If nothing else it was quite educational to observe the absolutely unconscious, ego driven, inconsiderate attitude of this group.

After the family left I climbed the stairs up to the mountain top to enjoy the spectacular views of dramatic karst mountains soaring to the sky surrounded by rice fields, intersected by water ways.
I was in awe and all I could think of is that I was seeing what Buddha (statue) was seeing. It was quite special.

The stairway up to the Buddha statue as seen from the island:

The bamboo bridge which leads to the island in the middle of the pond:

The beginning of the 450 some steps:

The pond below as Buddha sees it:

A view of stunning landscape photographed from the foot of the Buddha statue:

Possibly my favorite activity was to hire a bicycle from my hotel ($1 for a day) and head towards the karst mountains just a few kilometers from Ninh Binh carefully steering away from anything touristy to experience a completely tourist free rural Vietnam:

When cycling through these rice fields less traveled random turns can lead to dead ends:

Even though Ninh Binh is on the tourist map unless the popular spots are visited it is virtually impossible to bump into another traveler when exploring the scenery outside town:

This photo was taken somewhere between Ninh Binh town and nearby popular pagodas surrounded by hotels and souvenir shops. There are still many untouched places like this in Vietnam.
One can only wish that these picturesque locations where people live their very simple life do not get ruined with hotels and development in the future:

While riding my bicycle I met this man who I asked for photos by pointing to my camera. He asked for money pointing to his empty stomach. Without words we had a deal.
Usually I carry small bills but on this day the smallest one I had was a 50,000 note (about 3 dollars) which I gave to him.
It was a deal that made both of us happy; his pictures turned out to be my best photos from Ninh Binh and some of my best pictures from my whole trip.
Those images will be shown at a later time, for now here is the man who made them possible:

I started my bicycle trips early in the morning to get a couple of hours of good light and reduced temperatures. Most tourists visit the nearby pagodas and take the popular boat trip.
Here I turned off from the main road and ventured into a residential neighborhood to capture real moments of everyday life:

An example of being at the right place at the right time. Not only the rice field and the karst mountains are usual Vietnamese elements but the boy wearing an ever popular Power Rangers t-shirt:

Late afternoon a woman walking home with buffalos while a cemetery in the middle of a rice field provides the background:

A colorful cemetery just before the entrance of a beautiful cave pagoda:

A strange visual as dozens of statues waiting to be placed in the several nearby pagodas which are still under construction:

Women doing early morning laundry where the tour boats dock:

Ponds like this are everywhere in Vietnam often providing great photographic subjects especially when the locals are not so willing:

Finally I had a chance to take my time (and I did) to shoot a buffalo as it was tied to a tree while cooling down in a pond:

I saw this interesting stone barbell next to a small stone mine, looking like a Flintstones Gym.
It must be for the kids (but I could be wrong) because the adults already get plenty of exercise mining the stone often in 100 degree heat using hand tools and sheer muscle power without the aid of power tools or machines:

English is not a very useful language in Vietnam. Sometimes it is understood but mostly not.
This sign is posted by an official Vietnamese tourism agency on the way to a popular local attraction. Gotta love Vietnam: