Tam Coc (Halong Bay on Land) Ninh Binh Province, Vietnam

This is a continuation post from my previous travel post on Historical Hoa Lu Vietnam Ancient Kingdom Capital. We signed up for a day tour to Hoa Lu Tam Coc which is situated in Ninh Binh province of the Northern Vietnam. The journey took us about three hours ride from Hanoi city to Ninh Binh. As soon as we arrived at Ninh Binh province, the tour guide took us to the historical ancient city of Hoa Lu which you can read more and view my photographs in my previous post. We headed to lunch after completed the tour visit at Hoa Lu. We initially wanted to visit Tràng An as it is located nearby to Hoa Lu city but it is not included in the same tour package. Tràng An is an eco-tourism area and also known as the South’s former capital Hoa Lu for the uniqueness of limestone mountains geological age about 250 million years. I knew about Tràng An from one of the episodes of Running Man (South Korean variety show) where they completed the mission tasks at Hoa Lu and Tràng An. Since I wanted to visit Hoa Lu, the historical ancient city, I decided to take the tour package of One Day Tour to Hoa Lu Tam Coc and hoping to return to Vietnam again to visit Tràng An and Sapa (a beautiful mountainous town occupied by tribes in Northern Vietnam along the border with China).   

After our lunch, we headed to Tam Coc which took us between 45 minutes to an hour ride from Hoa Lu (the historical ancient city). All the tours to Tam Coc begin in the afternoon (after the lunch break). 

Tam Coc is a beautiful natural setting (a spectacular landscape with rock formation and limestone on the caves) in Ninh Binh province which also well-known as the “Halong Bay on land” or “Halong Bay in the ricefields”. As soon as you arrive at Tam Coc Wharf, the tour guide will arrange you in a small group between two people to four people for a small row boat or also known as a sampan. I really enjoyed the sampan ride along Ngo Dong river which lasted between two to three hours, depending on the strength of the boat rower. Some of the Vietnamese paddle the boats with their feet while others row with their hands. You would be amazed by the greenery landscape of paddy (rice) fields and plants on the caves as well as the river is absolutely clean, non-smelly and quite clear as most of the locals row their boats instead of running on diesel engine which could cause water pollution and destroy the ecosystem of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes).

TO READ MORE AND VIEW PHOTOGRAPHS: http://lense.mycharminggirl.com/2014/02/tam-coc-halong-bay-on-land-ninh-binh.html