Hanoi Day Trip: Tam Coc

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This was our first time in Vietnam. We originally planned to go to Ha Long Bay for a one day trip in Hanoi but, due to bad weather, we were forced to pick this tour instead. This tour was the overpriced tour I was talking about in my previous post, Explorer Tours Vietnam. 

In this post, I'll share to you our itinerary for that day. 

Hotel Pick Up

Souvenir Buying at Workplace for Disabled People

Lunch at Anh Dzung Hotel Restaurant

Boat Ride at Tam Coc Wharf (Ben Thuyen Tam Coc)

Temple Hopping

Visited some requested sites

Hotel Drop-off

Time Frame: 10:30 am - 6:00 pm

According to our tour guide, Mr. Tuan Nguyen, It's best to visit Hanoi from November to March, since there would be less or no rain at all. You would be able to enjoyed a nicer view of Tam Coc and go to Ha Long Bay without the inconvenience of bringing an umbrella. 

The travel time from our hotel to Tam Coc is about 2 hours. Good thing our tour guide was so good, he kept on giving us a lot of facts about Hanoi. His name is Tuan Nguyen, a freelance Tour guide. He was only paid by the agency of about 10USD for the whole day. Next time, I would visit Hanoi, I might contact him.

Souvenir Buying at Workplace for Disabled People

This is our first stop for our tour in Hanoi, Vietnam. This store is full of souvenirs from cheap souvenirs to expensive ones. So that you would not miss the store, here is a picture of the store sign. 

Entrance Picture

They sell the following: key chains, silk items, Utensils and tea sets, paintings, wine holder, figurines, bags, scarf, bookmarks, vases, gemstones, pipes, and more....

Since, we weren't able to visit other stores. We just buy some Hanoi souvenirs here, and decided to buy the rest in Ho Chi Minh. I admire this store for hiring disabled workers to do some of the products they sell like paintings and weaving some stuff.

Tea Sets

90,000 VND Pouches

Paintings

Note: This store has a higher price over the stores in the Night Market. Well, they are selling pouches here for 90,000 VND. I bought mine at Ben Than Market, HCM at around 16,000 VND per piece. Same design.

Lunch at Anh Dzung Hotel Restaurant

We arrived here at around 1:30 in the afternoon. There are so many people! I think most of the tour groups have this restaurant as part of their tour packages. We were given a list of what we would expect to eat, from appetizer to desserts. 

Food inclusive for the tour

Our tour package doesn't include drinks, so we have to pay for it. We ordered a drink for about 30-40k VND. 

The whole restaurant was very chaotic because the restaurant's full. you have to call the waiter from time to time to remind them about serving you. 

The serving size of the food is okay, but the quality and taste is a 6 out of 10. Feels like you can cook it at home. There's nothing outstanding about the dish. However, I have my favorites :) I like the spring rolls and Goat Meat. Grilled goat meat is their specialty in this restaurant. 

In this restaurant, they also sell snake wine or scorpion wine. They say, it makes the person stronger, after drinking these type of drinks. We didn't try one, because it's a bit creepy. We're not very adventurous when it comes to eating and drinking exotic ones. 

Boat Ride at Tam Coc Wharf (Ben Thuyen Tam Coc)

By the time, we arrived at this venue, the rain is so strong. I thought that they wouldn't allow us to go down anymore. We're so lucky that we're still able to have a ride. According to our tour guide, he wasn't supposed to join us inside the boat, but he thought that we might get bored, so he eventually joined in. 

Ben Thuyen Tam Coc

Tam Coc is labelled as "The Ha Long Bay on Land". Hey! It's true! If you try to google it, you would see how beautiful the place is, with all those rice fields!   
The boat is being pedaled by an older women. Our tour guide informed us that we should (Compulsory) give a tip to our boat driver. As far as I can remember, We only gave the old lady around 50,000 VND, but we gave her a drink. 

I was very disappointed since we weren't able to see the rice fields due to the high tide caused by the heavy rain. Many people thought, that we're at Ha Long Bay itself.

The whole boat ride lasted for about 1 hr and a half, because you would visit 3 caves. Because of the strong rain and winds, it was hard for the driver to control the boat. As time passed by, the weather was able to improve, and we managed to finish all 3 caves. 

One of the biggest challenges that we faced , was the cave part because we have to duck or else, our heads would make a contact with the ceiling. There's actually no view inside the cave because it was so dark. You have to use the flashlight to see, if you need to duck or not. 

At the 3rd/2nd cave, there are floating merchants. They sell drinks and food for you, and the driver. We bought a bottle of Iced Tea for 30,000 VND and we gave it to our driver.

To enjoy the view, some of the tourists were riding their bikes going around the area. They also have a bicycle area here, and are encouraging the tourist to try it to see other views of the area. Unfortunately  I don't know how to bike, so I thought it would be a waste of time for me to try it. 

Group photo with our tour guide and the boat driver

Temple Hopping

There were actually 3 temples your going to hike, and on the last stop, You can take a picture with a background of Tam Coc at your back. The temples are sacred places here in Vietnam, so they require the tourist to wear pants before you can enter the temple. Sadly, I was wearing shorts, so I was just outside taking pictures.

One of the temples

I do not have many pictures of the temples (especially the one inside) because most of them look the same, and I respect the sacred-ness of the place.

The cave before the 3rd temple

As we were going from temple to temple, we would pass different caves. Because of the rain, it was very slippery so we have to walk slowly. We spent around 30 mins in this area because of the hiking. The only souvenir I saw in this place, was the two school girls selling post cards of Hanoi, Vietnam. They would do their best to sell it to you. I hope it's true that they would use their profit for their education. 

At the top, there's this dangerous area where you have to climb the mountain to have a good view of Tam Coc. But because of the rain, We weren't allowed by our tour guide to go there because it's really dangerous. It's actually behind the last temple. This people would have been more awesome, if we were allowed to go there. 

View from the Top

Visited some requested sites

This one is actually not part of the tour itinerary, but we requested if it's possible to drop by to some areas along the way. We want to buy Vietnam coffee, some food and visit one of the European style gate. 

One of the prestigious subdivision in Hanoi

Our tour guide called the agency if, we can visit the center of Hanoi to have a glimpse of it, but it wasn't allowed. I really hate that agency! (They should've allowed us, after what they did to us).

My Feedback to the Tour:

1. The place is a Must-see place in Vietnam, but the price we paid for it is not worth it.

2. The tour guide is very nice and knowledgeable about Vietnam. There were so many facts, and he shared a lot of information to us. 

3. There are so many place to visit in Hanoi.

I hope you enjoyed my Tam Coc Tour!