Hanoi to Ha Long to Hue to Hoi Anh…….. with a stop in Ninh Bin in the middle

17th – 18th October

We’d travelled from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba, the next stop on my journey down Vietnam was Ninh Bin. I hadn’t really done much research on the place, but had heard that the scenery parallels an inland version of Ha Long Bay. And WOW, what a wonderful surprise when you’re not expecting something particularly special and it turns out to be amazing!

Moonshine Homestay

The bus took a lot of the day, but we had a little time to explore Tam Coc, the town we were staying in. René and I arrived and booked a hostel there and then, and then spent the rest of the night laughing at the incorrect choice we’d made. The Tam Coc Green homestay was a surreal place, with decoration in the room that I could only describe as either; ‘like the moon’ or ‘like someone extremely high decorated it’. As we wandered round the quaint central lake, we saw the lovely bungalows and lakeside terrace we could have had, so together we made up a load of reasons why that hostel would have been rubbish 😂.

Celine, who joined us for the boat trip in Ha Long Bay, also joined our bus to Ninh Bin and had a few hours to kill before carrying on her journey to another national park that evening on the night bus. So the 3 of us went for dinner at a really nice place we’d seen early, yes we got pizza, but after the funny stomach I’d had I needed the carbs! It was good pizza.

Magical boat ride through caves & mountains

The next day René and I rented a bike and went out of town towards a place called Nah Trang. The weather was pretty pants, but the scenery along the way was lush. Nah Trang is famous for its river boat ride revealing more stunning limestone karst scenery – this trip was a highlight. 3 hours went so quickly as we helped the tour lady tow through the dramatic rocks, stopping at pagodas (temples) and ducking our heads through 9 impressive caves along the way! It was so awesome!!

Peaks and Magic Dragons

We rode around a little more, finding yet more fantastic scenery, before stopping at Hang Múa viewpoint. Walking through a decorated walkway with lots of giant swings, we reached the base of Hang Múa and started to climb up the 500 steps of the ‘mountain’ peak. We stopped on the way when we found a conical hat on take some pics, then carried on to the summit where there was a statue and an extremely impressive stone dragon that stretched across the mountain top. The panoramic views were once again out of this world! And we spent ages climbing over spiky rocks with dangerous drops down the mountain each side to climb alongside the dragon 🐉

After our adventures we went back to get a shower and our stuff ready to take the next night bus to Hue. We’d somehow booked different buses and were off doing. Different things the next day, so we said bye until we would meet up again in Hoi Anh.

Bonjour Hue

The night bus did it’s usual trick of dropping you off miles from the city centre and confused and groggy I was coaxed by a motorbike taxi to travel to my hostel.

TIP: NEVER go with a motorbike or any other taxi when arriving in a new place until you have negotiated a price. I would always recommend to use Grab, or whatever taxi app you have anyway if you can.

It’s the one and only times I fell for it. I swear this guy was on the bus and stupidly in my tired state thought it was part of the service, until it seemed to take as long to get there by taxi as my google maps said the walk……. I stepped off the bike and the there it was a demand of 800,000 dong….. about 2 and a half times the price of my 8 hour bus ride there…….. wtf. I refused, he got angry, I got money out and we settled on 250,000 when I threatened to walk away. Eesh. I found my Bonjour hostel, was able to check in early and tried & failed to get a bit more sleep.

Compared to the north and the weather we’d just had in Ninh Bin it was HOT in Hue. I really felt like I needed a healthy me day, so I found a place on lonely planet where it claimed a good breakfast and had muesli, fruit and yoghurt, it was amazing. I then wandered round a little, for changed into my gym stuff and found a nearby gym to get in a good work out. I must have done anti an hour & a half in the end! After a good shower back at the hostel, it was time for sightseeing.

Citadel & rooftop coffee

In the stifling heat I made my way over to Hue’s main attraction, the historic 19th century citadel. Hue was the former national capital in the 1900s and early 20th century and the stone citadel surrounded by a moat housed the imperial city during the Nguyen Dynasty Emperors era. It was quite expensive to go actually inside the imperial city, but was worth seeing from the outside and learning a bit about the Battle of Hue, one of the worst battle seems during the Vietnam / American war.

Over the bridge, dodging traffic, I saw a sign for a rooftop coffee place. I’d begun to become partial to the sweet ice coffee they serve in SE Asia and so went up for a look and ordered a coconut ice coffee. The views were great and I was relaxed and well in time for sunset, part of my me day.