It felt good to get off a tourist bus and travel the way the Vietnamese do, it turns a boring journey into an experience, we had been getting so bored of tourist buses so we really enjoyed it! As for Hue, we spent our time drenched! We explored the citadel which was really interesting and went to the local pagoda but apart from that we didn’t really do much as the weather was so rubbish. We did however find an awesome little cafe that had great food and milky warm drinks! It was really popular with the locals and heaving with school kids after the school day had finished. We watched in amazement as 3 young boys, they can’t have been older than 8 or 9, sat and scoffed their faces, ordering dish after dish as if they were kings! It was so funny, they had about 10 dishes between them and were very serious about their dining experience! You would never get 9 year olds in a restaurant in England alone eating like that!

We then caught a night bus from Hue to Hanoi but were woken up at 5 am with the driver yelling “Ninh Binh” at the top of his voice! We were thinking about going there anyway and the bus journey was really uncomfy so we made a quick decision and rushed off. Luckily we managed to get a guest house for $2 to stay in for the rest of the night, we have never appreciated a bed so much!

Ninh Binh itself is not the most aesthetically pleasing towns, grey concrete buildings line the streets but it’s surrounding area is unbelievably beautiful! We are so glad we got off the bus!! We went to a place called tam coc where huge karsts tower above small rivers and rice paddies to form a stunning landscape. You can explore the area by a small rowing boat that travels along the river and through caves in the karsts. It’s truly spectacular. Our boat was rowed by a lovely lady who not only used her arms and hands but also her legs and feet, really clever!

The next day we decided to go to Cuc phong national park. We had met a girl from Canada the evening before and the three of us decided to go to the park on Motos. It was one of the highlights of Vietnam for us. The moto drivers took us to the park cross country, through all the rural towns and villages and past miles upon miles of crop land and hills. It was like a mini tour of rural Vietnam. On arrival at the park we went to the ‘primate rescue centre’ where we saw a variety of Gibbons and Langurs that were being rehabilitated back into the wild. We then went for a trek through the park without a guide, which was really fun as you could go where you wanted (within reason) and take your time to stop and view the wildlife! On our way back we stopped off for lunch where we had some Buffalo noodle soup!

The only downside to Ninh Binh was that it was freeeeezing (Lucy wore 6 layers), but the hotels amazing hot chocolate made the temperature a bit more bearable!

HUE

We woke up early that morning to catch the 7am bus to Hue. After waiting for over an hour for the bus to pick us up we started to worry that it wouldn’t arrive. Our worries grew when the bus did indeed arrive. Having just been in an accident (the reason for the tardiness), the bus had windows taped over to keep the broken glass from falling out and huge dents and scrapes along one side of it. awesome.

Making our short stays even shorter, we were in Hue for a total of 5 hours where we wheeled and dealed to get a motorbike rental for half price (4$) for 4 hours. Hue is a World Heritage City, like Hoi An, but it failed to captivate us as Hoi An did. We were glad with our decision to stay only a few hours, although we missed seeing the DMZ, which is a day trip from Hue. We decided since we had seen the DMZ in Korea, an active border, that seeing the old DMZ in Vietnam would somehow be less interesting.

We hit the outskirts of the city first to visit a couple pagodas and tombs. Tu Hieu Pagoda was first and it was great! No entrance fee, although we paid a woman 5000vdn to watch our bike. As she was trying to get more money out of us, a dog came up and ate her lunch she had sitting out. She proceeded to yell at the dog and all in all it was a quite funny event! The temple was a deserted ceemetery and covered in moss. And I mean covered! Even the ground was layered with moss, making every step we took a careful calculation to avoid ending up on our derrieres. The green moss and the old cemetery gave this pagoda a great rustic feel and was very picturesque.

Next we visited Minh Mang Tombs (55,00vdn entry) which had large grounds, was nicely restored, but when we finally got to the end of the property we were disappointed to see that you weren’t actually able to see the tomb.

To get back to the city, we had to cross this thin bridge that had been made specifically for bikes and was divided into 2 skinny lanes to traffic in each direction. This was probably the most scared I have ever been on a motorbike as the traffic was going slowly over the bridge and there was less than 2 inches on either side of the bike for error or wobbling. Thanks to the stellar driving skills of a certain Michael Smith we made it safely over the bridge and were finally able to breathe again!

