I remembered the first time I went to Vietnam with my friends in 2008, we had one free day, and our host asked us to choose between Ha Long Bay in the sea and Ha Long Bay on land for sightseeing. We decided to visit the celebrated Ha Long Bay in the sea as we did not know Ha Long Bay on land before. Almost a decade later the Ha Long Bay on land become a World Heritage Site under the name of Trang An. While my friend and I planned a visit to Trang An, we found out that actually it was the famous Tam Coc, but after further searching, Trang An and Tam Coc are in the same area but located on the different sides of the mountain, while Tam Coc is famous for its rice fields, Trang An is well known for its pristine environment and numerous caves. So, the question of which part of this scenic landscape we want to see, the famous Tam Coc or the less well-known Trang An, eventually we have visited both areas.

After Ho Citadel, our group traveled to Trang An and reached our hotel, Hang Mua Ecolodge which was located inside the Core Zone of World Heritage. After checked-in, we climbed almost 500 steps to the famous Mua Cave, a viewpoint on the mountain, to see great view of Tam Coc at sunset. The view of karstic mountain, rice fields and lake reflecting sunset sky in pink and orange were just breathtaking. Next day we started our day at Bich Dong Temple, a lovely small temple. The view at the temple gate was just perfect with stone bridge, Chinese styled arched gate and lush forest on the lakeshore. The temple was built in three levels next to the high cliff, first level was a typical Vietnamese temple, but for the second level was a real highlight with lovely shrine attached to the cliff, behind the shrine had passageway into the cave, inside the cave has nice stalactites and another shrine making the cave very beautiful. At the end of the cave was a way to third level where another shrine located, the shrine was simple, but the view of Tam Coc was lovely. Then we proceeded to Trang An. There was a large tourist complex building at the entrance that similar to temple. Hundreds of boats were waiting for the customers, we bought ticket and then went to the pier, here we had to choose short course, about 1.30 hr., or long course, about 2.30 hr. without any stop. Each course used different routes and had its own highlights, we decided for long course since it is unreasonable that short and long courses were the same price, so we wanted to maximize our money. The maximum for each boat was 4 tourists and one boatman. The view of Trang An was lovely with classic view of karst mountains, forest with decorative temples, pavilions, gates and bridges, a very classic Chinese landscape. The highlight of Trang An in my opinion was its many numerous caves which were water channels that link each valley together some kind of subterranean rivers. These cave tunnels were really fun to go thought as the caves’ ceiling were really low and winding, it was incredible how the boatman could navigate without any bump to the wall. We had to dig ourselves into the boat to avoid our heads hit with dripstones. Along the route, there were many stops for tourists to relax or climb the mountain for viewpoint, but since we already saw Mua Cave and Bich Dong, we already lost interest for another viewpoint, so we told our boatman to keep going without any stop, something we really regretted as we found out that he was really tried and his hand were shaking from our restless demand. In the boat there were two extra oars, so for the last 45 minutes, we helped our boatman row the boat, quite an experience.

Trang An, in my opinion, is a very nice place to visit, the landscape is beautiful but actually cannot compared to the famous view of Guilin in China. Its environment was still very pristine, the water was very clean and cool. Almost 3 hours boating in such nice surroundings were really enjoyable until the last ten minutes of our trip was greeting by great sunshine, which were very hot and made us very uncomfortable. However, I would not rate Trang An as a great World Heritage Site, the site is too similar with typical South China’s karst landscapes, its cultural value is not that outstanding. Nevertheless, it was a lovely site, a good stop to relax before or after Hanoi. One recommendation come to visit early to avoid sunburn since there were no shade on the boat and help your boatman row the boat. Another tip Trang An is famous for its goat meat food, a bit pricy but good to try.