Thung Nham Ecotourism

(Usual waiver applies to grammar, typos, spelling as I'm posting via  a small phone screen on the hoof 🤭, click on the pics to zoom in)

8 April 2026

Another hot day so we had a bit of  a lazy morning. We had travel bits and bobs to organise and laundry to be sorted. It's a tough life 😁.

We did manage a short walk around the Tam Coc lake. 

Tam Coc is still a traditional village in many senses. Getting your washing done on the lake edge seems an every day occurrence.

The locals often exercise together in the park on the lake edge - they looked as cool as cucumbers!

We found a local cafe run by some young guys and had a fantastic lunch - vegan food, poke bowls, egg coffee..... yummy! 

We had booked a driver to take us to Bich Dong pagoda and then on at 4.30 to Thung Nham Bird Park to see the birds coming home to roost. Before we actually landed in Vietnam I had thought we could cycle from A to B in Tam Coc but the humidity is a killer. Lots of hot, sweaty tourist biking about looking frazzled. I know I would have had a meltdown in those temps so was very glad we took the air conditioned car option.

So let's go folks. Bich Dong Pagoda is approx 600 years old. 

The pagoda’s gate is what makes it famous with the traditional Vietnamese style - three doors, and a bridge that connects the gate to a lotus ponds.

There are three pagoda staggered up the hill side and tucked into a limestone cliff.

So you guessed it, it involved climbing in 36°C heat. Everyone looked hot and sweaty. No glamour shots possible in that humidity. The top pagoda was carved into a cave.

A very beautiful and peaceful place to visit with shaded gardens, lotus ponds and statuary.

Next stop was Thung Nham Bird Park.  We wanted to do this when the birds were coming home late afternoon. 

The bird park was set in a beautiful garden park and natural wetland. 

The topiaried trees were a sight to behold. Might try this at home 🙂

Beautiful butterflies were flitting about. Especially beautiful was a gorgeous big black velvet butterfly which I missed getting a pic of, but so beautiful.

Next stop was the bird roosting area. This meant more rowing. 

Being rowed through the bird roosting area was amazing. So many birds flying in and so many on nests. My phone camera photos don't do it justice unfortunately. It was awesome!

White egrets, storks, bitten and heron were quite happily  going about their business. Fantastic.

Fun fact, in Hanoi we thought we saw a NZ wax eye in a cage. Turns out there is a native bird very similar, a Vietnamese green-backed white-eye.

We have had an amazing time in little Tam Coc, Ninh Binh. We stayed in a small family run hotel and tried to support the local village run enterprises. The surrounding environment is blessed with natural wonders and a rich cultural history. It's an area punching above it's weight in natural beauty. Our driver told us post Covid, Tam Coc tourist numbers have gone through the roof and show no sign of stopping. New national big chain hotels are rapidly being built and the locals are worried about how sustainable all the development is...... and what will happen to everyday village life.

Tomorrow we fly from Hanoi to the coast and park ourselves up in Da Nang ...hoping for sea breezes 🙏.

Tam Coc

 7 April 2026

(Usual waiver applies as I'm posting via a small phone screen on the hoof 🤭, click on the pics to zoom in)

Grab a coffee, this one's a long one, covering an action packed day in the beautiful Trang An area. It's so terrific it has been recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014. It includes three protected areas linked by evergreen forests, lakes, and rivers weaving between limestone mountains. 

Staying in Tam Coc as our base, we got to check out three spots and with the weather forecast warning of extreme temps, we set out at 8am.

First stop was the “Vietnamese Great Wall” Mua Caves lookout. This meant climbing over 500 stone steps to the mountain’s top.The steps started out fine but the higher you got the higher the steps and a bit sketchy at the top. 

The views from the top are magnificent - rice paddies, serene rivers and sheer drops down the mountain side.

Standing on top is an enormous statue of Avalokitesvara, Buddhist Goddess, ensuring all on the mountain are under her divine protection. By this stage I was so hot and bothered I forgot to get a shot of Goddess. 

I did get one of the temple on the top.

At the top is also a dragon and if you touch the dragon's head you get 1000 years good luck. The last bit up to the dragons head was sketchy so I left it to G to touch for both of us🙂.

Going down took longer for me as the steps were rugged. At the bottom were the most beautiful lotus ponds. These will be in full bloom in eight weeks, they'll look spectacular. When we got to the bottom we were drenched in sweat and  we had drunk about 4 litres of water. It was soooo  hot 🔥 

Next stop Trang An water park. This is part of the river system and is often described as Hau Long on the river as it has limestone Karst mountains and a huge cave network. 

After our hike up the Mua Caves lookout we needed some cooling down so we took the river tour with the longest cave..1000m , a chance to cool down🥵. 

The rowers were 80% ladies. They had umbrella's up and wore big jackets that looked to have a fan in the back of the jacket. They took four people per boat. Luckily they had extra oars so G and I took one each to help our lady rower out. By now it was about 35°🥵

The caves were very low in places and the lady kept saying "head down". It was pretty spectacular. We were rowing for about three hours around the park going through three caves and we stopped at three temples. 

I loved the big horse statues in the temples. Apparently the symbolise strength, loyalty and they guard the spirits. 

We looked as red as beetroots while many locals were dressed up in silk dresses and tippy shoes posing for photos ...how do they look so perfect? 

Kong, the movie  was filmed here and the stage sets are still standing .

The different temples were all beautiful. 

Each cave became a respite from the heat and humidity.

I loved the big bells in the temples.

What a fantastic experience. I asked our driver how many times the ladies row each day. He said once during the week and twice on the weekends. Yikes, amazingly strong ladies.

Next stop  was Hoa Lu the Ancient Capital,  known as ‘the first capital of Vietnam’. It was a huge complex of historic buildings but by this time we were running out of steam and feeling a bit 'templed out'.

Entry was through a traditional three arched pagoda and the setting on the river was so peaceful.

There was a series of beautiful gateways that opened into shady gardens and what would have been bathing pools.

Beautiful historic  statuary and shrines throughout.

We probably didn't do this glorious place justice as we really had run out of steam. 

Traditional life continues alongside. Rubbish builds up on the roadside and is often burnt which further adds to the smog problems. 

We were very happy to see the hotel offered a laundry service as everything we were wearing needed a good seeing to after our hiking and rowing. 

Wonderful day in a very special part of Vietnam with beautiful people in the cafe's and restaurants. There's a lot to love here 💓