We stopped by the famous Thien Mu pagoda, an impressive tall pagoda with a nice temple behind it. Back inside Hue city, we visited the old Citadel, a former imperial city located in the centre of today’s city. It was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War and is currently in a state of reconstruction. It was actually quite a disappointment for us and we spent very little time exploring it. The Royal Theatre was cool and the remains of a few ruined temples were nice as well.

Leaving the Citadel, we were met with rush hour traffic which was simply insane on motorbikes!! Eventually we made it back to our bus depot where it started raining just as we were boarding our long overnight bus to Ninh Binh.

NINH BINH

Without knowing it, the bus we boarded that night would be one we would not soon forget. The rain that had begun continued to intensify and did not stop for days. What did stop that night was our bus and all traffic on the road to Ninh Binh. The rain and flooding had gotten so bad that cars could not see where the road and bridges were and caused a massive traffic jam as a result. Mike got the short end of the stick again and got a leak next to his bed. We finally arrived in Ninh Binh 4 hours later than expected and pulled our packs off the bus to an unwelcome surprise – they had been dragged through the flooding all night and we completely soaked all the way through!!! Every piece of clothing in the pack was stinky and wet and a bunch of paper-based items were ruined and had to be thrown out. Luckily all of our important things were with us on the bus and nothing of value was ruined.

We found out later that our woes were the least of problems as there was a major bridge collapse during the night, a bridge that we had crossed just hours earlier! We also heard from our friends Ben and Lindsay who were on a bus behind us that night and got trapped on the wrong side of the collapsed bridge. They were stuck on their bus for 48 hours as it tried to navigate it’s way through the flooded roads and collapsed bridges! Other buses were canceled for the next 2 days as the country tried to deal with the flooding. In the end, we counted ourselves lucky to have gotten over the bridge before the collapse!

We made our way to our hotel where we checked out a few rooms and the wet shoes on a marble staircase created a bad situation which resulted in me falling down the stairs. I bruised my arm and tail bone pretty badly but shrugged it off in favour of a nap, banana pancakes and making plans for exciting Ninh Binh.

It seemed that Ning Binh would be difficult to navigate so we paid 8$ each to get personal moto drivers for the day! We each rode on the back of a bike and our drivers took us around to the main sights surrounding Ninh Binh. There is not much to the town of Ninh Binh – we walked from one end to the other in about 20 minutes! The real awesomeness is in the landscape surrounding the town.

We started at Mua Cave, which is really just a teeny cave, but has a nice climb up the mountain which offers stellar views of the surroundings. Ninh Binh is surrounded by limestone mountains and rivers that run through and around them. It is described as the inland version of Halong Bay but its great because you travel it on a small row boat so you get much closer and get to row through caves through the mountains. It’s like an up-close and personal view of Halong Bay and despite the rainy weather, it was AWESOME and a definitely highlight of Vietnam.

At the top of Mua Mountain we had the most amazing views of the rivers running around the mountains. The weather was misty and the haziness around the mountains gave it a mysterious feel and it was gorgeous! Back on solid ground, we drive through some small local villages until we reach Tam Coc, where we boarded a small row boat and got rowed 2hr up river, around and through the mountains in a calm, beautiful atmosphere. Going through the caves was really cool because it was pitch black at some points and the local woman propelling our boat seemed to just know exactly where to steer the boat! They also are able to row the boat using their feet which is impressive and fun to watch!

At the turning point, our rower stops the boat, takes out some handicrafts that she has made and wants to sell to us. She makes it clear that she is not going to continue rowing until we buy something. The problem is that she was selling us embroidered doilies and tablecloths – not something we were really in the market for! We ended up buying a small embroidered image for 25,000vdn (about 1.25$).

As we are on our way back, she gives us each a paddle, expecting us to help her row. She repeatedly tells us “deeper, deeper” and we try as hard as we can to row deeper and deeper with our little paddles! Eventually we are rowing so deep our paddles are scraping on the bottom of the river, but she is still not happy! “Deeper! Deeper!” she says. As we approach the
Thien Mu Pagoda
finish, we are more and more confused until she stops paddling, and makes a motion with her hand that clarifies exactly what she wants – a tip! She was saying “teep-uh” (aka TIP) but it sounded more like “deeper” hahahah! After us rowing so hard for 2 hours, no tip-uh for you!

