Tam Coc and Bich Dong

One morning on our North Vietnam Red River cruise the Angkor Pandaw tied up by a steep muddy bank littered with cow pats – our guides called them unexploded natural bombs.
We were near Ninh Binh town and a bus was waiting to take us to Tam Coc village, about 10km away past fields, factories and road works.
Nearer the village, though, we were deep in tourist territory with hotels and restaurants lining the sides of the road and European and Asian visitors as well as local Vietnamese out and about.

The scenery was beautiful with the same sugar-loaf karst outcrops as in Halong Bay but here they were set amidst brilliant green paddy fields with women in non la conical hats tending the rice shoots.

Vietnam is the world’s second largest exporter of rice (after Thailand) and North Vietnam has two rice harvests a year (the south has three).

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Movie magic

The Tam Coc area is known as Halong Bay on Land and it has featured in a couple of movies, 1993’s Indochine starring Catherine Deneuve, and the much more recent King Kong: Skull Island.
Many more tourists are now visiting this UNESCO heritage area bringing advantages for the local population – improved roads and infrastructure for example – although those same tourists might not be so happy about it.

Tam Coc – the sampans

The best – well really the only -way to appreciate Tam Coc is on a leisurely sampan ride along the Ngo Dong river.

Most sampans are rowed by women, some using their feet, others their arms to row but all facing forwards.
To western eyes this looks strange but it’s surely more sensible to look in the direction you’re moving. It must make steering easier though I don’t know whether it’s more or less efficient to push rather than pull on the oars.
Our sampan was a slightly different design to some of the others. It had a pointed prow and rode lower in the water – at least I hope that was due to the design and not our weight.

Our oarswoman was very cheerful, and she had plenty of opportunity to talk to her fellow rowers because they kept overtaking us! Again, I hope that was due to the boat design and not our weight.

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Tourist photographs

At the start of the journey a young woman on the bank took photographs of the sampans as they passed by.
Some tourists complain about hard-sell tactics at the end of the trip but I thought it was great to get a photo of the three of us with a bit of scenery in the background.

In the past Phil and I have posed for photos with camels and wine trains among others so why not a sampan – especially as we don’t travel with a selfie stick (we’re a long way past being millenials!)
These folks are making a living by offering a service and that’s got to be better than the scam artists in Hanoi, just 90km up the road.

But if you don’t like it just learn to say ‘no thank you’ in Vietnamese. (Dạ Không, Cám Ơn )

Ngo Dong River

The concrete-sided canal near the boat ramp soon turned into a slow moving river, the Ngo Dong, that wound through green rice paddies, between karst outcrops where mountain goats foraged above steep cliffs.

Local fishermen and women collected freshwater shellfish and shrimps; small clumps of water lilies added splashes of colour; and families of ducks paddled in the shallows.
Serene, unhurried, a different world.

The three caves of Tam Coc

Tam Coc means ‘three caves’.
We reached the caves which are really tunnels through the karst rather than caves.
Fan-shaped dripstones and stalactites come low enough to make ducking necessary in places but the rowers carry torches to light the way and show you when to move your head.
I love caves. They remind me of all the adventure stories I read as a child where dark caverns meant spies, smugglers or buried treasure.

At the end of the caves is a small lake, the turn-around point in the two-hour tour, and all the sampans pause to give the rowers a chance to rest and also to sell wooden models, embroidery and other odds and ends.

The small embroidered bags were just the right size to take my Kindle Paperwhite and I like to keep my electronic gear safely swaddled when I travel so I bought one and made both my Kindle and our sampan lady happy.

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Back to the dock

We travelled back to the boat ramp in the reverse direction and took a hand in propelling the boat forward as all the sampans have a pair of paddles on board.
It was a most enjoyable experience.
We had set out quite early in the day but by the time we returned to the dock there were far more hawkers around.
These are the ones who annoy other people. Didn’t bother me though because I was looking out for whoever had my photos. I needn’t have worried – they found me!

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How much did it cost?

We were on a pre-paid tour so the entry fees and boat hire were already taken care of (see below for current prices).
But I think tourists should help the local economy – on a one-to-one basis where possible. Souvenirs are good!
I paid 40,000 VND (that was about $2 at the time) for each photo and for the bag. I also gave our sampan lady a tip; She deserved it after two solid hours of rowing. I handed it to her before we got to the ramp; I suspect the ushers at the quay would have appropriated it otherwise.

The three pagodas of Bich Dong

From the boat dock a pleasant uphill walk of about two kilometres takes you to Bich Dong, a complex of three pagodas,dating from 1428, built onto the side of a mountain.
There are souvenir stalls by the road but once you cross over a causeway entry to the pagodas is free.

When we were there the weather was misty with heavy drizzle at times so the stone steps leading up to each level were slippery.
If you follow the steps through a cave you come out higher up the cliff and climb up more steps to the third pagoda and an impressive view over the watery countryside below.

As is often the case, walking down slippery steps was trickier than walking up them but everyone made it safely down.

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Useful information

• Tam Coc is about 90km south of Hanoi.
• You can get there by train to Ninh Binh, the main town of this area about 7km from Tam Coc, and then by taxi or motorbike taxi. The train ride takes about two-and-a-half hours and costs from 70,000 to 150,000 VND one way ($3 – $7).
• Several bus companies go from Hanoi to Ninh Binh or Tam Coc. Fare is about 80,000 – 150,000VND one way ($3.50 to $7). Journey takes about two-and-a-half hours.
• The entry fee for the Tam Coc caves is 120,000 VND ($5) per adult and the boat hire is another 150,000 VND ($7) per boat. Only two tourists are allowed per boat although apparently they will take up to four locals. Since the sampans are rowed by one woman (or sometimes one man) this is quite reasonable when you consider the size of many tourists compared to Vietnamese.
• There are also many day tours from Hanoi and the advantage of these is that the entrance fees and boat hire costs are included in the price but they arrive later in the day when the hawkers are out in force.
• Hanoi – Tam Coc day tours include visits to the ancient capital of Hoa Lu and various temples. A buffet lunch is included. The Viator full day tour costs $42.
• Modern Vietnamese currency comprises polymer notes of 10,000; 20,000; 50,000; 100,000; 200,000 and 500,000 VND (dong).
• ATMs usually provide 500,000 ($20) or 200,000 ($9) notes so it’s a good idea to change these for smaller denominations in hotels or shops.
• This is now a very popular tourist area and there are plenty of hotels and home-stays nearby and you can hire bicycles and take your time to to get around and see the countryside and sights.

Check out the video on this website from our North Vietnam trip.

Or on YouTube starting at 3m 13s.

For more information about this cruise see the Pandaw website here.

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