How to get from Hanoi to Tam Kok. River walk in the village of Tam Coc - “Halong in the rice fields. Hang Mua Temple and Viewpoint
In almost all guidebooks and in most reports on the Internet, Ninh Binh is represented by a national park and a set of caves. Tam Kok, which is often referred to as "Halong on land".
What it is? This is a place where a mountain river has carved its way through the majestic rocks (like in Halong) and created through caves that can be explored from the inside on a rowboat. Impressive? Very! Until we found out that a couple of kilometers from this super-tourist place there is a similar route with 7 caves with a larger area and much fewer foreign tourists.
How to get there if I'm already in the city?
In any hotel in the city, they will explain to you how to get to Trang An and rent a motorbike or bicycle. Prices are the same everywhere in Vietnam 1-3 dollars for a bicycle, 4-7 for a motorbike.
We were both unlucky and lucky with the weather - it was raining lightly, which is probably why we met 2 or 3 companies of foreign tourists during the entire three-hour walk. But among the Vietnamese, Trang An is very popular.
How it works?
The boat station, from which the journey along the river starts, impresses with its location among the rocks, as well as the excellent organization of work. In the boats, several dozen rowers are waiting for you, the loading process takes a matter of seconds.
Almost all of them are women of incredible strength, effortlessly rolling 6 adults with ordinary oars, which they easily control with their hands and (more impressively) with their feet.
The walk itself takes about three hours - you slowly swim through the caves: from very small ones to several kilometers long. In some of them it is so narrow and it seems that a collision with the rocks is inevitable or the ceiling is about to hit the head, but the women are incredibly deftly wielding oars and maneuvering in space in an absolutely unimaginable way, still managing to shout and warn when it is necessary to bend their heads, and sometimes get on the boat at all.
During the trip, the boats make three stops on the islands, where you can stretch your legs, look at small temples or go to the toilet. Our woman was having dinner and was clearly discussing us - we were the only foreigners for the first two hours.
Here she is, by the way:
Each boat has additional oars, more for entertainment than for real help to women.
At the end of the route, races begin with neighbors - who will swim to the shore faster. This is where all the oars come into play, the gambling Vietnamese scream and start rowing almost with their hands.
Total
Unfortunately, it was a rainy day, so the road to Trang An and some of the views could not be photographed. But the place is really striking in its beauty, even after Halong. And its accessibility and the ability to be as close to nature as possible - to touch the water, rocks, to be afraid of the arches of caves - makes it even more interesting than the bay. Especially in conjunction with the next goal of our trip, which is located almost here and is even more impressive. But more about her in the next post.
Konstantin
What Forest Gump liked most about Vietnam was that there was always somewhere to go. But if you, traveling around this country, happen to visit tam kok national park(which means “three caves” in translation), then you will definitely like the fact that there is always where to swim. Having made a walk along the picturesque river Ngo Dong, tourists have the opportunity to see the caves of Hang Ca, Hang Giua and Hang Cuoi.
Tam Coc is one of the most visited tourist places. By renting a boat and going on a trip along the river, you can admire the picturesque yellow-green ones that stretch along the banks, as well as sheer limestone cliffs, their height reaches 100 m.
A real highlight of the trip will be a visit to the karst caves. The flow of water washed out these through caves in the rocks, forming natural grottoes. Hang Ca is the longest of the caves, it stretches for 127 m, while its ceiling is low enough that you often have to duck your head while swimming through it. The second grotto, Hang Giua, is about two times shorter, the length of Hang Cuoi is even less - 46 m. Tourists are usually attracted by the silence and tranquility that reigns here, however, sometimes it can be disturbed by local residents who strive to sell all kinds of souvenirs and handicrafts.
When we were in Vietnam last time, we went from Hanoi to look at the beauty of the limestone rocks of Tam Coc near the town of Ninh Binh. At that time, we didn't have the skills to drive a motorcycle yet, so we went with a one-day excursion. The photos are not very good, sorry, they were taken with our old soap dish, then we were afraid that in Asia we would certainly be robbed and that in general it was very dangerous there and did not take a normal camera :)
Tourists mostly cluster in the southern part of the country: from Saigon to Nha Trang, or quite north to, Ha Long and Sapa, and not everyone stops by Tam Kok. Although the place is very picturesque, and it is quite worth allocating half a day to it.
They take boats to look at the rocks, and mostly women row them, and they do it with their feet! And there is a spare mini paddle for maneuvering. Seryoga wanted to help her, and as he began to row, the boat almost turned around :)
The last boats leave at 17:30 in summer and 16:30 in winter.
On the way back, boaters stop and start selling souvenirs. We said very sternly that we didn't need anything, so she immediately fell behind. We saw that other tourists were attacked very strongly. We also read that boaters like to stop a meter from the pier and extort tips, otherwise they will not moor. Ours didn’t do anything like that, because she realized that Seryoga could perfectly row to the pier, even if she rowed in the other direction :) otherwise she would get an oar;)
Then we were taken to ride bicycles.
I was still bad at cycling, and I was very afraid and trailed behind, but somehow I managed :)
After that, we had lunch at a local restaurant, tried goat meat, but we didn’t like it.
The tour takes only one day, and I remember that it was inexpensive, 10-15 dollars. Of course, it’s cooler to come on your motorcycle, but then it was unattainable for us. This is the second time we have already .
At first, as independent tourists, we tried to take a local bus, but it greatly delayed the departure, and tried to watch TV on the go, in which half-naked young ladies jumped, so we ran away from this bus. Then the hotel worker said that he himself does not ride these buses, they are too harsh for him.
You can also get to Ninh Binh by train if you have tickets, but then you need to catch a motorcycle taxi from the train. Traveling is easier.
