Ninh Binh, Vietnam - Tam Coc - Day 2

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, which for me was yesterday, but but many sending wishes it is today. I am on the other side of the date line from most of my friends. 

Before heading out of the day I spent a couple hours researching, planning and making reservations for the next few weeks. I was planning to meet Keo in Laos to take the high speed train from Vientiane, Loas to the China border. But friends of his told him not to come to Loas because an extreme gas shortage in Loas. I have altered my plans to meet up with him in Bangkok instead at the end of April.

I have a flight booked from Saigon (Ho Chi Min city) on April 20th and place to stay booked in Bangkok for April 20 to April 27th. Now I just have to get to Saigon by April 20th. 

My next stop will be in Hue, Vietnam. For that I have a sleeper bus booked for March 25th. It is a long ride, 11 or 12 hours. But that's all I have at the moment. I still need to book accomodations in Hue, travel and accomodations in Da Nang travel and acccomodations to Da Lat and finally travel and accomodation in Saigon. That will take hours of research and booking time.

I was talking to a fellow traveler from  Chile, Thursday evening. He had just come back from taking a boat ride in the waterways surrounding the mountainous peaks similar to those in Ha Long bay. I decided do this would be my birthday treat for the day.

I wake up early so I had plenty of time to have coffee, eat breakfast and do some future travel planning and booking before heading out. More on that later.

I booked a motorbike ride on the Grab app to go to the Trang An Landscape Complex. Such a wierd name, doesn't really describe the function. On motorbike the ride is 50,000 dong ($2 usd) compared to 150,000 ($6 usd) dong with a car. Either way very inexpensive for the 20 minute drive to the boat wharf.

What an operation, very professional, very efficient to handle to large number of tourists coming to do the boat ride. But, you are also guided (herded) past lots of food and souvenir stalls both before getting to the ticket counter and even more so after the boat ride heading back to the parking and transport area.

There were 3 ticket options, each with a different boat route. I chose the option that didn't mention stairs. There were combinatin packages for more money, but the single route price was 300,000 dong ($11.50 usd). Very inexpensive considering this is a 3 hours tour with a personal rower.

Ticket in hand, I followed the signs to the boat dock. Down a set of stairs, through a short tunnel and up a set of stairs. All this just to cross the street from the ticket and concession area to the boat docks. 

The boats are all lined up and tourists are assigned boats according to how many people in your party and what boat route you selected. Again, very efficient, very fast. I was assigned a boat, with 2 other ladies from France. We barely sat down and our rower moved us out of the boarding area into the waterway. At the same time passing out the mandatory life vests. And, we were off. 

This is a very slow paced ride, a single ower powing the boat. 

We stopped to get off the boat at several locations, each featuring an ornate Buddist temple built among the rocks and foliage. 

Most of the temples were built way before tourism started. The infrastructure around them to support tourism excelerated after Trang An was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. That is when boat docks, routes, guided tours, rests areas etc. were added. Although some temples have been restored, many date back 500 to 1000 years old. So the place is real.

The waterways pass through many caves some as long as 350 meters, that is close to 1/2 miles. Others shorter in length but most 100 meters are longer. It is not scary or claustrophobic mostly because all the caves have basic lighting and you are never in total blackness. 

We passed through 9 caves, each has a name of course in Vietnamese: Seo, Khong, Tran, Son Duong and Quy Hao and others with English translations: Dark Cave, Light Cave, Wine Brewing Cave, Three Drops Cave.

We disembarked to view the Trinh Temple, Tran Temple, and Khong Palace/Bao Hieu Pagoda. Some more ornate than others, but all sacred buddist sites. People were seen praying at every site we visted. 

Later in the trip I was hoping to see the dock around every curve. My back and butt no longer enjoy sitting on hard benches without back supports. 

The tour finished almost exactly 3 hours from the start. We were rewarded by this fanciful display of lanterns while passing through the maze of shops on the way back to the parking and taxi area.

I tried to book a Grab motorbike for the return, but there were none, so I took a Grab car. Lucky for me because by then it was starting to rain a bit.

I asked the driver to let me off along, what I will call restaurant row, to get my dinners.

After getting out of the car, I starting walking looking for a place to eat. I did see a street vendor selling Mango with Sticky rice. I know it by it's Thai name, khao neow mamuang   (Thai: ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง) . A dish I really like, but I needed real food first. The Mango with Sticky rice will have to wait until later.

The Grab driver mentioned duck, so that was stuck in my brain. Not long after I came on a restuarant roasting duck on spits by the side of the road.  I decided to give it a try. A bit over my budget, but what the heck, it's my birthday. See the video version of roasting duck here: https://youtube.com/shorts/V94y0Dl8wQs

I ordered stir fried duck with pineapples and other spices. It came with a side of rice and I enjoyed a Ha Noi beer as well. 195,000 dong($7.50 usd). I could have also just gotten roasted duck, but that only came with rice. I can't eat meat and rice only, I need some veggies.

It was a lot of food and I was too full. 

After dinner I had to decide if I wanted to get a Grab motorbike back to my place or walk. Although I was pretty physically tired and full, I decided to walk. About a kilometer, 15 minute walk. I did stop briefly to get a Magnum ice cream bar to top of the day.