Ninh Binh, Tam Coc, & Trang An

Travel day from Cat Ba Island, Arrival in tropical paradise

Our bus picked us up in Cat Ba after a restful night. The journey wasn't necessarily long but involved a ferry, some narrow back roads, and an aggressive driver. It took longer than expected and we did not arrive to our place until close to 1:30pm.

Our new digs didn't disappoint! So pretty and we had our own cute little bungalow. We were all happy this was home for the next three nights. The cost was just over $30 per night including a made to order breakfast. The family running the place was so nice.

We arrived during the hottest part of the day. The afternoons are pretty much unbearable. The streets are empty and most people are inside somewhere out of the sun. We found a simple lunch of banh mi sandwiches and came back to cool off. Luckily, the pool here has been refreshing!

DD#2 and I noticed there was a spa right next door to our hotel. I had a 45 minute upper body massage while she had new acrylic nails for the first time. She was thrilled. Around $25 for both. Incredible.

We decided to brave the late afternoon heat and headed to Chookie's Beer Garden where they actually had craft beer on draft. The place was owned by Australians and had a really nice chill vibe. We easily spent nearly two hours here.

Our first impressions of Tam Coc were good. The streets were mellow, there seemed to be lots of relaxed tourists, and the scenery was beautiful. We were glad to have a few days to explore the region.

We decided on Indian food for dinner. So yummy!

Not a bad first day in Tam Coc.

Hang Mua Climb & Bich Dong Pagoda

What a busy and active day! We started with a delicious breakfast at our favorite place on the trip, so far. Our little homestay is so friendly and they offer us eggs or pancakes, fresh fruit, juice and coffee to start each day. We rented bicycles to ride to a couple of nearby attractions.

The scenery was so pretty on our 30 minute ride. We rode along narrow roads bordered by rice paddies and lotus blossom fields. We arrived at Hang Mua mountain and cave. The shady attractions at the bottom of the mountain were pretty but we knew we had some hot steps ahead.

The hike up over 600 steep and giant steps wasn't easy in the heat. We were sweating so much but the views were so worth it!

There was a cool dragon at the top of the mountain. The rocks were incredibly sharp and the trail was minimally finished so we had some trouble climbing around the dragon.

Pretty local girls posing at the top. Some people rented costumes for the best pictures.

When we carefully got down the steps, DD#2 was rewarded with a coconut. They had a nifty contraption for getting the thing opened.

There was a beautiful lotus garden where I could see the flowers up close. They grow in water and are so large and beautiful.

We wrapped up our time at Hang Mua and headed back into Tam Coc town for coffee. We treated ourselves yet again and even tried the carrot cake. So good!

Next we headed to Bich Dong Pagoda in the opposite direction. Again, more stairs and more sweating but more beauty and history.

One of the cave formations looked awfully creepy!

We stopped for a quick drink before taking our hot bodies back to the room for some much-needed air conditioning! DD#2 expressed what we were all feeling.

After cooling off a bit, I headed out again with my bike in a different directions to see a nearby temple. The rest of the gang stayed back to relax a bit more. More pretty scenery everywhere! Cute goats too.

So cool how this fruit grows right off the trunk of the tree. Jack fruit I think?

We headed out one last time for a traditional Vietnamese dinner after a stop at a craft beer place. The ladies doing zumba and the lit-up karaoke bus were pretty funny.

DD#2 and I went for a night swim and called it a day.

Trang An Boat Ride and First Motorbike Rental!

We started our day with our usual yummy breakfast. I like how the fruit varies a bit every day.

Today was the first day we rented motorbikes! I wasn't sure we'd be brave enough to do it but this particular area is pretty rural and both DH and I rode motorcycles as kids. So how hard could it be?

We even passed water buffalo along the narrow road!

We made it Trang An where their river boat ride has been designated a world heritage site. The surroundings were beautiful! Most of the boats are operated by older, extremely strong Vietnamese women. Our rower took us on a nearly three hour river cruise in the heat. We tipped her well! We held large umbrellas over our heads to create shade for most of the ride.

The ride took us through three caves, one of which was a kilometer long! It also stopped at three different temples where we could stretch our legs and take in the river from a different angle.

We stopped for coffee yet again after our boat ride. We loved traveling by motorbike.

The afternoon went by quickly. DD#2 and I swam in the hotel pool and we had happy hour before enjoying pizza for dinner. That's right, we actually found yummy pizza in Vietnam.

DD#2 took some pretty sunset photos.

That's a wrap for our second full day in Ninh Binh.

Bai Dinh Pagoda Complex, More Motorbikes, and a Night Train!

Today was our last full day in Ninh Binh. We were sad to leave our very comfortable homestay and a little nervous to take an all night train!

We rented motorbikes again and more than doubled our distance from yesterday to reach the Bai Dinh Pagoda complex. Motorbikes were about $5 a day to rent and fuel was about $2.50 for both days. It's a pretty economic way to get around and really fun too! This pagoda complex included the tallest pagoda in Southeast Asia. The modern complex opened in 2003 and was build on the site of an ancient temple. There are giant Buddhas and other relics all over the enormous complex. The complex was so big that we had to be shuttled around in these funny little electric cars to avoid walking over 10 miles in the heat.

We explored countless pagodas with giant statues that just kept getting bigger and better the more we visited. It was convenient to take the little shuttles between them. We still walked thousands of steps around this giant complex.

There were hundreds, if not thousands of Buddhas everywhere. This endless row of sacred monks had black spots where people rub them for good luck.

We took an elevator to the top of the tallest pagoda. Amazing views from up there!

We cooled off with coconuts.

We got our motorbikes back in one piece happy with our adventure for the day. They are so much fun to ride but a little tiring from all the concentration, vibration, and noise.

Before our night train, we decided to rent a room at the homestay that was next door to the one we enjoyed for three nights. It was only $18 and was a nice place to relax in air-conditioned comfort for several hours.

Vietnamese people are really nice. Kids and adults say hello to us all the time, offer up big smiles and don't expect anything in return. Here's a great example: DD#2 broke one of her new nails on accident. We went back to the spa and asked if they had time to repair it. They called in their nail expert who apparently dropped everything to drive on over. She spent 10-15 minutes replacing the nail and they wouldn't allow us to pay anything! We tried so hard to leave money and they were stubborn. Such kindness!

We headed back to Chookie's Beer Garden during a short storm where we broke down and had hamburgers and chicken sandwiches!

Goodbye Ninh Binh. We will miss you!

Here are our digs on the night train! It is bound to be an interesting evening of sleep. Next installment will be from Phong Nha!