Hanoi Day Trips: Exploring the Countryside at Ninh Binh

Ninh Binh Province is approximately 90 kilometres south of Hanoi. Nicknamed Serenity, the province indeed sheds light on the more rural areas of Vietnam and the citizens’ peaceful livelihood primarily on agriculture, evident from the miles and miles of rice paddy fields. 

Harvested rice is left to dry (on the roads) before being collected.

I signed up with Klook, which linked me up with Wati Travel that organised this day trip striking south of the capital. I would definitely recommend that you join one organised by a tour agency because Ninh Binh is located in a rural region which is rather difficult to manoeuvre (they only have dirt roads here) – rather than worrying about getting lost, why not sign up with a tour which will take care of everything for you and conserve your energy to explore the attractions? If you're interested, please feel free to check this tour out by clicking here.

Klook.com

Hoa Lu – Temples of Dinh and Le Dynasties
Entrance Fee: VND 20,000

Hoa Lu was the ancient capital of Dai Co Viet in the late 10th century. The palaces erected here sat on a strategic location with great natural defence, as they were surrounded by mountainous terrain which made it extremely difficult for invaders to get past. As such, Hoa Lu remained as the capital for 2 dynasties – the Dinh dynasty and the Early Le dynasty, after which the capital was moved to Thang Long (modern-day Hanoi). 

The gate to the ancient capital of Hoa Lu against the stunning mountainous terrains

Here, you will be able to admire the beautiful backdrop of limestone mountains in the vicinity and thereafter visit the well-preserved temples which are devoted to commemorate the royalty and generals of the Dinh and Early Le Dynasties – most notably the Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh Temples. In the temple grounds, you will be able to spot the four sacred creatures respected in Vietnamese mythology – the dragon, the unicorn, the tortoise and the phoenix which represent power, peace, longevity and nobility respectively. 

Dinh Tien Hoang Temple, the most impressive temple in Hoa Lu

An interesting note is that although the temples are all built in similar architectural style, those of the Le Dynasty are lower and less impressive than the temples of the Dinh Dynasty. After the Emperor Dinh Tien Hoang was assassinated, his son was too young to rule the nation, resulting in the queen giving the crown to the then Commander-in-Chief who founded the Le Dynasty. Since the Commander used to serve and was deemed subservient to the Emperor of the Dinh Dynasty, the temples devoted to the Le Dynasty had to be inferior in height and stature.

Tam Coc

Entrance Fee: VND 150,000 per boat and VND 120,000 per adult

Where the entire boat ride down Tam Coc begins...

Also known as Halong Bay on Land, Tam Coc will offer you an opportunity to enjoy a boat ride down the river to admire the picturesque scenery of limestone mountains lined along the waters. I thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride (which lasted approximately 90 minutes) taking magnificent photographs of the panoramic views. We also managed to see monkeys scaling the mountains to reach the peak, which our boatwoman pointed out excitedly.

Admire the picturesque scenery surrounding you - it's Heaven on Earth!

Just sit back and relax as you cruise through the caves on your little boat. During the rainy season, you will be able to admire the yellow rice paddies floating in the river, which will probably be what you see on posters and advertisements of Tam Coc day trips. Nonetheless, the scenery during the dry season is nothing less than spectacular as well. What is really interesting about Tam Coc is that all the boatpeople here do not row the oars with their hands, but rather paddle them with their powerful legs. The boatpeople seem to all know one another, which adds to the homely feel of this rural area, as they always share a laugh or joke with one another whenever they pass by another boat. 

Our 'masked rider' auntie skilfully manoeuvring the oars with her legs

I have read many reviews online criticising how commercialised Tam Coc has become, where tourists are being forced to purchase food items or give generous tips to the boatpeople. If you are wondering whether that is true, I did encounter it on my trip there. At the midpoint before the boat turns back to the pier for the return leg, there are crowds of boatpeople selling food items and persuading you in English and Chinese to buy some for your boatman. However, after explaining that I would tip the boatwoman, they did not push any further. Please do not give up this opportunity to admire the scenery just because of this – it’s worth the trip down to Tam Coc!

When you see this bridge, your boat ride is probably coming to an end real soon! :(

Day trips will also bring you on a 90-minute cycling tour around the vicinity to explore the rice fields. However, I chose to explore the river banks and have a glimpse into the livelihood of the locals instead – washing their clothes in the river and drying the harvested rice grains on the roads before collecting them in rice sacks. There is also a resort along the river bank of Tam Coc where we saw tourists chilling out and sunbathing, so you may consider staying a night here to relax.

Interesting Fact

At Hoa Lu and Tam Coc, photographers will snap pictures of you at various points of the attractions with or without your knowledge. Subsequently, they will swarm towards you when they recognise that they have printed your photograph and persuade you to purchase your picture from them. It is rather intriguing how they managed to do all that in such a short period of time. Anyway, just at the price of VND 10,000, it is a simple way to support the locals, so why not?

How else can you get your photo taken against these limestone karsts?
Unless you have a friend on another boat!

Review – Klook / Wati Travel (3.5 stars)

The travel agency catered a minibus to ferry us from our accommodation in the Old Quarter to and fro the attractions we visited in Ninh Binh Province. The bus journey was a comfortable 2-hour drive and time seemed to pass rather quickly, as our tour guide (Xiec / Circus) constantly entertained us by sharing interesting bite-size information on Vietnam such as the alphabet and quizzing us throughout the trip. Circus was also extremely informative and managed to explain the significance of each attraction in great detail and proficient English, which definitely enhanced our understanding of both Hoa Lu and Tam Coc.

Lunch was arranged at a local restaurant near Hoa Lu, which doubled up as a canteen for a guesthouse. Even though there was a wide array of food items offered (like goat meat which Ninh Binh Province is famous for), we found the buffet rather mediocre in quality and taste. The lacklustre meal notwithstanding, the cycling trip was not very well organised, as the tourists who did not indicate interest in cycling were left waiting at a smoky guesthouse with no idea when the cycling group will be back and with constant fear that the bus back to Hanoi had departed without us.

Expect to Pay: S$50 (with Klook)

Thanks for reading :) Here's a picture of the sunset at Tam Coc for you!

Next up, I will be introducing you to some scrumptious, mouth-watering local fare and some weird delicacies that are uniquely Vietnamese which you will be able to find around the Hanoi Old Quarter. Let's head down and satiate our appetites right here!

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