Tam Coc - Day 2

As per the hotel managers recommendation i took a taxi to trang an and got into a small boat with two spaniards from madrid (Nacho and Jose) for a 3 hour tour of the towering rock formations jetting straight out of the water. We meandered slowly around the monolithes, and through 9 caves that went right through the giant rocks. Also stopped at a few buddhist temples built right into the sides of the rock.

Easily the most beautiful thing ive ever seen and experienced. When you look at the pics, picture them surrounding you and much higher as the camera seems to flatten them out. Surprisingly the rower for each boat was female. Who needs a gym membership when you get paid to row people all day! These girls were in amazing shape.

I caught a taxi with nacho and jose back to Tam Coc where we caught another boat to take us up another river with similar formations for 1.5 hours and 3 more caves. Equally beautiful and amazing. Our rower here was male and he only used his feet! Hard to picture eh? At the far end of the river, was a small floating market where we bought some beer, fruit and nuts for the ride back as this boat ride backtracks instead of a big loop like the first one. So i made myself more comfortable lying down, feet over the edge, sipping my beer as i floated slowly through paradise.

Jose spotted a can floating in the river so i scooped it out as we went by. Then i noticed something else in the river and pointed to it for our rower to steer that way with his talented feet :) It was a rice paddy hat, so i fished it out and wore it the rest of the day. I love it, even the pink chin strap haha.

After that the guys wanted to find some big pagoda, but i was starving and they opted to come follow my nose to a nearby restaurant where we had a huge feast and many a beer as well (shocking, i know). Shame they were heading south while i headed north as they were good fun to spend time with. So we parted ways with each others contact info.

Back to the hotel to chill in the pool and sift through my 500 pics taken on the boat rides today. Might have had a beer too.. perhaps :) Later around 9, the hotel manager "Ha" took me on a tour of Tam Coc's sleepy nightlife scene and most notably she showed me a bus bar where the roof of a working bus was turned into a lounge. Pretty cool. Fantastic finish to a picture perfect day.

I can only post 6 pics but google Tam Coc and Trang An to see more.Read more