Five go to Ninh Binh.

The students had exams and for once that didn't mean us. So we packed up and left Hanoi for Ninh Binh, two hours south. Three weeks ago I hadn't ridden a bike since I was a child, but soon, like a scene from Enid Blyton in the rice paddies; only without the ginger beer, we were cycling 46 km a day.

We went to Kenh Ga Floating village, where children as young as three seem to row their own boats, with their feet, of course, like everyone in Kenh Ga. We went to the Tam Coc caves (yes we basically choose these places for their funny names) and the Cuc Phuong National Park, where we trekked through the forest, our guide's Westlife songs blaring from his mobile phone, disturbing the monkeys for miles around. Call the R.S.P.C.A, I say.