Awaiting for our tickets, which would have to be collected by our tour guide. Pricing for walk-ins ranged from 250,000 dong for a person above 1.3 meters in height to 120,000 dong for a person below 1.3 meters in height. Free entry for those under 1 meter.
Beverage counter with menu for references. You judge if the prices would be reasonable for a tourist attraction; e.g. a cup of coffee with milk is about 35,000 dong.
Entrance was actually across the road and I was wondering the need to take the underpass. Plausible reasons include queue management and the underpass also provided shelter from sun and rain.
Loving the beautiful sight of lighted Vietnamese lanterns on the ceiling! There were like hundreds and hundreds of them; mesmerizing to my eyes.
On the other side of the road where a bridge allowed us to cross the river to the main island of the Trang An Landscape Complex, where we shall start the activity.
Right side; a glimpse of the activity. Yes, we shall be taking a non-motorized sampan boat to navigate the winding river and soak ourselves in the beauty, and crisp cool air provided by mother nature!
Let's queue first! There were three river routes and from what I gathered, after going through the photographs taken; I am guessing we were on route 2.
Get some snacks for your sampan ride!
Long line of sampan boats at the dock! We don't get to choose since it's not as if the boats were operated by individual bosses. Praying we would secure a good and safe "driver".
Maximum four to one sampan.
Just right for lock, the greatest Kon, Alex and I.
I would want to be at the front of action! Not that I am craving to be the first one to drop head-first into the water; just that I am going to take some videos for the purpose of this blog.
Rowing began; start of a relaxing journey.
p.s. wearing the life jackets is a must.
Video taking from my DJI OSMO Pocket 2; purchased during the pandemic so that I can venture in vlogging but editing videos can be more tiring than photos! I am old school; preferring blogs over vlogs.
Despite the many sampan boats in the river, people were generally quiet and I am enjoying the peacefulness with just the resistance of water splashing against the paddles.
Cruising along the river would be boring; let's venture into the 60-m Lam Cave! No photographs shared as what I had on record were blurred. You may check out the time-lapsed video instead.
Out within a minute or two.
Cruising past the Cao Son Holy Temple.
I believe we can stop if we were on a non-tour package.
Well lit, the cave was spacious enough for one sampan boat. Temperature within was slightly colder although it was amazing traversing down the river, with the walls of the cave so near us!
Coming to the end of the cave about 3 minutes later.
Surrounded by rugged mountains with the occasional chirps from birds well hidden from our sight. Ahhhh... such is the life. I would love to return to this nice area in the near future.
Vu Lam Palace - more like a simple abode for hermits keen to escape from the crowded world and decide to build a home away from people.
Pen Tower of the Dia Lihn Mountain; with a bell in the middle, I am unsure of its purpose except for maybe being a drum tower? It could have been a lot more as a pavilion in ancient times.
I noticed power sockets! Maybe staff would occasionally rest there while watching TikTok videos / youtube or play a few sessions of mobile games.
Going into our third cave!
The 320-meter long Thánh Trượt Cave.
Just to clarify first; I am a person who gets bored easily and since this was our third cave, the excitement was no longer there. Nevertheless, the relaxed feeling continued and I do crave for that feeling now that I am older and have to always worry about work and life, in general.
Wild mountain goat!
Let's immerse ourselves at the ever changing "paintings" in front of us. Our sampan "captain" was slow yet steady, resulting in a lull that could actually make me doze off if I wasn't too busy holding on to my DJI OSMO Pocket 2. I bet Lock slept a few times!
Groups coming towards out attention, on their way back to the dock. As they were almost on the tail end of their journey, competitiveness had set in and some guests were seen rowing the sampan to see who would be faster!
A few people have asked me; between Ninh Binh and Halong Bay, which one do I prefer since I visited both during my Hanoi trip in April 2023. My answer was fast; Ninh Binh, which is also known as Halong Bay on land.
To me, Halong Bay was touristy and in my opinion, quite similar to Phang Nga Bay in Thailand with the latter having the advantage of being a tropical area where one can comfortably swim and snorkel. While you can do the same at Halong Bay, it's colder.
Picking up dead branches along the water way.
Spotted quite a number of these ducks that would duck (pun unintended) under water to catch fishes! Almost like a much smaller cousin of the cormorants at Yangshuo, China.
You know what those pinkish and red stuff on the walls are?! I had seen them in Singapore too (at Rower's Bay Park and Singapore Quarry) and believed they were the eggs of apple snails.
One thing about Halong Bay is that the itinerary felt a bit rushed, unlike at Ninh Binh, where I felt that my mental self was on a mend. Except for maybe Mua Cave, where I would have benefited from more time.
Suoi Tien Temple; again we didn't stop over. It's a pity we don't speak Vietnamese; if not, we could have corresponded with the "captain" to understand more about the history of the place.
Would you dare to explore caves? I am quite adventurous by nature although movies had an impact on me. Due to the movie Jaws, I don't really enjoy the ocean that much. And no thanks to the movie series, The Descent, I doubt I would ever be keen in exploring a cave that's not for clumsy tourists like myself.
Going back where we came from.
Honestly, I bet my dad would love it here.
Ladies from India who were in the same day tour as us! They took some photographs from us but didn't manage to pass to us as the battery went flat! I did leave my contact with one of their male friends but till now; nothing despite reminders.
Interesting tree with branches that eventually doubled up as support.
Tranquility was momentarily destroyed when two groups started splashing water at one another. I noted the "fun and goofy" elements but in such setting, tourists should be more mindful and considerate of their actions in an overseas country. But, quite funny also.
There's only so much I can talk about scenery.
I shall let the photos do the talking.
Passing of snacks using the oars!
I am getting bored and decided to use the oar to work out my arms! It's tiring going against the water resistance; am better off jogging.
Last cave; the 150-meter Dai Cave.
Although the cave wasn't long, the ceiling was low and we had to be extra cautious not to knock our heads or scrape our hands. Being accident prone, I was extremely careful. Our 'captain' also rowed slowly and expertly maneuvered the boat at times so that we had ample time to react.
Back to the Pen Tower of the Dia Lihn Mountain again.
Bearing hope that maybe we would disembark at Vu Lam Palace and spend some time exploring it. For me, it would of course be taking some photographs for the benefit of the readers of my blog.
Sadly, we merely rowed past. :(
While I am thankful we didn't encounter any rain for this day trip, the sky was gloomy throughout and I couldn't manage to have any photographs / videos that would have been nicer with a blue sky. I could use Photoshop but that would have been too untrue,
Navigating past a small scale cemetery! One intriguing cemetery I would love to visit would be An Bang Cemetery, also known as the City of Ghosts near Danang in Vietnam!
Wait, there's free Wi-Fi??
Whatever the case, no point also since we were already pretty close to the dock. I did notice that it was a different route on the way back, although we did bypass Pen Tower and Vu Lam Palace.
Did you notice something in the water?!
Big fishes!! Some were longer than my arm!
Walking to the main building of the Trang An Landscape Complex, where you could shop for local products and delicacies, for tourists! I am only keen in one thing.
Some items that were sold in the stores. I was ecstatic to see food souvenirs but sampling was limited only to the rice crackers which were quite common in places like Thailand.
Still as mesmerizing.
Video for your viewing pleasure.
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Address
6 Tràng An, Đông Thành,
Ninh Bình, Vietnam
Map
As above.
Routes
The three routes as depicted above.
Rules and Regulations
As above.
wow, hope u tipped the auntie who had to row 4 of you!
ReplyDeleteHahaha we did!
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