Nihn Bihn, Vietnam - Tam Coc day 1

 Wow! I'm a bit behind on posting.  Yesterday I was on the bus all day coming from the Sapa area. The day before, not much more to report.

Yesterday evening I arrived in Nihn Bihn. The Nihn Bihn province has a population of just over a million people. Luckily I booked a week stay outside of the main city in the Tam Coc area. The Tam Coc area is still full of tourists, but not like the main city.

The place I am staying at is also outside the main drag of Tam Coc, in the middle of some smaller home stays. So, what is a home stay? It is basically a hostel with shared dorm rooms of 4+ beds in each room. They started out about 10 years ago as a tourism initiative to give tourists a real family immersion experience in Vietnam. It has since evolved. The homestays, like the one I am staying at and the one in Sapa, are family owned businesses. Where the family, still lives on site, but has expanded their original home to create, basically, hostel or backpacker like businesses. 

I am staying at one called Tam Coc Sunseekers. Like many places it is in an area that was once rice paddys. Tam Coc Sunseekers and most other places in this area are still surrounded by rice paddy's. 

You may notice the building is rather narrow. This seems to be typical in many areas of Vietnam. I guess the lots are 6 meters wide and people build to the full wide of the lot with not setback. You can'ts see it from this view, but the building is 4 stories tall. I've seen them as high as 8 stories high. Same width, about 6 meters.

There is no comfortable place to sit here. All are traditional carved wood chairs and benches. Very uncomfortable for my western back and butt. I end up leaning forward over my computer to type. My back starts aching and I have to stand up slowly straightening my back to work past the aches.

The Nihn Bihn are is referred to as the Ha Long bay on land. It is surrounded by hundreds of limestone mountains similar to Ha Long bay, except these peaks are surrounded by land instead of water. The Nihn Bihn area was featured in the movie "Skull Island"

I will be here for a week, I could see everything there is to see here in 2 or 3 days, so I will be on a slow pace. 

I rented a bicycle for today for 50,000 dong per day. That is a little less than $2 usd. Because my place is outside of the main drag a ways, the bike is handy, almost necessary to get around. One problem is the bikes are made to accomodate Vietnamese people, not long legs like I have. I can't adjust the seat high enough to make riding comfortable. I can also rent a motor scooter for 200,000 dong ($7.70 usd) for a day. I may do that at least one day while I am here.

I road the bike outside of town a bit, then down a dirt road on the way to Buffalo Cave. It was early so the cave wasn't open, but there were a couple coffee shops on the road with chairs lined up overlooking the rice paddys and mountains.

I stopped to get an Vietnamese coffee. I sat for close to an hour just enjoying the peacefulness of the location.

I am splurging a little for lunch today and a restaurant along the Tam Coc strip. I am having Vietnamese Shaking Beef (Bò Lúc Lắc Kèm Cơm) for 170,000 dong ($6.50 usd) and a passion fruit drink for 50,000 dong ($2.00 usd). Very delicious.

After I ate I went across the street to get an ice cream sandwichy thing. Then came back to the restaurant and sat outside. I started chatting with another guy there. He is from France. The suprising thing is that there are at least 5 peole staying at my place that are also from France. These are the first French I have met and all in Tam Coc.