Day 139 – Hanoi to Tam Coc
Halong Bay on land, ruined by dodgy tour
Today we left Dragon Pearl Hotel in the morning. A minibus arrived in the morning to pick us up. It turns out 2 people bought tickets to Ninh Binh, we bought tickets to Tam Coc, 2 people were doing a tour and then getting off at Tam Coc and everyone else on the bus were part of a day trip to Ninh Binh and return to Hanoi. The tickets we purchased the day before cost 130,000 VND / $7.92 AUD per person (Hanoi to Tam Coc transport only).
As appears standard with these trips, we had to stop at a souvenir shop for 20 minutes before heading back on the road. The next destination was Hoa Lu Ancient Capital. Here the tour guide told the two people, who only bought tickets from Hanoi to Ninh Binh to get of (~13km from Ninh Binh town centre). The tourists weren’t happy at all and kicked up an understandable fuss, but due to the fact that travel agencies sub contract to other companies, there is a lot of red tape that makes it difficult to find accountability. The tour guide said, this is the standard drop off location.
Since we had bought tickets to Tam Coc, the tour guide, told us, there is a 40 minute wait as the tour will venture into the Hoa Lu Buildings. The tour guide, told us we can wait in the bus or tag along with the tour. He told us the entrance tickets cost 40,000 VND / $2.44 AUD per person. We agreed to come with him, however we found out later the tickets cost only 20,000 VND / $1.22 AUD per person. You can account the extra cost for the guide but honestly no guide is needed here.
The Hoa Lu Ancient Capital is located perfectly between lime stone mountains. The precinct consist of an immaculate gate, courtyard and two main sections, the Temple of the Dinh Tien Hoang King and the Temple of the Le Dai Hanh King. For me, the gate was the highlight with the river and mountains all around. The buildings themselves are okay but nothing different than other temples and quite small.
Temple of the Dinh Tien Hoang King
Temple of the Le Dai Hanh King
While walking back to the bus, the tour guide, came up to us, suddenly interested in our plans. He offered us a chance to join the tour for a “low” price, which would include lunch, a bicycle ride and a boat ride. He told us that 3 nights is not enough to see everything in Ninh Binh and to join. We were stupid and agreed, paying 400,000 VND / $24.36 per person.
Now officially part of the tour we went to a buffet lunch place in Tam Coc, which was super crowded with tourists who were fighting for food. As it continued to rain, we departed to a very small boat ride location (it doesn’t even appear on Google Maps). The boat ride was advertised as one hour, but it was less than that. Nevertheless, the scenery was beautiful, with the massive limestone mountains everywhere. The lady who rowed the boat got us to help out as we had 3 people on our boat (typically there is only 2 people), and we were more than happy to assist as it looked like hard work. She was actually using her legs to row the boat, which was impressive.
After a nice long cave, we arrived at a dead end. Here, the lady was setting up an umbrella which we thought was for us. Turns out she wanted to sell us souvenirs and the umbrella was to protect her goods. We could see every boat with a basket of merchandise trying to push it onto the occupants. We refused everything and the lady was a lot less happy with us. We then returned along the same path and with less than 20 meters from the pier, the boat slows down and the lady asks/demands for tips. The guide had told us that it was 50,000 VND / $3.04 AUD per boat, so we split the 50,000 VND between the three of us. She was not happy demanding more “tips” for her extra passenger.
From the boat place, we were taken back to Tam Coc and dropped off. The tour guide told us that the bicycle ride was cancelled due to the weather (which was no different to when he took our money). We weren’t happy at all, but we should have seen the signs and not gone on the trip with him.
In retrospect if anyone else is doing this journey, take the bus from Hanoi to Tam Coc, wait the 40 minutes in the bus / around Hoa Lu Ancient Capital in Ninh Binh and then once in Tam Coc, leave the tour. Otherwise, you will be disappointed just like we were. But trust us, Ninh Binh is an excellent place to visit when done right. Tam Coc is where most of the accommodation is FYI
We stayed at Phi Hung’s Unique Homestay, which has a massive room, with an extremely friendly couple who own the place. English is very limited, but its enough to get by…just. We bought dinner and planned the next few nights with some assistance from the homestay owners.