After a chicken pho lunch we head to Bich Dong pagoda which has temples set inside caves which was super cool. We got scammed into paying a guy for showing us how to use incence properly, even after he made it seem like we wouldn’t have to pay. At Hoa Lu, the ancient capital, we visited 2 temples, climbed a mountain for a great view over the temple got short changed (almost) when trying to pay to use the toilet. Lesson of the day: watch your money carefully and don’t give in to peer pressure or you will get scammed!

That evening we walk around town, which is virtually devoid of tourists and had the most amazing duck pho for the hefty price of 1$ each! yum! We walked to the train station in an attempt to buy tickets to Hanoi, but there was no one
Hue Citadel
to be found at the deserted station so we decided to take a minibus into Hanoi the following evening.

October 18 we rented a motorbike for a whopping 6$ (the most we have paid to date) and drove to Trang An Grottos, a similar concept to Tam Coc that we visited yesterday. Trang An is marketed as eco-tourism, is more expensive but has many more and longer caves and is very new so there are hardly any tourists. The entire time we were in our row boat, we saw only 2 other tourists – it was very relaxing and breathtaking.

The caves along the river were the real gem of this attraction as some were over 1km long! The problem was that this “eco-tourism” initiative was dotted with “caves” that had been blown out to make them large enough to fit a boat- not so eco if you ask me! We give our rower a 10,000vdn tip if she promises not to try and sell us anything, which she is not happy with but takes it and says no more. Trang An was hands down better than Tam Coc, however, it was a couple dollars more expensive. It
Hue Citadel
was a bit repetitive to do both attractions but we love being outside and seeing these amazing mountains and rivers so we were happy we did both.

Back at the hotel, we have a quick lunch then the hotel arranges a pick-up to take us to the bus station where we will get on a minibus to Hanoi very soon, they promise. Turns out the hotel sold us a ticket to a specific bus and we had to sit by and watch 4 buses to Hanoi come and go before we are allowed to get on a bus! Lesson of the day: DO NOT give your luggage to a porter – once he had ours in the bus, he wouldn’t take it out so we couldn’t get on another bus!

The 1.5 hour drive to Hanoi was on this bus with the most annoying horn honk EVER and a driver who honked every 15 seconds. We were more than annoyed when we finally arrived in Hanoi and were confronted with a multitude of cabs and moto drivers wanting to over charge us for a ride into the city. We walked a few blocks away and got a normal
Water container
taxi to take us to the train station where we just managed to nab tickets for the night bus to Lao Cai which is the jumping off point for Sapa in Northern Vietnam.

This form of tourism is expected to appeal more to tourists, especially foreign travelers who want to experience the real life of local people in northern Vietnam.

To meet the demand of tourists, the provincial tourism will open classes to improve tourism knowledge and skills of local inhabitants who will help travelers with the homestay service.

In the first phase, some fifty households will join the tourism project. Local residents in the role of tour guides will provide accommodation facilities, instruct tourists how to participate in workaday activities, and take them to traditional festivals and tourist attractions.

In fact, several companies in the province are already offering this service.

The private company Ngoi Sao, for instance, is cooperating with other domestic tourist agencies to choose Van Long Eco-tourism Complex as a destination to apply the homestay service for tourists. Visitors will discover daily life of locals such as working in the fields, fishing, and cooking traditional foods.

Van Long Eco-tourism Complex is a water-clogged nature preserve in the Northern Delta. Covering an area of 2,730ha, the site boasts both natural scenic spots like limestone mountains, caves, and biodiversity, and cultural and historical values like traditional festivals of northern people.

Many regions in Vietnam and travel firms are also focusing on homestay packages to attract foreign and domestic tourists. The homestay service is now widely promoted in Lao Cai Province’s Sapa Town, Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An, the Mekong Delta and other places across the country.

(Source: SGT)

A vast watery space surrounded by imposing limestone mountains in Trang An.

Our small boat went smoothly on the river whose water is so clear that the riverbed can be seen. The space was so tranquil that the only sound heard was that of the oars slapping the water. Afar, green mountains with white flowers of reed trees growing on the mountain foot made a beautiful scene. While enjoying fresh air and the landscape in the soft light of the mountainous area we had a feeling of being lost in a fairylike world.

Trang An boasts many beautiful grottoes.

Tourists behold the charming beauty of Trang An.

Domestic and foreign Buddhist monks visit Bai Dinh Pagoda.

The Buddhist statue-bathing rite.

