Vietnam Travel : Hanoi-Tam-Coc-Sapa-Halong Bay

Day 1 (Hanoi)

My Vietnam tour started on Christmas Eve last year. We(my fiancee and I) made our own accommodation arrangement and train upfront before depart to Hanoi by Air Asia flight. We reached the airport at night and took a cab(hotel arrangement) to the budget North Hotel N2. This hotel located at the heart of the busy Hanoi city and cost at USD12.60 per night for two person with additional USD2 each if include breakfast.

We checked in, cleaned ourselves and asked the hotel owner of what local food to eat for dinner. The hotel owner was kind enough to ask her assistant to bring us to a nearby noodle stall for beef rice noodle('pho' in Vietnam means rice noodle). The eating place was like back to our olden days where there were long benches and we had to sit at a squatting position. The beef noodle was one of my favourite throughout our journey. We sat and enjoy our Christmas Eve dinner and watched the busy Hanoi night life. The weather at this time was quite pleasant with temperature roughly around 15-20C.

Hanoi building near to our hotel...Some kind of advertisement or contact details covering the entire walls which can be found around the city.

Our first dine at the beef rice noodle stall in Hanoi

Day 2 (Hoa Lu - Tam Coc - Ninh Binh)

The following morning we took a mini tour bus to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc. It took about 2 hours to reach the destination. Hoa Lu is an ancient capital of Vietnam in 10th century and consist of many picturestique limestone mountains. We visited a few temples before proceed to Tam Coc.

Want to have a buffalo ride? There were several Vietnamese trying to sell fruits and offer buffalo ride just outside the temples we visited. One thing I notice was that Hoa Lu/Ninh Binh folks really take good care of their buffalo. They put on warm clothing to the buffalo during cold season.

Tam Coc is famous for its three caves, beautiful limestone landscape above the water and vast padi field. The small boat ride rowed by an elderly women and a man. It took more than 2 hours to complete the three grottoes and was a great experience to enjoy the fantastic Tam Coc sceneries.



Our rower during the Tam Coc tour....





While waiting the rest of the tour group to arrive, I spotted this women transferring the fresh water fishes from her boat to the nearby open market located just beside our boat trip.

This man was busy chatting around happily at one of the stall. It reflected the simple daily life of the rural folks selling goods and happily spending their time chatting around.

We spent overnight at Xuan Hoa Hotel, Ninh Binh while the rest of our tour group went back to Hanoi. We had some time exploring Ninh Binh small town and the dinner serving in Xuan Hoa Hotel was superb. The only complain here is that we were not feeling comfortable to have the hotel staff to keep our passport.


Our dinner at Xuan Hoa hotel consisting the famous local spring roll, curry and some vegetables. It was one of our delicious meal in Vietnam.

Day 3(Ninh Binh - Hanoi - Lao Chai)

After having our breakfast, we took the public bus from Ninh Binh to Hanoi. Our next destination was to Sapa which located at the hilly side on Vietnam. We have to take the overnight train from Hanoi to get to Laochai and took the minivan to Sapa. Many tour guides recommended to take the night train with sleeping cabin. We took the Livitrans(two way ~USD60 each for 4 berth cabin) and the journey was quite pleasant. For more privacy, you can take the 2 berth cabin but it will be more pricey. The train journey was quite pleasant and we reached Laochai right before dawn.

Day 4(Lao Chai - Sapa)

Sapa is 7kms away from Lao Chai. The prearranged minivan waited for our arrival in Lao Chai station and took us to Sapa Thai Binh Hotel. We journey through a winding hilly roads but the mountain view with terrace padi fields was breathtaking. We were greeted by the hotel owner Nam Hong, who speak fluently in English. Our breakfast served with fresh juicy oranges. The accommodation here was my favourite. It captured some essence of Western country style. As the place located at higher ground, it was quite a chilly and we put on many layers of clothing to keep warm.

Our breakfast meal in Thai Binh Hotel. I liked the fresh oranges as well as the bread. The Vietnamese bread is quite porous internally and can be found in many places.

Our accommodation in Sapa. Great place to stay and located beside the ham Rong mountain entrance.

This intriquing heater fan caught my attention. I never seen such heater before and I guess it is vastly used in Sapa.

We had a great start by entering into Ham Rong mountain. It offers many beautiful yards and best of all is the panoramic view of the whole Sapa town.

Entrance to Ham Rong mountain....







This is my favourite photo during my Vietnam trip. It was taken from one of the checkpoint in Ham Rong mountain. I could see the whole view of Sapa town covered by mist. It looked so peaceful and breathtaking. How I wish I could stay longer in Sapa....

Another view from the checkpoint....

A stroll in Sapa town showing many Western influence. Many restaurants selling Western food as well as local delicacy.

Hmm...Cowboy town?

In the evening, I explored the nearby village. The village are surrounded by vegetation.

The young ones happily posing around for photos. Future shaolin....

The villagers are pet lover too. See this cute puppy...

On the way back to the hotel, I spotted this old man walking along the stone stairs. It gave a great composition for my dualtone shot.

We dined at one of the many Sapa restaurants. One thing we noticed was this place put lots of mushroom as part of the dish ingredient.



We strolled along the misty night market before getting back to our hotel for a good rest. The misty environment gave a very different feel as if I was in a dream.

Day 5 (Sapa-Bac Ha-Sapa)

We took the day tour to Bac Ha market. This market only opens every Sunday and is a great place to see various tribes(Flower Hmong, Dzao, Xa Fang and many more) come to sell their goods. Some were not meant for visitors as their item could range from water buffalo, horses etc. This is a heaven for photographers but the journey to this place was a real killer. We had to descend from Sapa town to Lao Chai and from Lao Cai to Bac Ha. The winding trip made us nauseatic.





