Tam Coc (Ninh Binh)

Not too far way from Hanoi is the Ninh Binh region – famous for rice fields and towering limestone mountains. There isn’t much happening however in Ninh Binh, and only a few km outside of ninh binh in the heart of rice paddy country is the tiny town of Tam Coc. Here we stayed at the amazing Ruby Homestay in the centre of town, and spent an awesome 4 nights here

Hit list

Ruby homestay. What the host lacked in English, he made up for in laughter and smiles. 99% of comms were through google translate, and the former farmer was so helpful and cheery each day! He served up delicious shakshuka for us as well as massive pancakes w/hersheys chocolate sauce for Finn. Bike hire was available for 40k dong/day.
Finn nailing bike riding. Before leaving Aus, Finn had about 2 serious days of practiving bike riding with no training wheels. It was wobbly to say the least, but within a few hours of being on a pushy in Tam coc he was cycling up to 10km/day through the countryside with Mum or Dad.
Coffee Lan – Was a daily stop for juices/smoothies, boat watching and Finn riding to the corner and back
Chef Hein – place was packed every night. Might have something to do with the 50c (7000 dong) beers, but the smell of duck being roasted by the side of the road was too alluring. Food was awesome as was the service.
Tam coc boat tour- roughly 1 hour return, these boats took us through a number of caves and through a valley hugged by rice fields. Was slightly (no – very!) stressful sending the drone up & landing from a moving boat but we managed, and were stoked with the footage and pics we got (videos are on Instagram). The boat rowers (??? Captains, skippers etc) have a unique technique where they switch between using their hands to using their feet. Is very impressive and can only imagine the foot and/or hip flexor cramps they would’ve encountered early in their career!
Hang Mua look out – we cycled there for sunset. It was very busy, with a combination of cyclists from Tam Coc etc, as well as bus tours packed with Instagram wannabes decked out in thick make up and full traditional costumes. Its about 500/600 stairs to the top and kind of (not really) felt sorry for the ‘models’ trudging up the steep stairs

Shit list

Man flu – Struck down by man flu, we were unable to locate the closest ER but I managed to pull through. Fresh countryside air on the pushy coupled with bulk fresh juices did wonders!!