Tam Coc, Ninh Binh

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One of those breathtaking sunsets over rice paddies
We spent only one night in Tam Coc because our cruise was delayed due to weather conditions. We arrived at the Tamcoc Horizon Bungalow and were pleased to see their swimming pool had been indeed completed. Roxana had read on blogs that it was due for June and we were counting on this. We dropped our stuff and went down to the pool for a quality control!

A man toiling in a flooded rice paddy
 
Then we went for a walk along the rice paddies until we reached a small pagoda. A nice walk in a typical Vietnamese countryside scenery.

Intricate navigable cave system

The next day we went for a three hour boat trip on canals and through intricate natural caves. The water took millions of years to dig through the rock in order to have those beautiful rock formations today.
A pagoda that seems to be floating on the lake

The heat was damning and temperatures rose to 36°C. The lady rowing our boat maneuvered expertly through the caves and we enjoyed every minute of it. We even passed by the King Kong film set. You could really understand why they chose this setting for the film.

After this hot morning we came back to our hotel and spent the afternoon by the pool. We finished packing and after dinner we got a taxi to the train station. We were boarding a night train to Phong Nha. 

Lea and Mara getting ready for bed on our night train





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