M&C: Tam Coc

On the morning of Feb 12, we got up early to a drizzly and rainy Hanoi to meet our tour heading south to Tam Coc in Ninh Binh province, a place that has relatively recently come to popular attention as one of the top places to visit in northern Vietnam. We were incredibly sleepy, and grateful that there were only 10 people on our tour and the bus was very quiet. Our first stop was Hoa Lu, which was the 10th century capital of the northern part of what is currently Vietnam. The surrounding landscape was a stunning introduction to the area with jungle-covered limestone mountains and ultra-green rice paddies. The palace complex itself, however, was slightly underwhelming with hordes of tour groups everywhere. We mainly just sat and watched the rice farmers work.

We then drove the remaining 20 minutes or so into Tam Coc, first going for a short bike ride with the group through some very cute little alleyways and along some more flooded rice paddies. After a quick buffet lunch, we walked across the street to the main attraction, a boat tour along a small winding river with rice paddies on each side, all of which is framed by more towering limestone karsts covered in lush vegetation. The day itself was overcast and a little gloomy and there were more hordes of tourists here, but the scenery was indeed truly amazing. Each of these small boats is rowed by a local person, mostly women, and they've all learned to use their feet to manage the oars, which was pretty amusing and startling at first, but actually seemed to be more efficient as time wore on. We had a boat to ourselves, and the hour and a half trip was actually quite peaceful, notwithstanding a couple of hard sells as well as a kind of intense haggle about the tip for the rower right when we got back to the starting point.

We had booked a night in Tam Coc town, so after the boat trip we parted from our group and walked a few blocks to our homestay. True to it's name, this was basically just a room in someone's home. At first, the family came off as quite serious and a bit grumpy-seeming, and we turned down a couple more hard upsells. Plus, there was an extremely rambunctious six-year-old boy who would just start screaming sometimes. So not the most welcoming vibe, but we did end up having several positive interactions with them and were grateful that they opened up their home to us. Plus the price was right at about $9/night. That evening, we did some trip planning and had a simple dinner nearby before calling it a night.

The next morning, we rented a scooter from our host family and rode about 15 minutes north to Hang Mua. We weren't really sure what to expect and balked a little at the nearly $10 entrance fee. Once inside, though, we were really glad we had come out. First of all, the whole bottom area was a kind of Instagrammer's paradise with scores of cutesy little photo ops that had been set up. It was kind of kitschy and a bit ridiculous, but also very beautifully landscaped and actually quite charming despite itself. There were a few very nice man-made lakes to walk around as well as a couple of small caves to explore. The main attraction, however, was a windy 500-foot staircase built directly into the side of the mountain that leads up to two of the craggy limestone peaks, one with a small pagoda and another with a large stone dragon statue built along a narrow ridge. It was already pretty cloudy and just got foggier and denser as we climbed so that by the time we reached the top, we were basically just inside of a cloud, absolutely drenched from sweat and mist. Despite not having the usual spectacular views and having to negotiate around huge groups of fashionable young Vietnamese influencers taking hundreds of elaborately posed photos, it was very atmospheric and mysterious-feeling and well worth going.

From there, we scooted off to the opposite side of town (about 15km total) to visit the Thung Nham bird park. The ride through the countryside was tremendously peaceful and breathtakingly beautiful, and it was a huge relief to get away from the cloying crowds of Tam Coc. The park itself was tucked into a valley surrounded by jungly peaks on all sides. Some sections were very nicely landscaped while others were left more or less wild. We walked through Mermaid Cave, which had a bamboo boardwalk winding through a series of flooded caves for about half a kilometer. The ceiling was at about 3-4 feet the entire time, so we had to hunch and sometimes crawl to make it through. At the far end of the park was a huge lagoon with several clusters of trees on small islands, each completely full of nesting birds. One tree had hundreds of openbill storks, another was full of some kind of egret. On the opposite side of the lagoon, we could see dozens of herons dotting the hillside, more regal and less sociable-seeming than the storks and egrets. After winding through the rest of the park, we decided to take the short boat ride from the main entrance back to the lagoon, cruising slowly by the storks as they squawked and jostled and slept and flew around and built their nests. As it neared dusk and our boatman rowed us back to the dock, egrets and storks flew over us by the hundreds, returning to the lagoon for the night. All in all, a pretty spectacular experience.

For that night, we had booked the overnight train from Ninh Binh to Hue. Online reviews of the train were mixed to say the least, with several absolute horror stories. After waffling several times and calming Michelle's fears, we had finally decided to just do it. At around 9PM, we took a taxi about 15 minutes to the Ninh Binh train station, waited for a little while, then boarded the train at about 10:30. Turns out, all of our fears were completely unfounded. We were in a four-person berth with two young Germans who were tidily asleep when we arrived. The beds were small but clean and comfortable, and we spent a pretty pleasant night, even if not totally restful, before arriving in Hue the following morning.

Next up: Hue, obv.