Tam Coc, the unknown Guilin?

Mathias & Nina On our way from Hue to Hanoi we got off the night train in Ninh Binh (about 2 hours from Hanoi) to have a look at the beautiful landscape round Tam Coc. We rented a motorcycle, got instructions from the locals on how to get there and discovered the surroundings of Tam Coc on our own.

Our trip started with a few kilometers on Vietnams Highway 1. Don't expect a Vietnamese highway to look like in Malaysia or Austria, Highway 1 is a normal street, where you come across nearly any vehicle that you can possibly imagine: from ox carriages to huge modern trucks, and of course masses of bicycles and motorcycles...

As soon as we reached the small road that leads to Tam Coc we were again surrounded not only by the usual pace of rural Vietnam but also by a breathtaking landscape. According to what we heard this landscape must be similar to Guilin, lets see what we can expect there, we'll wee it ourselves in about two weeks time. We took a small rowboat to visit three caves between the steep rocks. The suprising difference: some of the locals here row with their feet!

PS: We are in Hanoi by now and we just uploaded some more photos of Hue and the imperial tombs, Tam Coc and Hanoi to the gallery!