We woke up at 6am to get ready for our next tour to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc. As usual, we had our breakfast at the hostel and waited for our tour guide to pick us up at the lobby.
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| Breakfast with tea for the second try. |
Mr Huan, our tour guide, is a very cute and friendly guy. Although he cannot speak Mandarin, he still can speak a little of many different countries' languages. That morning, we had a Denmark family, a Spanish guy, two guys from France and a USA guy with his Taiwanese wife. It was a 2 hours journey from Hanoi to Hoa Lu. On the way, the tour guide explained about Hoa Lu's history. Hoa Lu was the ancient capitol of Vietnam before the king moved it to Hanoi. Hanoi, means inside the river. According to the tour guide, the king saw a dragon ascended from the Red River and hence, he decided to move the capitol to Hanoi as he believed this will bring prosperity.
We visited the temples of the kings of two different dynasties. The temples were built dedicated to the kings for their great contribution to the country. The two dynasties were Le Dynasty and Dinh Dynasty. Dinh Dynasty came after the Le Dynasty. We were also told by the tour guide that King Dinh was the son of otter.
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| Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Vietnam. |
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| Temple of the Linh dynasty. |
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| Temple of the Dinh dynasty with our tour guide. |
After the visit to the two temples, we proceeded to Tam Coc to have our buffet lunch. There were many different types of food in the buffet. However, the mutton was recommended by the tour guide and it was really good. I liked the vegetable soup, too!
We went for a boat cruise at the lake after lunch. We had to split and I had to join another tourist for the boat trip as one boat can only accommodate two people. I shared a boat with the Spanish guy. Although I had some hard time understanding his English, we had a nice chat along the trip. It was a very long journey on the boat before we got back to land.
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| My companion for the boat trip, Roberto. |
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| Beautiful scenery in Tam Coc. |
Next, we had a chance to cycle around the village. It had been a month since I last cycled in my campus. This one was definitely a different feeling. We enjoyed the wind blowing at our face and the scenery in the village.
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| We were ready to cycle! |
Around 4pm, we had to leave Tam Coc and get back to Hanoi. Tam Coc is a very nice place. Although the boat trip was a very long journey and made me feel bored, I still have to admit that it is an awesome place! The scenery was way better than Halong Bay. It made me feel closer to nature. However, the weather was as usual, very hot.
When we reached Hanoi at 7pm, we went to Hoan Kiem Lake for dinner. We were scheduled to watch the famous water puppet show at 8pm that night.
Hoan Kiem Lake is an amazing place in Hanoi, especially at night. I was amazed by the citizens there with their night life. But still, no one can guarantee that it will be 100% safe, especially at night. We were "lucky" enough to encounter a pick-pocket. Luckily, Kuan realized it before the pick-pocket had any chance to take anything from her. Phew!
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| The people behind the scene for the water puppet show. |
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| A night at Hoan Kiem Lake. |
It was our last night in Hanoi but we did not spend enough time to really look around because our schedule was too pack. It was a regret. Hanoi is an amazing place to visit. I wish I can come back again one day.
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