Hong Kong & Vietnam: Hanoi - day trip to Hoa Lu & Tam Coc

http://hongkongvietnam.blogspot.com.au

11 September 2018

Today we took a 10 hour day trip to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc in Ninh Binh province, south of Hanoi.

Traffic in Hanoi
Quite an education for us Westerners

Traffic in Hanoi
They carry anything and everything on their motorbikes

Traffic in Hanoi was very chaotic,
yet ordered as they weaved in and out

Rural Hanoi

Our tour leader Sonny

Souvenirs at our stretch stop

A rich person's house

An overloaded motorbike

We arrived at Hoa Lu, the ancient capital in 10th century where we visited the temples of two kings - King Dinh and King Le. This is a Vietnam Heritage UNESCO site.

These two temples were built in the 17th century in the shape of a Chinese character. In 968 Dinh Bo Linh ascended to the throne and took the name of King Dinh Tien Hoang and reunified the country under the name of Dai Co Viet, and Hoa Lu was its capital for 41 years (968-1009). When King Ly Thai To moved the capital from Hoahu to Thang Long (now Hanoi) in 1010, two temples were built dedicated to King Dinh Tien Hoang and his successor Le Dai Hauh. These two were first built in 11th century and reconstructed in 1696.

King Dinh Temple: Through the first entrance called Ngo Mon, there is a stone royal bed with Nghe standing on both sides. Inside the temple is Khai Thanh in worship of Emperor Dinh's parents.

Dinh Temple consists of three parts. Bai for the community, Thien Huong in honour of mandarins, and Chinh Cung where Dinh Tien Hoang's statue is located. On the left is the statue of his eldest son Dinh Lien, on his right are those of Dinh Hang Lang and Dinh Toan. On each side of the alter there is a stone dragon similar to the ones placed near the royal bed. Dinh Temple is to worship King Dinh Tien Hoang.

King Le Temple is almost the same as Dinh Temple in terms of architecture design, except for some details. Le Temple also consists of three parts - Bai Duong used for community, Thien Huong in memory of royal mandarins of King Lee and finally the altar in memory of the King. The Le Hoan statue is at the centre, on the left is a statue of Queen Duong Van Nga and on the right is that of Le Ngoa Trieu, his fifth son and the third King of the Pre Le Dynasty. Le Temple is to worship King Le Dai Hanh.

Entrance to the temples of Dinh and Le at Hoa Lu

Town of Hoa Lu in Ninh Binh Province

Outside the entrance to the King's temples
Robyn had to wear a wrap as she was wearing shorts

A King's temple

King's temple

King's chariot

Walkway to the other King's temple

The other King's temple

In the grounds of the Temples

Outside the entrance of the Temples

A banquet for lunch

Ninh Binh speciality of goat meat and elderberry
It all tasted very nice

We went to the toilet from the restaurant but where do we wash our hands? Around the corner were handbasins!

After lunch at Tam Coc overlooking the Ngo Dong River we boarded a sampan and we were rowed by locals down Ngo Dong River where we saw the wonderful scenery of karst hills, villages and rice fields. We passed through three caves Hang Ca, Hang Hai and Hang Ba.