Vietnam
Ninh Binh
Ha Long Bay on land. A most visit if going to Hanoi even if you just do a day trip. Worth it! Loved biking to sights, restaurants, bars and coffee shops. Trang An boating to temples and long tight caves (be prepared to duck). The panoramic view from Mau Cave dragon hill summit was worth the sweaty climb. We stayed in Trang An which was sleepier than Nihn Binh
3 days (could have skipped Bia Dinh and Hoa old town if we were tight on time)
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Day 1: Mua Cave Mountain, biking, massage
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Day 2: Bai Dinh
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Day 3: Trang An River Boat, Hoa Lu old town
Hotel: Trang An River Mountain Ecolodge - rustic and charming. 8 individual rooms with stone and wood decor. Provide free bikes. Very reasonably priced.
Favorite restaurant or bar: Grandma's, Banana
Day 1: Mua Cave Mountain
Started our day with our daily coffee. Went to Xpresso. Nice people running the place and enjoyed meeting one of their well kept cats named Cappuccino.
Biked to Mau Cave where we paid to park our bikes. Climbed nearly 500 steep stone steps to reach the top, where a stone dragon sculpture and a small pagoda awaited us. Views were spectacular.
Walked around the lotus pond at the base along a bamboo walkway but not the right season for plants to be blooming.
Had lunch at Chookies Beer Garden. Food was good and liked the chill ambiance. It’s in Tom Coc which seemed like a much bigger town than Trang An.
Really enjoyed biking around. Loved running into a group of water buffalo. Trang An is small enough to feel comfortable.
Had a nice cheap massage at Wellness Spa next door to, and partially sharing space with, Grandma’s. Ate dinner at Grandmas. Nice backyard area. Good food.
Hotel: Trang An River Mountain Ecolodge. Rustic and charming. 8 individual rooms with stone and wood decor. Serve breakfast either on your porch or in the little gazebo area in front of your room. They offer a fairly large menu for lunch/dinner. Food was good. Takes a while so plan accordingly. Bed was comfortable.
Day 2: Bai Dinh
Weather started to turn. Colder and windy. Jacket and pants for Amy. After breakfast biked to Freedom Hideaway for a yummy, but tiny salted coffee. Nice comfortable sitting area. A bit annoyed with their 8% VAT add on. Haven’t seen that yet.
Took a Grab to Bai Dinh. He insisted he wait for us. Was about a 30-minute car ride in the middle of no where. The Bai Dinh complex was a huge area of many halls, temples and Buddahs.
We walked at least a 5K through the lovely grounds and visiting various temples.
Ate lunch at the restaurant with a lot of capacity. We ended up being the only ones. Food was good and large portions.
A VIP prime minister from a South Pacific island nation was being given the red carpet treatment.
Sure enough our taxi driver was waiting for us. Luckily Larry had checked the Grab price for our return trip. Very annoyed that he tried to overcharge by 50%. Had a beer at the Riverside restaurant. Would have been quite nice on a warmer day.
Dinner Banana. Very good vegetable curry. Nice setting.
Day 3: Trang An River Boat tour, Hoa Lu old town area
Very unseasonably colder. Warmest temp of the day was at midnight. Wore long johns and new down jackets we had purchased for Sapa. Was still wet and cold. Coffee at Skyline. Their salted coffee not the best.
Rode our bikes to the Trang An River boating departure. Very organized. They were ready for crowds, which they weren’t going to get this cold wet day. Four to a boat so Alexandra from Greece joined us. We all helped paddle into the headwind, which seemed to be the entire trip. There are multiple routes. It was recommended to us to take Route 3 - Passes through 3 caves (including Dot Cave, the longest at over 1,000 meters) and stops at 3 temples. It also sails through the filming location for the movie Kong: Skull Island, which features the original movie set and native village.
Three caves and two temples (one was closed). Nice that it wasn’t too busy. Certainly these caves are packed in the high season.
Had to look out and duck many places.
Temples are cool, but after a while, we definitely didn’t feel a big loss that one was closed.
Late lunch. Don’t remember the name of the lunch restaurant on our bike ride back, but the food was not that memorable either. Dropped off our bikes at the hotel and took a Grab to Hoa Lu old town area. Best at dusk/night with the lighting and lanterns.
Didn’t think this place looked too good to eat (even at a 4.9 rating)…
…so ended up at Pizza Sen. Not bad. Popular. Key thing this cold night was indoor seating. The Pogoda was pretty and nice to see at night but old town itself was nothing special so left to go back to hotel after dinner.
Day 4: Transfer to Hanoi airport to Laos
Last bike ride before our pick up. Rode to Grandmas for a salt coffee. Didn’t disappoint. Free tea to start.
Our driver was 20 minutes early, so we got an early start on our two-hour drive to the Hanoi airport. Opted for a private car to the Hanoi airport for $57 that we booked through the conciairs of the hotel down the road.
We couldn’t check in to our flight as we were too early. 3 hours before our flight we were able to finally check in. Security lines went quickly and fortunately once we got through security there was a nice lounge to hung out in with good lunch options.