Ringing the bell.

Bai Dinh Pagoda has 50 stone statues of Arhats.

The three statues of Buddha of the Past, Present and Future, each weighing 50 tonnes,
are the heaviest bronze statues in Vietnam.

It was strange to us that our boat could not go along a straight water route as in another tour to Tam Coc – Bich Dong grottoes (also in Ninh Binh Province), but followed a circular route of over 10km. About 200m away from the wharf our boat reached Trinh Temple which is locally known as Dot Temple. The Temple is dedicated to Dinh Thang and Dinh Thuoc, the great generals in the Dinh Dynasty (10^th century) who were credited with helping King Dinh Tien Hoang defeat the invaders, bringing peace to the country. Going further, our boat arrived at the first grotto named Dia Linh which is over 400m long.

Inside the grotto, rows of stalactites in various strange shapes hang from the roof of the cave. In addition, water dripping from the roof made the space more illusory.

Just as our boat came out of the grotto, a vast watery space surrounded by imposing limestone mountains appeared in front of us, creating a feeling of being in a gigantic natural well. Its water was calm and so limpid that bushes of green seaweed at the bottom looked like a grass cover.

The boat ran through another grotto and then entered another watery space. Each grotto and watery space has its own wild beauty and is given a name, such as the Wine Brewing Grotto, Si Watery Space, Tran Temple, etc. There are about 50 grottoes in Trang An. The positions of mountains and river are harmonious with each other. When the boat was running through the Wine Brewing Grotto we were told that there had been a very deep gulf with pure water in this grotto, so the locals used to fetch the water to brew wine to offer to the king. Along the route some boats called at a wharf for tourists to visit Tran Temple. Trang An Eco-Tourist Site is known not only as a beautiful spot but also a sacred place for Buddhist followers.

Coming to Trang An, tourists also visit Bai Dinh Pagoda complex on Bai Dinh Mountain in Gia Sinh Commune, Gia Vien District, Ninh Binh Province. The complex consists of the ancient Bai Dinh Pagoda situated at a height of nearly 200m, which, as legend goes was built in the Ly Dynasty (the 11^th century), and the new Bai Dinh Pagoda which is being built on an area of 107ha with many architectural works of national record.

At the foot of the mountain there is Ngoc (Jade) Well with blue water. It was embellished and expanded in 2006, being 97.3m in circumference, 30m in diameter and 19m deep. Legend has it that in the old days Bonze Nguyen Minh Khong used to fetch water from this well to prepare herbal medicines to treat diseases for people.

Everyday, groups of Buddhist followers and tourists from far and near come to visit the pagodas and contemplate the architectural and sculptural works as well as the beautiful landscape of Vietnamese Buddhism during the early 21^st century.

The inauguration ceremony of Bai Dinh Pagoda will be organised in 2010 on the occasion of the 1,000^th anniversary of the year King Ly Thai To (1010 – 1225) issued the Royal Proclamation to move the capital from Hoa Lu (Ninh Binh Province) to Thang Long, present-day Hanoi.

(VNP)

The original pagoda was built by a Zen Buddhist priest Nguyen Minh Khong (1066-1141) in the 11th century.

The new building covers an areas of 700ha, making it the largest pagoda in Vietnam. The complex is slated for completion in 2010, in time to celebrate 1,000 years since King Ly Thai To moved the country’s capital from Hoa Lu in Ninh Binh to Thang Long

There’s more record-breaking architecture. The pagoda’s magnificent three-door gate is the biggest of this kind in Vietnam, built with 550 tonnes of iron wood. Four 13,8m-high pillars tower over the entrance, flanked by two 5.5m-high solid bronze guard statues, weighing 12 tonnes each

Around the gate are eight smaller bronze statues of Kim Cuong angels, each weighing 8 tonnes. But it is inside the gate that you will find the real gem of the pagoda

At the top of the bell tower is the 36-tonne bell – the heaviest bell in Vietnam. The bell is a mixture of bronze and gold and was cast in Hue – the country’s cradle of bronze casting. When it is rung, the sound can be heard as far as 10km from the tower

The bell isn’t the only bronze marvel in the complex. Not far from the tower is Kwan Yin Sanctum: a wooden building with five main chambers and two side chambers. Tucked away in the centre of the sanctum is the stunning 10m-high bronze statue of Kwan Yin with thousand hands. When looking up at this vast piece of art, it’s not surprising to learn that the 80-tonne statue is the biggest depiction of Kwan Yin statue in Vietnam

