Tam Coc & First day of Hue

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Today was a good day. I had my own personal motorbike driver to take me round the main sights of Nimh Binh. First being Tam Coc. This is the Ngo Dong River that runs through mountains and natural caves. It was cheaper for 2 people to go in a rowing boat and luckily there was a guy from New Zealand waiting at the paying booth. I didn't mind sharing.

So we got in our rowing boat where a Vietnamese man rowed us down the river with his feet. It was so impressive. The sun was out and my surroundings were pretty amazing. We got to a point where there were many ladies in boats selling drinks and snacks. I was warned about this. They asked us to buy a drink for our rowing guy so I obliged. Matt said he would pay for the tip at the end (as we had heard they also ask for a tip also).

After the boat, my next stop was a place where I could get a view of Tam Coc and surroundings up a limestone karst hill.

Matt was travelling by motorbike. He had started at Ho Chi Minh City and his last stop was Hanoi. So I said he could follow me and my driver to the next destination.

The bike ride was great. Lots of beautiful scenery around me.

We climbed the hundreds of steps up to the top of the hill (with a few stops due to us both feeling unfit). The views were fantastic so we took photos (as you do) then just sat looking out. Walking back down to the bottom was easier and there were many goats roaming around, Nimh Binhs delicacy is goat by the way!

Last place on my bike tour was the Hoa Lu temple. Very different from Thailand, so I had a browse round then we drove back to the hotel. He took me the scenic route rather than the main road and it was lovely. He stopped to let me take photos and whenever he saw something that he thought could be of interest to me he would stop and point it out.

I had booked a night bus to head to Hue. I got chatting to a girl named Poppy who was also going to Hue. As we were travelling alone we said we could find a hostel/guesthouse together. On the bus, Poppy had been chatting to Rose (a Dutch girl) so we all ended up trying to find a place to stay together.

We found the Google hotel (in the lonely planet). Such a cool place. 8$ per person, free beer between 5pm - 12pm everyday, wifi and restaurant.

Another beautiful sunny day, we took a stroll out and headed for the Citadel. It took a while to walk around, however was a bit confusing as we did not know anything about it. Getting hot and tired after a few hours, we made our way back to the hotel. It was beer o' clock 😊

Playing card games, drinking beer and eating amazing pizza in 6 hours (bed by 11pm) was good times!

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