Ninh Binh is an area in Northern Vietnam full of rice fields and limestone mountains.  We spent an hour and a half driving from Hanoi into Ninh Binh.  Here we got into a boat and a woman, probably weighing around 90 pounds, rowed us up and down the river, through three caves (the Tam Coc). …

We arrived in the Old Quarter of Hanoi at about 2 am.  I had a two bedroom AirBNB rented and was so excited about the space, including the washer and dryer we would have for the next four days.  Our taxi driver dropped us off in a dark alley and we followed the instructions carefully…

I had been warned by several other tourists and locals from the area that there was a lot of pick pocketing in Vietnam, to keep an eye on my belongings and a firm grip on my iPhone.  I just didn’t suspect it before I cleared customs.  It was late, of course, and we had been…