Kwan Yin is not alone. The building leads onto Phap Chu Sanctum – an area dedicated to worshipping Lord Buddha Sakyamumi, the founder of Buddhism

At the heart of the building is a high platform in the central chamber where a 10m-high bronze statue of Lord Buddha sits on his lotus throne

The Centre for Vietnam Record Books recognised the 100-tonne statue as the tallest and heaviest bronze depiction of Lord Buddha in the country in 2006

The statue was born as part of a collective effort of bronze casters in Y Yen District, Nam Dinh Province

If you are not completely over whelmed by the size of the statue you will notice the wall behind it, which is divided into nearly 1,300 small pigeon holes, each with a small bronze statue of Buddha

The grand scale of the pagoda is best seen at Tam The (past, present and future) Santum

Built on the highest hill in the region, Tam The Sanctum is the largest construction in Bai Dinh complex, and is also the biggest sanctum for worshipping Buddha in the country

The massive structure covers an area of 3,000m². There are seven chambers, each dedicated to celebrating the three tenses of Buddha. The sactum is home to the largest set of three-tense Buddha statues in the country, each weighing a massive 50 tonnes. There are also 500 valuable Arhat stone statues – the most at any pagoda in Vietnam

On the way to the old pagoda, favourite stop off points include Sang (light) Cave, where the surprisingly flat ceiling and floor resemble half an Olympic-sized swimming poor. The cave, which worships Buddha, was bestowed with an inscription by King Le Thanh Tong in the 15th century: “famous landscape on the mountain top.”

Nearby Toi (Dark) Cave, with its weird and wonderful rock formations and fairy pool, worship Mau (Vietnamese Mother Goddess).

Bai Dinh deserves to be in the country’s record books, says culturists and folklore specialist Truong Dinh Tuong.

The park is surrounded by 300-400m high limestone hills and has within it a number of microclimates and unique ecosystems. The place is also of cultural and historical value and attracts both domestic and foreign visitors.

The native of the area who guided us on our excursion told us that the best time to visit the park is between December and the end of April when it’s not raining. At that time, one can hear birds singing and gibbons calling from high up in the treetops.

From the top of one of the Tam Diep hills, one can look out over the entire national park. Cuc Phuong is home to thousand-year old trees such the Parashrea stellata and Dracontomelum duperranum, dozens of varieties of orchids and also rare langurs, squirrels, spotted deer, and butterflies.

Cuc Phuong National Park has a rich fauna and a diverse flora. There are nearly 2,000 varieties of plant life and the forest has five layers. In the park there are 450 species of vertebrates which account for 38 percent of all animal species found in Vietnam.

Cuc Phuong forest was given reserve status in 1960 and in 1966 it became the country’s first national park. Within the park are the Trang Khuyet, Con Moong, Pho Ma and Nguoi Xua caves, each beautiful in its own way.

The most attractive cave is perhaps Nguoi Xua which has a 45m high ceiling and was used by prehistoric people. In 1966 the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology and Cuc Phuong National Park personnel excavated the cave and found many axes and knives made of stone, shell, animal bone and teeth.

They also found three tombs with intact human skeletons. Radiocarbon dating showed the skeletons to be about 7,500 years old. The corpses were found in a curled up position kept in place by stones. When buried they were placed on crushed stone and covered with celandine plants. These are the first ancient tombs to have been found in Vietnam.

Nguoi Xua Cave is home to 19 bat species and locals call the cave Hang Dang (’Hang’ in Vietnamese means cave, and ’Dang’ in Muong means bat). Inside the cave are beautiful stalactites of many shapes. Domestic visitors enjoy hitting upon the stalactites to make a sound that is like a gong.

Visitors to Nguoi Xua Cave are reminded that humans have been around for quite some time. They come to the cave and burn incense to commemorate the ancients and then contemplate the imposing scenery of the vast, green forest of Cuc Phuong.

Hoa Lu means “Flowers of Reeds” and was the capital city of the Dinh dynasty (968-980) and the Tien Le (Early-Le) dynasty (980-1009). The Ly dynasty (1010-1225) was also formed from this capital city.

Arriving at the ancient capital, tourists always visit the temple of King Dinh Tien Hoang (Dinh Bo Linh), who built up Hoa Lu as the capital and set up the first centralised feudal State in Viet Nam, as well as the temple of the first king of the Tien Le dynasty, King Le Dai Hanh (Le Hoan).

