28/05/2023 Ninh Binh
What to expect
Ninh Binh
We arrived in Ninh Binh last night after only four hours from Halong Bay in a very comfortable “limousine” bus. For us it was definitely worth it paying a little bit more for better buses in Vietnam as the long rides do get tiring (and are definitely not fun in the bigger sleeper buses where you feel unsafe or can’t rest because of the constant honking and speeding and overall uncomfort).
Tam Cốc is a popular tourist destination in north Vietnam and part of the Tràng An Scenic Landscape Complex UNESCO World Heritage site. The closest city is Ninh Binh. Tam Cốc, literally “three caves”, consists of three natural caves […]. Tourists are taken in small boats along the river […], through rice fields and limestone karsts, through the caves, and back. […] The guides are well known for rowing their boats using their feet. The area is nicknamed ‘the inland Ha Long Bay’.”
wikipedia.org
One of the best hotels in Vietnam
Our hotel “Tam Coc Holiday Hotel and Villa” was amazing and right in the center of Tam Coc. The hotel manager was one of the friendliest people we’ve met in Vietnam. Other incredible features of our hotel included:
- the breakfast buffet was one of the best and biggest ones
- the laundry service was cheap
- the pool was nice (not that we made use of that)
- the bed was comfortable and
- the room was spacious and clean which overlooked the rice fields and the mountains.
This is what every hotel should be like (unfortunately, depending on the costs in each country it really hasn’t been like that, for example when we shared a 90cm dorm bed in a hostel in Australia – fun times).
We both love Tam Coc/ Ninh Binh! It is such a quaint little town with so much nature around it!
Take a boat ride on the river
In the morning we took a boat ride on the river, which is a must-do when you are in Ninh Binh. Our female driver stirred the paddles with her feet while holding up the umbrella for shade. And I thought I was good at multi-tasking!
During the boat ride we passed a lot of rice fields and high mountains and drove through small caves before turning around again.
A coconut a day
In order to stay dehydrated we had a coconut afterwards, which pretty much has become our daily ritual.
Rent a bicycle
In the afternoon we rented bicycles from our hotel “Tam Coc Holiday Hotel and Villa” for free. We cycled along the rice fields and passed so many lotus flowers. Luckily, May and June are the perfect months to see the lotus flowers blossom. There were lots of them in Ninh Binh!
Hike up Mua Cave
We arrived at Mua Cave just in time for sunset (maybe a little too late). We climbed up the 486 stone steps and had an amazing view from the top. Unfortunately, this is where I got stung by a wasp which swelled up quite a bit. But it still didn’t take away the joys of exploring Ninh Binh.
Treat yourself to a massage
After a very delicious dinner at a great restaurant named “Chookie’s Beer Garden”, we treated ourselves to one last massage in Vietnam.
29/05/2023 From Ninh Binh to Hanoi
Hanoi
On our last day we drove back to Hanoi. In Hanoi we:
- went (souvenir) shopping
- left a personal note on the wall at the “The Note Coffee”
- had our favourite dishes again (Blake had a beef soup from the food tour, I had a veggie poké bowl at “The Veg”)
- went back to our favourite dessert place for one last sticky rice with coconut ice cream
Resumé Vietnam
And just like that 30 days in Vietnam have come to an end.
Vietnam is still Blake’s favourtie country in South East Asia. I definitely enjoyed it a lot too and we did so many new things compared to our first trips to Vietnam in 2015 (separately). However, there were a few things I didn’t completely enjoy in Vietnam:
- I found the people quite rude (to be fair though we had been spoilt by the super friendly, kind and helpful people in Bali, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji)
- There was garbage literally everywhere on the ground in every single city we went to
- Back home I would say that Vietnamese food is my favourite cuisine, especially because it’s always fresh, healthy and flavourful. Here, on the other hand, we often found it very greasy (especially in the south) with a lot of similar flavours (especially at the many family dinners we took part in)
- I was really struggling with the heat. Normally, the hotter the better for me (how lucky that I’m going to marry a Canadian then 😉). But having over 40 degrees constantly with such high humidity is a little bit too much even for me – especially in bigger cities such as Saigon or Hanoi.
Nevertheless, we did amazing activities here, learnt so much about Vietnam’s culture and history about the Vietnam War, tried a lot of new food and made so many more great memories that will be incredible to look back on some day.
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