Tam Coc - Trang An

We thought Ninh Binh is the place to go but luckily our Bus dropped us in Tam Coc close by.
Arrived during one of the heaviest poor downs I had for a while we sat down in a nice restaurant and waited a while until we could walk the 200 meters to our Homestay without getting drenched.
Little Tam Coc turned out to be the best choice for a base for the surrounding ToDos which are quite a few. Besides the different temples there is this network of rivers winding through rice fields and mountains and carved their way through several caves.
Easiest and most fun way is always a scooter in Vietnam so we crapped 3 and took off with two other fellow travelers. Visiting the old capital of Vietnam "Hoa Lu" which wasn't as impressive as expected. More of a small temple and some left over ruins and a nice viewpoint. Still nice to visit and the rides around here are always a joy.
Next stop was Trang An (Funfact: Kong - Skull Island was filmed here).
You basically jump on a boat with 4 people and get rowed around through some caves to visit temples. We helped paddling and enjoyed the ride and silence of these hidden spots which are only reachable by boat.
For sunset we went to the Mua Caves (like everyone else 😏). Actually not so cavy and more hilly with a couple of steps to climb rewarding you with again a scenic view.
The top was packed to the last centimeter and everyone were sitting on the spicky rocks to wait for the sun to drop.
Back in Tam Coc we strolled around looking for Dinner (nice Pizza in the end, didn't had some western food for a while) and later dropped dead into bed after this long day.
Scooter riding is actually quite exhausting after some KMs.Read more