Welcome to my second article covering the Tràng An Landscape Complex scenic area near Hoa Lư in northern Vietnam. The area is famous for it's beautiful landscape, mainly limestone mountains and caves. It was also inscribed in 2014 as a mixed cultural and natural UNESCO World Heritage Site. Having a diverse ecosystem, it's home to some 600 plant species and 200 animal species and human activity dating back almost 30 000 years.

To get to Tràng An, you can take a bus tour from Hanoi. We were a big group travelling, so we had the whole bus to ourselves 😃

The main activity there is to take a rowing boat ride on the river, enclosed by tall limestone mountains on both sides. The boats are quite small, made of bamboo and can seat up to 4 people in them.

The ride also takes you literally through the mountains, because some of them have caves under them, where you can just barely fit with the boat. There are also a couple of beautiful temples and pagodas on the way.

Researching in preparation for this article I found that there's actually 3 different recommended routes you can take. I think we took the route number two, a bit shorter one, but one of the longer ones goes through a cave that's 1000 meters long(!). Something for next time.

Anyway, let's go! 🚣🏽‍♀️

On the boat. You don't row the boat yourself (although that's also possible when agreed), but there's dedicated rowers taking you safely along the river.

We were a bit worried about the weather, as it was raining hard just before the ride. Luckily it stopped only 5 minutes after stepping onto the boat.

What immediately struck me the most was how majestic the view from the boat is. The incredibly lush, green mountains rising tall straight from the water on all sides makes you appreciative of how beautiful some places on Earth really look. No human touched these rocks, yet their natural formations are perfect in radiating their organic splendour.

Every square centimeter is covered with green.
Along the trip there are a few ancient pagodas and temples, one of which is the Thuy Dinh (Water Temple). I read that a type of folk art, quan họ singing, is performed there during festivals for tourists. Would be a fun sight to see. It felt very serene to float by, and watch how the reflections from the water glimmered against the wood, creating a playful scene of light and shadow.

Right: the scale doesn't quite come through in photos, but you truly feel like an ant looking up from the water.

One interesting trivia about the location is that it served as the filming location for the movie Kong: Skull Island (filmed in 2016). You can read more about the filming locations here. I haven't seen the movie, but certainly fits the premise. You can imagine the Kong climbing up the mountains with ease.

Boats entering a passage between mountains.

Moving further along the river, I also admired the clear water. In the more shallow areas you can see clearly all the way to the bottom, and all the interesting looking plants in the water, mainly hornwort. Would have been easy to see any animals in water if there'd been. Should have prepared a circular polarizer to cut through the water's reflections to get a good photo!

This must be my favourite shot from here. I love how cinematic the light turned out, creating a sense of mystery and drama. Let me know in the comments what you think!

Floating by the water, I admire the rowing woman's strenght on our boat. Rowing the boat for hours on end in hot and humid weather is no easy task. When we're about to go through a cave, she commands everyone to keep their heads low. And warrantedly so, because the ceiling is really low and the stalactites sharp.

The area has plenty of caves. In total there are 50 dry and 50 water caves, dating back about 250 million years.

Adventure time. I can't recall if I ran out of film, or if it started raining, but I don't have as many shots from here as I thought. Or maybe I focused more on just enjoying it.

After a while, we made a brief stop on one of the islands. There's a couple of islands on the route where you can stretch your legs and visit temples. I remember noting the water nearby the shore - the water was clear enough to see the sandy bottom, and the blue waves looked beautiful against the golden sand.

The sun was starting to settle and we started to make our way back. On the boats, there's some extra paddles so you can join the rowing too if you want. We took a race against the other boats in our group, which was really fun, as we took it seriously of course. 😁
The amount of greenery just made everything look like a paradise.

Sadly I don't have any photos from the temple visits. But it certainly was a unique experience, having an ornate temples in the middle of water and enclosed by nature.

Overall I would highly recommend making your way to Tràng An and trying the boat ride. It was definitely one of the highlights of my time in Vietnam! Next time I'll be sure to take the longest route to see the 1km long cave.

Bonus: back in the city, I stumbled upon this scene, which I thought was quite indicative of the feeling of walking down some of the side alleys in Hanoi old quarters. Messy, unorganised, but also somehow organic and beautiful.
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Tràng An - a boat ride through lush mountains