Ninh Binh and Environs
Day One - Vietnam - 2019
A rainy but enjoyable day exploring Ninh Binh by foot, bike, and boat, including a visit to the Tràng An Landscape Complex.
Map Credit: OpenStreetMap
Editorial Comment: Throughout this page, I use Vietnamese characters in the spellings of place names whenever possible; however, some Vietnamese characters are not compatible with some of the fonts used throughout this website, and -in those cases- I have used what I can determine to be the most common English language transliteration.
1. Gate of Hoa Lu
Hoa Lư was the capital of Vietnam in the 10th and 11th centuries.
Arriving in Vietnam from the East Coast of the United States is no easy chore, and it took me over 20 hours to arrive in the evening to Hanoi’s Not Bai Airport. In a somewhat atypical move, I booked a group tour (this one through Intrepid Travel) which wasn’t scheduled to begin for two days. This left me two days on my own to explore some additional sites in Northern Vietnam. Having come to terms with the fact that Sapa would be best left as its own trip, I chose to explore the “Halong Bay of the Land”, Ninh Binh. I booked a visit through Intrepid’s day trip arm, Urban Adventures. The following morning (still very groggy, I might add), I had to navigate my way across Hanoi to the Opera House. Since I had arrived in the evening on the weekend, this was my first true experience with Hanoi traffic - and, oh boy, what a wake-up call that was! Having safely navigated my way across town, I met up with the small, friendly group for the Ninh Binh trip.
Nearly two hours later, we arrived outside Hoa Lu, one of Vietnam’s ancient capitals, established in 968. I -like many others, presumably- took the trip to Ninh Binh to see the wonderful landscapes, but I was thankful for a little bit of historical context to frame the rest of the day. Being my first day in country and generally ignorant of Vietnam’s pre-colonial history, I naturally asked a lot of questions!
2. Hoa Lu Environment
The location of Hoa Lư was chosen due to its defendability; during its time as capital, it was never sacked.
For the first but certainly not the last time, I heard a tale from history of how the Vietnamese repelled invaders, particularly the Chinese. Hoa Lu’s location is certainly ideal - the surrounding hills are practically impassible and the waterways easily defendable. In 1010, after the fall of the Early Lê dynasty, the capital moved to Thang Long in present-day Hanoi.
3. Outside Dien Tien Hoang Temple
While the original imperial city’s grounds have shrunk over the years, the interior Đinh Tiên Hoàng Temple still maintains signs of opulence from another time.
There aren’t too many indications that the capital city once existed here. The most prominent feature in the present-day is the Dien Tien Hoang Temple, built in honor of Dinh Bo Linh, the first emperor of Vietnam.
4. Scenes From a Tràng An Bike Ride #1
The Tràng An Landscape Complex is comprised of a 6,000 hectare (15,000 acre) core zone and an additional 6,000 hectare buffer zone.
After the quick visit to Hoa Lu, we jumped on our mountain bikes for a short ride across the Tràng An landscape. It was -naturally- at this point the rain we were expecting began to fall. The bike ride became a balancing act between wanting to stop to photograph everything in our path and wanting to arrive at our mid-day stopping point to dry off. Even with the rain and the heavy cloud cover, the scenery was outstanding!
5. Scenes From a Tràng An Bike Ride #2
Rivers and streams form a complex web of waterways throughout Tràng An; these waterways have been the lifeblood of the peoples who have lived here for over 30,000 years.
I may have forced the group to stop to take a photograph of this truly idyllic scene….
6. Scenes From a Tràng An Bike Ride #1
The Tràng An Landscape Complex was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2014 in part because of its “exceptionally beautiful tower-karst landscape.”
The fast-falling rain made the going slow, but -before long- we arrived at our homestead lunch location.
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7. Ninh Binh Homestead Lunch
Homestays -where you stay in and share meals with a household- are common in Vietnam, and a great way to experience home-cooked meals.
Completely soaked from the rain, we were grateful to arrive at our stopping point for lunch, a home whose patriarch is a retired Vietnamese military official. I can say without hesitation that this was one of the best meals I have ever had. If you go to Vietnam and don’t have a meal in one’s home, you’re doing Vietnam wrong.
8. Tràng An Boat Ride #1
The Tràng An boat tour area features deep valleys beneath high karst cliffs, and many caves which connect them.
After lunch, we made our way to the Tràng An boat tour area, where we boarded a rowboat for a nearly two-hour tour in this amazing karst mountain landscape. The weather varied throughout the course of the boat ride from drizzling rain to big ol’ fat rain, although I don’t think even this could dampen (hehe) the spirits of those in my group. I had an umbrella, but it admittedly gets tiring holding it above the heads of those in the boat after a mere few minutes. Long story short, bring a raincoat with a hood and perhaps even rain pants if you think it is going to rain on your tour. The major upside of going out-of-season and in the rain is that we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves!
Now, let’s talk scenery. The landscape here is amazing and the complex lives up to its reputation in this regard. At the end of the day, I actually came to appreciate the foggy backdrop, it added a wonderfully eerie quality to what we were seeing. I could do without having to wipe my lens every few seconds, however, but that comes with the territory. I don’t know how Tràng An stacks up to the nearby and generally similar Tam Coc boat ride, but I can say that if you choose Tràng An, you won’t be disappointed.
The following ten photographs also depict scenes from the Tràng An boat tour.
9. Tràng An Boat Ride #2
10. Tràng An Boat Ride #3
There were multiple temple buildings along our route; our rower (through another rower who spoke English) regularly asked us if we wished to stop; we collectively declined, primarily on account of the weather, I suspect.
11. Tràng An Boat Ride #4
12. Tràng An Boat Ride #5
13. Tràng An Boat Ride #6
As best I understand it, there are three primary routes at Tràng An, all three of which pass through many of the area’s cave systems.
14. Tràng An Boat Ride #7
15. Tràng An Boat Ride #8
16. Tràng An Boat Ride #9
17. Tràng An Boat Ride #10
Before ending our boat tour, we passed by the abandoned and mostly-dismantled set of Kong: Skull Island. I didn’t immediately appreciate this; in fact, it wasn’t until afterwards when trying to identify the bridge in the center of this photograph did I realize it was a set piece.
18. Tràng An Boat Ride #11
As we came back to the visitor center, we passed by hundreds and hundreds of rowboats tied to the nearby shore. The natural conclusion is that most if not all of these boats are needed during Tràng An’s high season, which made me appreciate coming to Vietnam on the shoulder season a little bit more.
After the conclusion of the boat ride, we headed back to Hanoi. Our shuttle driver was nice enough to give me a ride back to my hotel, where I settled in to catch up on some more missed sleep!
