We rented bikes from our family-run hotel and explored the paddy fields near Ninh Binh, stopping at Tran An for a boat ride around this UNESCO-listed site.
The ‘disco bus’ from Cat Ba dropped us at Tam Coc lake at around 5.30pm. We thought we’d only be able to get as far as Ninh Binh but the driver offered to take us the extra few kilometres south-west to Tam Coc. And as we drove through Ninh Binh we were relieved about that – it’s a big, busy commercial town with not much to do for tourists by the looks of it.
After dark the trees around the lake are lit up with fairy lights providing enough glow to see all the traditional bamboo boats strung up below. We’ll like it here we thought, and we did. It was still cold but a few degrees warmer than Cat Ba Island, and not raining (although we could see it had been – to be later confirmed by our Australian boat companions).
Tam Coc Family Hotel
We had a recommendation from a friend of a friend to stay at Tam Coc Family Hotel so we walked around there and were greeted with hot tea. We didn’t even bother to book in advance this time – they had a room for us, although at a slightly higher price than we’d seen on Booking.com. As long as it had a hot shower (which it did), we didn’t care. They didn’t even try and take our passports off us here (standard in most Vietnamese hotels) so they got bonus points for that. So far this is the best place we stayed in – ‘mama’ made sure we had a thick duvet, hot coffee in the morning, secure helmets for our moped day, and a packed lunch with extra fruit and water to take with us when we left.
We’d heard that goat was the delicacy around here so I tucked into a plate of that at a nearby restaurant while Kim had half a duck straight off the BBQ out front. Not much to write home about – they were a bit slow and we sat in our jackets again. It was my first chance to try Dalat wine though. Not bad; will require further inspection in the town itself.
Renting a bike
Tam Coc Family Hotel offer bike rental for 50,000d (2 EUR) per person (no helmets – nobody wears them here) so we decided to do that the next day after an (included) breakfast of mushroom omelette, cucumber, tomato and pineapple. First we cycled around the lake in Tam Coc and discovered that the temple on the island looked kind of closed for refurbishment. No signs though. So then we cycled west out past paddy fields to Bich Dong temple, where we got royally fleeced.
It was supposedly free but when we arrived we were whistled down and ushered to a bike shack. Which they charged us 50,000d per bike for. Ok, not a lot but it should have been free, and we later discovered that the going rate for bike parking is 5,000d and 10,000d for a moped. In fact the parking thing isn’t essential – you can leave your bike/moped wherever but the people running the parking spots will make out as if it’s compulsory to park there by blowing whistles at you and waving badges hanging around their necks. The temple itself wasn’t really worth it – even the countryside views the LP raved about weren’t great. If we could do the day again we would have missed this place out.
Onto Trang An
Next we cycled back through Tam Coc and out to the north-east, stopping first at the more official looking ATM on the outskirts of town. Then we headed across the (sometimes very muddy) paddy fields past ducks, goats and water buffalo, and along the river towards Trang An, stopping for a very nice pho bo and lemongrass/chilli chicken lunch on the way.
From there it was a quick hop on the main road (past the mummified goats…sure, why not?) to this 2014-added UNESCO world heritage site. Because they have the badge they get to charge more, so we parted with 200,000d each for a 3-hour boat ride. There’s a choice of 3 routes but it was never clear whether they were different durations so we just went with number 1 which took you through the most (9) caves. We were joined by 2 Australians (well, 1 Brit turned Aussie) in our boat. All boats are the flat, bamboo kind and take a maximum of 4 people with a Vietnamese lady rowing at the back.
There are spare oars so you can help out if you like, which we did and she seemed to appreciate it. Some of the other tourists were more interested in selfies. You are made to wear a life jacket but we were fine with that – it kept us warm. The trip was fantastic – through low caves with some excellent steering from our guide, and popping out into lagoons circled by limestone peaks. We also spotted (well, Kim did) about 3 kingfishers, and we all approved of the bright pink lilies.
We were encouraged to get out a couple of times to traipse around a few temples. By this stage we were pretty sure we knew what to expect – golden buddha statues, some Chinese-looking characters on columns, a dragon out front, some incense wafting, and offerings of cookies and beer (because that’s what Gods eat). We were asked to fill in a survey at the end, and we weren’t forced to tip but our Brit/Australian friend handed over 50,000d on behalf of all of us. Trang An was busy and we were there on the off-season – there were hundreds (thousands?) of boats available so we could imagine that in the summer this would be chock-a-block.
After Trang An we stopped at Hua Cave on the way back but we reached it at 4.30pm and decided it was too late to start climbing up to the view point so we quit while we were ahead and went straight back to Tam Coc, doing a final loop of the lake at sundown for some nice reflection shots.
After a day out in the wind we decided we couldn’t live without doors at dinner anymore, so this forced us into Aroma curryhouse which is one of the few places in Tam Coc where it looked warm inside. I even got to take my jacket off. We had a passable curry with the flattest naan I’ve ever seen for around 300,000d for both of us.
A good day stretching our legs without any rain and with the bikes we really saw more than you would do if you sat on a bus all day. Would definitely recommend it.