Hoa Lu as a capital city existed for only 41 years, from 968 to 1009, during which time the first 12 years belonged to the Dinh Dynasty. Dinh Bo Linh was crowned as King Dinh Tien Hoang and he named the country Dai Co Viet. The next 29 years were ruled by the Tien Le Dynasty.

Though the time is very short compared to the nation’s thousand-year history, the ancient capital of Hoa Lu marks a splendid historical time in the country. During the time of the Dinh and Le dynasties, feudal Viet Nam was powerful, and the Vietnamese people completely defeated an invasion by China’s Song Dynasty.

According to historians, archaeological excavations prove that 1,000 years ago, Hoa Lu was a magnificent royal citadel. The Hoa Lu Citadel covers 300ha, consisting of an outer and inner zone, linked together by a narrow road. Endless mountains and the Hoang Long River around the capital city defend it against military attacks.

But in 1,010, as the country stepped into a higher development stage, King Ly Thai To decided to move the capital city to Thang Long (now Ha Noi), where it remains to this day. Since then, Hoa Lu has been known as the former capital.

Today, on the foundation of the ancient royal palaces, sit the two temples, 500m from each other.

The temple of King Dinh Tien Hoang is located among ancient trees, orchards and ornamental trees, all intermingling to create a solemn scene. Entering the temple, we are attracted by unique wood and stone carvings by Vietnamese artisans in the 17th-19th centuries.

In front of the temple lies a large stone bed. Its face has a carved image of a dragon, with a foot holding its beard.

Walking on the main path, passing two big columns, visitors enter san rong (dragon yard). Perhaps, it used to be the place where the king gave audience to his mandarins. In the middle of the dragon yard is a stone bed, 1.8m long and 1.4m wide. On the two sides of the bed are two unicorns, made of two entire green rocks.

In the middle of the main sanctum, the bronze statue of King Dinh Tien Hoang sits on a green-stone platform.

On his left and right sides are two stone dragons. The right chamber is to worship the King’s two sons: Dinh Toan and Dinh Hang Lang. The left chamber worships the King’s first son, Dinh Lien.

The temple is surrounded by a “natural wall”, with a semi-circle lotus pond on the east side and a single mountain to the west. The surrounding mountains create a maze of valleys and caves, which were used to store food for soldiers and horses during the feudal period.

From King Dinh Temple, we walk 500m to visit the temple for King Le Dai Hanh and Queen Duong Van Nga. She used to be the wife of Dinh Bo Linh, but after he died, she had to cede the throne to Le Hoan (King Le Dai Hanh) to fortify the country to cope with an invasion by the northern Song Dynasty.

This temple is reflected in a branch of the Hoang Long River, and it is smaller than the King Dinh Temple.

Walking along the road to the temple, on the left-hand side, there is a large rock, 3m high, with an image of a dancing phoenix with its wings spread. On the right-hand side we see a rookery, with an image of a reclined tiger, close to an old tree, over 300 years old.

Visitors pass rocks with images of a kneeing elephant, a phoenix incubating its eggs and a long ma (a half-dragon, half-horse creature).

The statue of King Le Dai Hanh sits in the middle of the main sanctum. On the left sits the statue of King Le Long Dinh (the fifth son of King Le Dai Hanh), and on the right sits the statue of Queen Duong Van Nga.

Like the decorations in King Dinh Temple, the temple of King Le features wooden sculpture art of the 17th century, of a very polished and refined standard.

In the large lawn in the middle of the two temples, local people form a small market that sells local products, mostly ornamental trees and rocks with artistic works upon them.

Nguyen Thi Lien, a local seller, says her father and husband make the rocks and shape ornamental trees for her to sell at the market.

“We sell these products to tourists; each rock is sold for between VND60,000-100,000 (US$5.7), while an ornamental tree is cheaper, from VND10,000-50,000,” she says. “Serving tourists brings us a little extra income, in addition to our farms.”

Not far from the two temples is the Nhat Tru (One-Pillar) Pagoda, which has a stone pillar carved with Buddhist scriptures, and a memorial stele house for King Ly Thai To, inaugurated on September 29, 2000, on the celebration of the 990th anniversary of Hoa Lu – Thang Long – Ha Noi.