Various goods can be found in Bac Ha market i.e fruits, textile, knife, vegetables etc...



Horse or donkey for sale?



Buffalo for sale too?



Flower Hmong costume is the most colourful outfit when compared to the rest of the village tribes.

Young Flower Hmongs strolling happily around the Bac ha market. They looked so united.

Another village tribe in Bac Ha...

Day 6 (Sapa-Hanoi)

As the train to Hanoi will depart late evening, we hired a motorbike and traveled to Tram Ton Pass. According to lonely planet, this is a highest mountain pass in Vietnam to experience the incredible view from the top of this pass. But the luck was not on our side when the view was block by the thick mist.

One of the mountaineous view before reaching Tram Ton Pass. The journey to the pass was quite bumby due as the road leading to this Pass was not fully tarred.

We also went for a less strenuous trekking to Cat cat village. This place is not far from our hotel and it took about one hour to reach the village. This place offers another great mountainous view. At least there was something to patch up the disappointment at Tram Ton Pass. This place is highly recommended to start the Sapa exploration. Aside from mountainous view, I could see vast padi terraces, Black Hmong, horses, water buffaloes, ducks etc in that vicinity.



The ray of lights made the scenery even more spectacular.

This place filled with vast padi terraces.



Besides offering great views, there are many domestic animals can be seen in the village such as dogs, duck, chicken, horses and water buffaloes.



This village child was so happy after we gave him some sweets to eat.







There were many water buffaloes at Cat Cat Village. The water buffalo was very curious, sniffing around when I approached them to get some portrait shots. They were harmless though....





On the way back, this village tribe overtook us. She really had a great stamina not to mention too that she also carried a child. I guess the vilage tribe really travel around by foot ascend and descend to their village daily.

After spending some time in Cat Cat village, we headed back to Thai Binh hotel to transfer us to Lao Cai to catch the Livitrans train back to Hanoi.

I could not resist the juicy fresh oranges in Sapa. I took this stall selling oranges in Lao Cai while waiting for the train to arrive.

Day 7 (Hanoi)

We reached Hanoi around 4.30am in the morning. Took a cab and headed to the Phoenix Hotel located at Old Town. As it was before the check in time, we rested at the hotel lobby and finally got a room at 8am in the morning. By that time, we were so sleepy and happy to have early check in. We headed directly to the bed soon after that. After recharging ourselves, we started our actual Hanoi explorations. Many travellers just stay in Hanoi for the sake of transiting to another place of interest. Hanoi is truly a busy and noisy town. Many motorbikes and bicycles can be seen on the roads and I could hear the sound of the hons every few seconds interval. Personally, I don't really like busy and noisy place. On the plus side, I got to see the Vietnamese culture and daily Vietnamese life style.

We visited the Ngoc Son temple at the famous Hoan Kiem Lake. There was a preserved large Sword Lake tortoise in this temple and it is believe to bring luck for anyone who is lucky to see one in this lake.

The entrance to Ngoc Son temple...

Preserved Sword Lake tortoise in Hoan Kiem Lake.

We went to the Ho Chi Minh museum later in the day and learned about Ho Chi Minh history. It is located beside the Mausoleum. The will of Ho Chih Minh stated that he wished to be cremated rather than burial to save land for agricultural purposes but somehow was violated and his body was preserved and kept in the mausoleum.I truly respect his modesty and care for the peoples.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Day 8 (Hanoi-Halong Bay)

Our last tourism spot was Halong Bay. We took a 2 days 1 night tour package from the hotel. Our tour driver stop by at a souvenir shop selling handicraft.

Handicraft shop

I liked this hand made decorative clay wares but decided not to buy them fearing that it might break during the cruise journey.



It was a relaxing cruise though the scenery was a bit dull due to the cloudy weather. This place consist of many limestone cliffs and we got a chance to visit one of the caves.

Our cruise junk...



Our cruise room. It was comfortable and sufficient enough for the night sleep in the junk. No air con was needed as the climate during the winter time was chilly.



Our cruise journey through into Halong Bay which also mean 'Bay of the Descending Dragon'. The bay consist thousand of limestone islets which emerge like dragon.





It was a wonderful experience to see the beautiful cave formations lit by colourful lights. It looked as if we were in an alien planet. This was my best cave formations I've seen so far.

This beautiful grottos filled with wierd stalactites and stalagmites formation.





This photo was taken right after exiting the cave. Many junks awaiting the arrival of the tourist after finished exploring this cave.

At later part of the day, I had a chance to go for kayaking around our junk. Together with one of our tour group, we went and explore the surrounding and forgotten about the time. It was getting late and darker, we lost our way but eventually managed to get back to our junk. What a relief....

This was the stopover place for our kayaking trip and night sleep....

While waiting for my turn to kayak, I saw this cute little puppy living at the water village.

The next morning, we had our morning breakfast and cruising back to Halong city to catch the mini van to Hanoi.

Along the way, I spotted many fishermen netting fishes for a living. Some actually stayed in the boat reflecting the challenging life in Vietnam. This actually reminded me to always be appreciative to what I have today. There are many peoples from other part of the world who are even more unfortunate and struggle in life.



Day 9 (Hanoi)

We spent our last day in Hanoi, walking around the busy city, observed the daily routine life by the locals, bought some souvenirs and finally watch the famoust water puppet show.











Water puppet show



Throughout my whole journey in Vietnam, Sapa was my favourite as it provides a beautiful landscape overlooking the hilly mountains, peaceful and cooling atmosphere and captures the village tribes daily routine life and culture. How I wish I could enjoy such a beautiful place longer and release all my tension and hectic life at work.