Top Hanoi Walking Tours - page 116

This is an extraordinary dip into the history and lush landscape of Norrh Vietnam’s beautiful Ninh Binh region. Our young, knowledgeable guide relished his work, sharing stories of palace intrigue around the assassination of the first king, and leading us on rickety bikes to ride through the verdant rice fields of the Trang An valley floor to visit an older Buddhist temple. After a decent buffet lunch, we boarded little metal skiffs (amid hundreds of other tourists) and the cheery oarswoman paddled the four of us for two hours through waterways lined by ragged green limestone cliffs, and through long natural rock grottoes. We capped the 13-hour day trip by climbing a pretty challenging set of 500 steps (our iPhones later confirmed it was the equivalent of 33 stories!!) to a ridge that overlooks huge rice fields and the valley floor. That route is clogged with tourists but you can take it at your own pace and you always have the option of turning back and returning to the valley if it’s not working for you. Fact is, you’re experiencing a staggeringly beautiful UNESCO World Heritage site and there is nothing else like it on the planet. The bus ride is comfortable to and fro, and the entire experience left us all - very seasoned travelers and hikers - sore, refreshed, sweaty, starry-eyed and babbling all the way back to Hanoi.