Tourists should understand the historical significance of the ancient capital, says visitor Truong Thi Diem, a Hanoian teacher.

“The two temples and the stele house for King Ly let future generations know that this region used to be the magnificent royal citadel of two dynasties, Dinh and Le, and the birth place of the Ly Dynasty, before King Ly Thai To moved the country’s centre to Thang Long – Ha Noi,” she says.

From the main entrance, tourists will start with the tour of pagoda’s records:

The pagoda’s magnificent three-door gate is the biggest of its kind in Vietnam, built with 550 tonnes of iron wood. The gate is flanked by two 5.5m-high solid bronze guard statues, weighing 12 tonnes each and four pillars tower over the entrance is 13.85m in height and 0.5m in diameter each. Around the gate are eight smaller bronze statues of Kim Cuong angels, each weighing 8 tonnes.

After walking along the corridor of about 1 kilometer where 500 white-stone Arhat statues will be placed two sides, tourists will meet the bell tower with the largest bronze 36-ton bell is hang here.

Each Arhat statue, 2-2.5m in high, 2-2.5 tonnes in weight, is carved from monolithic stone, need one month for completion and different from each other.

Up above is the 800sq.m Kwan Yin Sanctum – a wooden one-layer-roof building with five main chambers and two side chambers. In the centre of the sanctum is the stunning 10m-high bronze statue of Kwan Yin with a thousand eyes and hands. This 40-tonne statue is considered as the biggest Kwan Yin statue in Vietnam.

Continue the tour to Phap Chu Sanctum – an imposing imitation wooden two-layer-curve-roof building – where a 10m-high bronze statue of Lord Buddha sits on his lotus throne situated. This 100-tonne statue has been recognized as the tallest and heaviest bronze depiction of Lord Buddha in the country in 2006 by the Vietnam Guinness Book of Records (Vietbook).

The Tam The Sanctum is located on a high hill at 76m above sea level. This is a majestic, grandiose building with three-layer-curve-roof style and an area of 3000 square meter where three bronze statues representing the past, present and future weighing 50 tonnes each placed.

The tour of the pagoda of records is not stopping here. Far from the large site about 2km is the place where the old Bai Dinh Pagoda located. Almost of all pilgrims and tourists want to reach there. Even this is not short way for walking, it is really a good time for people refresh while strolling. After a long way walk and contemplate around beautiful view, travelers will see a modest three-door gate locates next the roadside. Through the three-door gate, turn to the small path rather slope, go up about more than 200 steps to the top of mountain, an old pagoda appears in ancient and tranquil.

Even though it is under construction, with expected date of completion in 2010 to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi, Bai Dinh Pagoda has been attracted a large number of pilgrims, domestic and international tourists.

This impressive complex is waiting for your discovery.

The kind of place where you have to change your route home because the road has been blocked by rice crops. The kind of place where the drive home included driving under a spray of a rice harvesting machine, getting sprayed with straw. The kind of place where you have to slow down because there is a herd of ducks waddling towards you in unison on the road as the farmer moves them elsewhere! The kind of place you have to squeeze past a buffalo on the road!

I took a two hour bus from Hanoi, and found myself a nice hotel room. In the afternoon I hired a bike with a lovely Vietnamese driver, sadly whom I could not communicate with! I could have cycled to Tam Coc, but I was put off by having to cycle on the notorious Highway 1 which lonely planet stronlgy advises against doing!! The driver took me down fantastic country lanes with views of teh large limestone karsts emerging from the rice paddies.

I climbed up 500 steps one of said karsts, and had a great view of the landscape. Next, I went to Tam Coc for a calm row boat ride down shallow water in between the large peaks. It was beautiful. The only annoyance was when a lady magically got on my boat (don’t know how she got on so quietly!) to deliver a sales pitch. Thankfully she left just as quietly! On the roads back, there were so many people in the rice paddies working hard, but what a scenic place to work!
I had a wonderful evening – just me and the cable tv! hehe….I think it’s allowed once in a while!

The next day I went further out along the country roads and got driven to Cuc Phuong National Park (36km away). It was a good hour on the bike, so I was glad of the 2 hour walk I did in the park to refamiliarise myself with my bum muscles! Once again though, the views on the way were stunning. The area has a lovely landscape. On my walk it was nice to be surrounded by pure countryside and nature; caterpillars (which had cut perfect circles in the leaves), butterflies, big spindly spiders, stick insects.

