Inland to Tam Coc: Vietnam Just Keeps Giving

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“Would you like a crisp?” An open bag appears from the seat behind. “Oh, no thank you, but thanks,” I smile and reply. A little while later: “Would you like a Haribo?” An open bag appears again, and I politely decline with a “thank you, though.”

“A banana?”

”Thank you that will be nice” I smile as I accept the fruity gift.

We are on a small bus we booked to Tam Coc, and it is a good four-hour journey. Our fellow passengers are a group of very bubbly and slightly noisy Brits—four girls and a very camp young man. When they got on the bus, we both looked at each other and thought, oh no! But travel again proves to be such a brilliant way to bring people together. They were lovely, and boy, what an adventure they were on!

Within no time they were swapping stories and telling us about their route across Thailand, Laos, and the high mountains of Vietnam. They had even done the “Loop”—a trail through the mountains for three days on the back of scooters! Sore bums and wild nights in the middle of nowhere to you and me. And they still had six months of a massive trip to go. It looked like travelling had really opened their eyes—a real breath of fresh air.

“Tam Coc Full House Homestay”

“Is this it? It doesn’t look like the pictures,” I said apprehensively as a small sign at the end of an alley confirmed what we already knew—this was it. We dragged our cases through mucky puddles and between motorbikes parked at the edge of a murky green swimming pool, where we were greeted by the owner.

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In seconds, we were sat down with fruit and ginger tea as she ran through everything she could sell us—cabs, trips, scooters. We eventually managed to get the key to our room and shuffled away to its privacy. “What do you reckon?” I asked as we looked at each other. “Well, it doesn’t quite look like the pictures, but she seems nice and it is clean.” Wendy then added, “We can go somewhere else, but we would upset the lady.”

We deliberated a little longer and decided to stay. We were glad we did because, on the whole, it was pretty nice once we got used to it. It turned out Tam Coc is a noisy little town, full to the brim with all sorts of mostly European travellers heading out to trek the local wonders. Every Vietnamese house down the alleys and backstreets seems to be offering rooms and board. With so much competition, they try very hard to over-elaborate on travel sights to get business. And let’s face it—with prices from just two pounds a night, who can blame them?

For us, Tam Coc was a shock. We were expecting a quiet, rural little place in the countryside with just a few places to eat and drink. Tam Coc is not like that! It is bar after bar, restaurants all competing for business by trying to outdo the next place. Happy Hours, meal deals, and special offers are everywhere—and boy, some are just so cheap! A beer was generally 7,000 Dong to 20,000 Dong, and for one pound we get 35,000! So, when in Rome and all that, we gradually changed our mindset. It was party town, and we needed to join the party.

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OK, maybe we were the two who just hung out talking in the kitchen—but we were there. We had great fun, some great beer and food, and we slept well, as the room was pretty good at insulating us from the loud music coming from everywhere. After three days, we had fallen in love with crazy Tam Coc and our homestay, and we were rather sad to be leaving.

First Day Chilling: Or So We Thought!

“Let’s just go over to the lake and take a boat ride,” was our thinking after a hectic couple of full-on weeks. Tickets purchased, we hopped on one of the hundreds of boats paddling what was obviously a tributary of the river.

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The lady paddling us was using her feet on the oar handles (yes, her feet!) and taking us across the water at quite a rate. And she paddled, and paddled, and paddled. We could not believe it as we headed into incredible karst ravines—rather like those at Ha Long—and through rice pools and lily pads near the river’s edge. Stunning high cliffs, like nothing I have ever seen, greeted us around every turn. Then, just as the river looked like it was ending, we floated through caves under the mountain into more ravines.

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We pulled in under some low-hanging trees and were ushered off the little boat. The Vietnamese lady smiled and pointed toward a path. Another exciting surprise—as we found ourselves climbing hundreds of steep steps through a narrow crack in the mountain. What a view greeted us at the top! Hundreds of feet up, we looked down in awe at the snaking river through the valley.

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Once we returned to the boat, we encouraged the lady to rest a while, while we sat on the water’s edge taking in the breathtaking beauty. She smiled and sat beside us, but the Vietnamese are very industrious. The next thing we knew, she was opening a plastic tub filled with pretty silk pictures she claimed she had made. What the hell—I’ll buy a couple, I thought, and did a deal for three pretty pictures.

We were at least two miles down the river and could not believe her fitness level and skill with the oars. She could even answer her mobile while paddling. “All day, very tiring,” she communicated to us at one point. I hope the money from a few pictures sold each day was just reward!

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We had two more stops on the journey back, including one where we left the boat and were picked up in an electric buggy to view a temple. The temple was, as all temples are, very nice, but the highlight was a wizened old man with two sleepy dogs who was playing a flute and a bamboo instrument. I gestured for approval for a picture and he nodded yes. After a few minutes of atmospheric music, he placed the instrument down, pointed at me, and then at a hat on the floor. On his left was a large donations box for the monks. When he thought we were out of sight, our sneaky old fellow placed the smaller notes into the slit in the donations box, had a little look around, and—thinking the coast was clear—got out his wallet and donated some to himself! We had a good chuckle at that.

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Back to the boat and a happy reunion with our lovely rower, who took us a little way to a drop-off point where we caught another electric vehicle for a ride through the countryside to a more spectacular temple within a karst mountain.

On the whole, the adventure was just stunning. What we thought was a quick trip across the lake finished about five hours later! Vietnam just keeps surprising us.

Vietnam Just Keeps Giving

It just couldn’t be, could it? Better than Tam Coc River? Another boat ride in a place called Trang An, and we were not expecting it to surpass the day before—but it did. Oh boy, it did! 20251117_121607

I remember when I was young my grandad gave me a painting of a river boat in New Zealand. It was titled River Wanganui near Pipiriki, and I dreamed one day I would visit somewhere just like it. And now I have! Miles of river coursing through jungle, caves, and mountains.

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This time we had to share the boat with a young Vietnamese couple dressed in fine clothes for the occasion. At every opportunity they photographed each other against amazing backdrops. It was a truly wonderful experience, and very hard to describe in words the majesty of the natural world before us.

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At a branch in the river we headed toward a shallow cave entrance and were shocked to find we had to crouch as low as possible, with only a couple of feet clearance from the side of the boat. We were instructed by our oarsman: “Keep low, keep low!” so as not to injure ourselves on the rock ceiling or the low-hanging stalactites. The journey through was one kilometre—exciting as well as awe-inspiring. In most countries this would be considered too dangerous, but here in Vietnam health and safety is an unknown phenomenon. It felt like exploring!

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We visited temples, saw many types of birds, and explored three caves altogether. But the majesty of the mountains will live with me forever and a day.

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We were supposed to be going on a twelve-hour overnight coach to Da Nang the next day, but central Vietnam was cursed with violent typhoons and massive floods. Sadly, many have lost their lives and others their livelihoods, as crops, homes, and villages have been washed away. It seemed pretty crass to include it now on our trip, so we booked a flight way south to Ho Chi Minh City.

PHOTOS BELOW:

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