Today is our last full day in Hanoi and we’ve pretty much covered the city, so we joined a tour going out into the countryside to explore Hoa Lu, the original ancient capital of Vietnam, and then to Tam Coc, what is called Halong Bay on land.
We have our breakfast, then, because it is busy downstairs, wait in the room for the driver to come. They arrive a little bit later than scheduled, but we’re in no hurry. Off to the van we go, where there are only 3 other people aboard. We drive to the next stop where 1 man gets on (turns out the 4 in back were his family – maybe he wasn’t ready when they were?), then off to another hotel where 3 more are added, and we’re off. Nice small group.
Our guide’s name is Tong, and he is really good, giving us tons of great information, history and running dialogue as we make our way south out of the city and into the Ling Bing provence. Once past the city street scenes that are so typical on the outskirts of Hanoi – and other SE Asian cities – we begin to pass rice fields that are just beginning to bud, and tons of duck farms. There are 2 growing seasons in the North, the 2nd one is just beginning, but now until the New Year is time for the farmers to rest before the harvest begins. They focus on their ducks now, and maybe some fishing.
We take a quick restroom break, then back on the road to Hoa Lu (Lu means Pampas Grass – and there is tons of it around the ancient capital). We arrive and Tong takes us into the capital area, which in the overcast and drizzle is a little mysterious and gives off a certain aura of power.
Through the gate we go, past beautiful lily ponds and old stone structures.
Inside the complex, Tong explains Hoa Lu was the capital form 968 until 1010, when the capital was moved to Hanoi. They chose this spot originally because it was situated between the mountain-like outcroppings and very defensible. I can’t recall what precipitated the move to Hanoi, but suffice it to say, something made them think they didn’t need such a defensible position for the capital any more.
We enter into the main courtyard with the temple and breath in the heady scent of incense while taking in the incredible landscape that surrounds the complex – and the “snake table” where the king would sit to greet his subjects.
Inside the temple there are lots of offerings and ornamental furniture and Buddhas, it is almost too much to take in at once. Plus there are a lot of people in here, so it is sort of hard to really focus and take time to figure out everything you are seeing. It’s cool, just a little rushed.
Back outside, we get a lesson on local fruit. These weird finger looking things are called “Buddha Hands.” They are of the citrus family, but there is no fruit inside. They are very expensive and traditionally only used for offerings. We snap more shots of he scenery as we head back to the bus for Tam Coc.
About 20 minutes later, we are in Tam Coc where we leave our bus and go to the restaurant for a huge buffet lunch. They’ve got everything here – from spring rolls to stir fry to goat! Yes, goat! It is the specialty of this area. We dig in and try most of it – the grilled goat is actually quite tasty!
Then its back out into the cold for our boat ride down the river. We all file out and get our assigned “rower.”
We are fortunate that we have a small group, and just happen to be in between other tours. Ed and I are doubly fortunate because we have the last boat of our group. We start out with the others, watching some of the rowers switch from hands to feet. How do they row like that? Such coordination!
As the rest of the group moves out, our boatman is going slowly, so we end up with incredible views up the river, without anyone else around. It is amazingly gorgeous out here. The rock outcroppings definitely look like Halong Bay, just along this winding river. If only it weren’t so darn cold and windy. We’ve got out hats on and I’ve got my hood up! Hot chocolate would be good right now!
We pass by the obligatory photographer in his boat and starts snapping pictures. We shout, wait, wait – and take our hats and hoods off and act like we’re not freezing. After the photog paddles away, our boatman taps me on the shoulder, then takes his hat off and fixes his hair and smiles! Too funny!
We glide past an incredibly picturesque cemetery with some eye catching memorials…
…then past tomorrow’s lunch! Ha! Goats grazing by the river. Our boatman tells us they are “corche” (pronounced core-shay)…it was the first and only time he spoke the entire 30 minute ride!
Then it is on to the caves. We get to row right through them. They look so low, it seems there is no way we’ll make it, but we navigate right through the darkness to the other side. Way cool.
Back out in daylight, we glide past more incredible scenery, trhough yet another cave, then peacefully following the winding river to our turnaround point.
It is here, at the turnaround point, where all the floating “vendors” are located. Tong has told us not to buy anything from them, because the tour operators don’t like some of the vendors’ practices. This is nicely saying that these vendors are aggressive and can be rather annoying. We’d read all about them already, so we knew how the game worked. If you don’t buy anything, they ask you to buy a drink for your boat rower – when you do that, the boat rower simply puts the drink aside, then sells it back to the vendor at a smaller cost. They keep selling the same drinks over and over again. You have to sort of give them props for the ingenuity, because the way the system works is through a rotation. There are 1300 boats out here and if you get a tour today, you may not get another one for weeks. Thus, the little scams that keep them going.
We successfully say no to our vendor. When Ed tells her we know how it works, she backs off immediately and heads for another boat. Oh well. What can we say? Back we go through the caves and the beautiful scenery.
Back on dry land, we are offered our photos. They aren’t that great, but they are only 100,000 for 5 – and they have them in a cute little photo album book. How can you not buy them? So, photos in hand, we head off on our next adventure – the bike ride through the town and rice fields. Fun! Saddled up, we ride out through some incredible little roads with the rice fields in the foreground and the craggy cliffs on the horizon. We pass a large lake where a fisherman is coming back in with his catch. There are a lot of locals there dividing up the fish and pedaling away with their fresh fish for dinner. Totally village life!
Fortunately, the bike ride is only 20 minutes or so – because the damp cold is really starting to take its toll. I’m frozen inside and out, and just want back in the van! We do eventually get back there, and after a quick bathroom stop we are heading home again. Cold and drizzle aside, this has been a great spur of the moment day trip.
Traffic is building up as we near the city, so the driver heads off onto all these odd back roads, through industrial parts of the city along the river. If you didn’t know better, you’d think we were being taken somewhere to be robbed. But, sure enough, his tactics work, and we pop out right into the main part of town with only minimal delays.
As we drive, we get a good look (but not pix) of all the New Year light decorations. This town is truly lit up. They are incredible, and if only we had a good camera to capture the magic…but we don’t, so you’ll just have to imagine it.
We’ve asked Tong to drop us off by the Lake because we’re going to the Kangaroo Cafe tonight and this will save us one side of the walk. He’s very accomodating, and also tells us about the walking market going on in town, so that’s on our agenda for after dinner.
We are the only customers in the Kangaroo. We didn’t think we would be too early – it is after 6 after all, but the staff is in the back eating their dinner. We tell the cute little waitress girl that we’ll have drinks first and they can finish their dinner. She brings them to us, and we decide to go sit upstairs in the new dining area (that’s non-smoking). Not so different from downstairs, but at least it will be smoke free if any else comes in (which btw, they don’t!).
Ed of course orders his Aussie burger – and I order this carmelized pork dish. I thought it would be sweet and sour, but it is actually covered in a spicy, sweet brown sauce that is totally delicious.
Ed’s burger comes, but unfortunateley there is no egg. I go downstairs to tell the girls, and a huge screaming match between them ensues. I slink back up the stairs hoping they’ll bring another burger for Ed. Eventually they bring up the egg with apologies, so the evening is saved!
And the answer to the question: It’s still a great burger, but not necessarily #1 on the list any longer. Things change…don’t you know?
After our filling dinner, we walk it off through the street market, which is great if you want something or want to shop – neither of which we do. So we just view it as exercise and head back to the hotel to organize our suitcases and get ready for our journey to Singapore in the morning.
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