I also visited the monkey rescue centre, caring for endangered monkeys, gibbons and langers.

After yet another scenic ride home (thankfully we stopped for photograph taking!) I enjoyed dinner with four fellow travellers staying at the hotel, and we had a funny experience on our walk back from dinner. Vietnam was celebrating the full moon festival, so there were many street parties taking place. The one we passed were keep to involve us! All the ladies were round one table drinking lemon juice, while the men on the next table were getting blind drunk on beer. As we passed by, we were pressured to join them and have a beer, but we couldn’t stay long as the others needed to catch a night bus. So, we stood round, unable to communicate drinking the beer, when one man challenged a downing competition! We realised our only cue to leave would be to finish the beers, so we drank up, and after being handed a banana said our thanks and moved on…all very random!

After a relaxing morning in Ninh Binh, it was time to be reuinted with Ben and take the bus back to Hanoi.
I had a lovely 2 nights in Ninh Binh. The landscape is stunning.

Blogger: JHG

Tam Coc

After arriving back in Vietnam after our short trip into Laos, we learnt that we had a lucky escape from typhoon Ketsana as it hit the centre of Vietnam just after we left there even though no one told us that it was heading in our direction. Apparently Hue and Hoi An which we had visited a few days earlier were under 4 feet of water after the typhoon hit so it was a good job we left when we did! Back in Vietnam we headed north, first stop was the city of Ninh Binh.

Whilst in Ninh Binh, we rented out two motorbike drivers for the day who took us wherever we wanted to go, the roads were fairly quiet there so it was fairly safe to drive around. All around Ninh Binh are loads of little limestone peaks in the rice fields and theres also a lot of caves to explore. We spent a day driving around on the back of the bikes and had a great time. In a place called Tam Coc about 10km from Ninh Binh, we got to go on a 2 hour boat ride between all the rocks and even into some caves which.

Me with my stupid beard sitting at the top of one of the many limestone peaks in Tam Coc

we really enjoyed. Amazingly, the guy in our boat was rowing with his feet! The best bit about Ninh Binh and Tam Coc was the fact that hardly anyone was there, we hardly saw any other tourists all day which was refreshing as most of the other good places in Vietnam seem a bit overcrowded with people.

After Ninh Binh, we headed further north to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Hanoi is a huge city, now one of the biggest in the world and its extremely busy as you’d expect, however, the traffic doesnt seem as bad here as in Ho Chi Minh City, probably because its spread out over a larger area. In the evenings in Hanoi, everyone sits at the side of the road on little plastic chairs and enjoys a few glasses of Bia Hoi which only costs 9p a glass, apparently the cheapest beer in the world. Near to Hanoi is a place called Halong bay which is one of the most popular places to visit in Vietnam. We booked ourselves onto a 2 day boat trip around the bay where we would spend the night on the boat. The boat we stayed on looked like an old pirate ship and it was a really fun two days we spent on the water. Halong bay has similar scenery to Tam Coc which I mentioned earlier, apparently there are about 2000 limestone islands sticking out of the water. Apart from sitting on the boat admiring the scenery, we also went kayaking and swimming in the sea and went to visit a floating village. The people on the floating village are born there and most of them live there all their lives without ever going on land! On the final morning in Halong Bay, we went to visit big cave system in the side of one of the islands and then we headed back to Hanoi.

Back in Hanoi, we’ve just returned from eating lunch where we went to visit an area about 7km outside of Hanoi called Le Mat which is known as ‘snake village’. In Le Mat, there are loads of snake farms which raise snakes for eating. We chose one of the restaurants and the guy who worked there brought to us our lunch alive, a big cobra! After letting us hold the snake, he then killed it and started to prepare it which was amazing to watch as he did it so skillfully and quickly. Whilst the snake was cooked we got to drink some of snake blood mixed with vodka and I had the privilege (or not), of eating the snake heart raw, yum yum. The cooked snake was actually really tasty, there were several different dishes such as some of the meat inside spring rolls and then some of the skin which had been fried. Also, we had a soup made from the snake meat and a few other little dishes. Eating the heart was pretty horrible but the rest of the cooked meat was delicious and definitely worth trying.

I’ve just read on the news that theres also a typhoon which just hit Tokyo where we were a few weeks ago so I hope we keep managing to avoid them! Bye for now.

Bloger: David Skaife