NINH BINH DAY TRIP

Another day, another day trip. This time we would be heading to ‘little Ha Long Bay’ which is knows for its ancient city, stunning scenery and goat meat. Yep……goat meat. By the end of the day we would be experiencing all of these on our trip.

Just like for our Ha Long Bay tour we decided on using a tour company called Vietnam Open Tours to explore Ninh Binh. Wikipedia explains that:

Ninh Bình (Vietnamese: [niŋ̟ ɓîŋ̟] is a province of Vietnam, in the Red River Delta region of the northern part of the country. The province is famous for a high density of natural and cultural attractions, including reserved parks in Cúc Phương National Park and Van Long, grotto caves and rivers in Tràng An, Tam Cốc-Bích Động and Mua Caves, historic monuments in the Hoa Lư ancient capital, Vietnam’s largest buddhist worshiping complex (Bái Đính Temple), and the Phát Diệm Cathedral with “eclectic architectural style”. Thanks to its adjacency to Hanoi, day trips from the capital are easily manageable.

We had an enjoyable bus ride to our first destination of Hoa Lu. This is the ancient capital of Vietnam in the 10th century. It is a large space and you can explore many temples and areas. Our guide did an excellent job of explaining the history of the location, with involved lots of stories of Kings, Women, Jealousy, Murder and Ego. So just like a typical episode of any soap opera.

The size of the grounds were massive. You could spend an entire day just in this location. We explored the many temples, pounds and large open court yard while we were there. Everything was maintained to a very high level thanks to the work of the staff.

Our next destination was Tam Coc River where we were going to take a boat ride, but before that we were schedule for some food! The tour had arranged a restaurant in advance with a large buffet of food. They had everything you could imagine, meat, rice, noodles, vegetables, soup and of cause the regional highlight of goat meat.

Jinny and I are pretty flexible when it comes to food. We have had a range of food that my fellow English countrymen may be shocked to know about (I am looking at you raw horse meat). We also LOVE lamb, especially in a curry or off the bone. BUT none of that prepared us for that goat meat. It was a whole new level. To put it bluntly, it stunk. The smell and taste were of wet goat. Despite the fact it was well cooked (and I assume well cleaned) the pungent smell was still alive and kicking. I was easily the closest I had come to having a reunion with the food I had already eaten.

From there things dramatically improved, as Tam Coc River is a beautiful location that many describe as a little Ha Long Bay due to the limestone rock formations looking very similar. We hopped on a small wooden boat and took off on a two hour ride down the river. We were shocked to see that our ‘captain’ was a young boy. We felt very bad that the majority of the people rowing the boat were young kids or women. The tour guide explained though that these boats were overseen on some level by the government. So everything was safe and the pay was standardised for them, and offered good work.

It still felt a bit strange though (especially as I am not what I would call light, being around 80kg) and we made sure to buy him a cold drink mid way as an added thank you.

The views were great though and we did enjoy seeing the beautiful landscape. While it is true that in aspects it is similar to Ha Long Bay, the pace is much slower and you can get closer to the rocks as well. Going under and into caves on the river being a highlight.

After our boat trip, we had one last activity before heading back to Hanoi. A bike ride round the countryside just outside the town. This was my favourite bit! When you are being driven everywhere and also rowed around, to be able to explore under your own power is very refreshing.

Bikes are also the perfect vehicle to be able to explore a good amount of distance while enjoying the view, breeze and weather. The location we explored was used in the 2017 movie Kong: Skull Island. The location as you can imagine, was pretty epic. Also getting away from all the tourist areas, cycling through the rice fields and back roads was a great way to really feel Vietnam, even if it was only for an hour or so.

Finishing up our tour, we were back on the mini bus to return to Hanoi. We had a fun day out and except for the goat meat enjoyed every aspect of the tour. We had a few more days in Hanoi left before heading to our next destination, Thailand!