Rare Adventures

Category: Adventures

Stories about travel and adventure

Nim Bin – the ancient and modern worlds meet

The trip to Nim Bin is one of those “must do” tours when you are in Hanoi, and it was the last on our itinerary before heading south to Cambodia and Da Nang.

We booked this tour through Tripadvisor, there are a couple of itineraries to choose from, one has a longer boat trip than the other, it wasn’t really clear how to make a choice so we flicked a coin to save on brain power.

The trip sets off at the crack of dawn with an early pick up that leaves you scrambling for some breakfast before it the hotel officially opened. To make matters worse, I had picked up some sort of horribly runny nose kind of cold and was not in great shape.

It is a long journey from Hanoi, about 3 hours to get there, and all the while the day is warming up. Nim Binh is the name of the area and there are a number of things going on, first activity involves climbing up a near vertical staircase to get to the top of a mountain and we assumed a temple of some sort. It was quite evident from the state of the people coming back down that this was going to be a hot and sweaty climb, and so it was.

The entrance involves some walks through huge fields of water lilies, with the inevitable South Koreans getting dressed up and having their photos taken in wedding outfits, while we took selfies of ourselves and tried to avoid having them in the background, though I am sure I was in in a few of theirs!

In truth, I don’t think it actually took much more than 20 minutes to climb the stairs, but it felt a lot more and was hard work on the heart and the knees in humid 40c conditions, especially when you have a cold.

On the way up there are lookouts where you can have a breather and admire the views down to the river where the tourist boats move in and out of the limestone caves, this is the post lunch activity.

When you get to the top of the climb, firstly you find the recently built Bich Dong Pagoda, after that you can join the queue to get a selfie with the recently built dragon as well, this is a rather precarious exercise on sharp rocks with hoards of young people getting their Instagram photo.

You then realise that Bich Dong has no historical or religious relevance, like many the tourist attractions it has been built for tourists to climb and have their photo taken, other than that it has no purpose. To be fair to their tourist people, it works because there were hundreds of people clambering up and down the path. There is a statue of the mountain lion in the cave, with some vague reference to a fable, but mainly it makes a good photo, this is brilliant marketing.

After the climb, it was back on the bus and off to the ancient capital of Vietnam, Hoa Lu. On a hot and humid day after that hard climb, all we wanted was shelter but there wasn’t any. This is potentially a really interesting place because it dates back to the 10^th century so lots of history, but not really that much to look at if I was honest.

We then headed to a little restaurant with great aircon, but first we had to go on the bike ride around the village, which involved a close encounter with a local tractor, Wooksie hates bikes but I thought she did rather well not getting annoyed, but we did all get even sweatier.

It was then time to get in our boat which promised to be a bit cooler, until we actually saw the boat, which had no shelter from the sun. Luckily, everyone was issued with an umbrella for sun or rain. A few people decided they couldn’t take any more sun and didn’t want to sit cross-legged for 2 hours and opted out, so we were lucky to have a little more space in our boat.

The rowers were all women, and they were super strong, I bet they had 6 packs like washer boards as they stood up all the way and were rowing against the tide. We then realised that the passengers were expected to help, so the chaps got to work in the boat and before long we were in a race with the other boats, which helped pass the time, it isn’t easy being cramped in a boat for 2 hours, however stunning the limestone scenery is. In fact, there comes a point when the novelty of the limestone scenery does actually wear off, but it takes a couple of weeks.

The journey along the river took us through some huge caves, and it wasn’t clear to me if they were all natural or maybe some were man made to open up the river to tourists. Vietnams investment in tourisms has been huge and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the caves hadn’t been enlarged to take the traffic.

One of the highlights was a pagoda in the middle of a lake, once again great for photos but not sure it was actually used by the locals for anything. The best thing about these trips is the people you meet, and we had the company of a couple from California and enjoyed many laughs about the state of the world and the US role in the continuing chaos, lovely people. In the photo they even leaned forward so they didn’t spoil the picture, that’s them lying in the front of the boat!

So Nim Binh was the last of the tours in Northern Vietnam so it is now time to head to Cambodia and have a look around Da Nong and Hoi An, a few hundred miles south.

24/07/2026
Ha Long Bay cruise – a bit of 5* luxury

Basically, the Ha Long Bay 2 day trips are 24 hours spent on a ship. There are dozens, probably hundreds of them, in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. They don’t really go anywhere either, Cat Ba Island is vast so they cruise a few miles along it’s coast and that is it. All the tours do roughly the same itinerary and we discovered that you actually do a lot more activities if you do a 1 day trip rather than an overnight. All that said, 1 or 2 day Ha Long Bay is an essential element of any trip to Hanoi. Basically, you get what you pay for with the cruise ships, the cheaper the trip the older and rougher the ship.

This was probably our most anticipated trip. I had really wanted to make this our first adventure but the schedule didn’t work that well so it ended up as our penultimate trip in North Vietnam.

Ha Giang Loop planning had been a bit of a distraction and there was little internet coverage out on the roads to book our trip. When I came to book the trip 3 days ahead a lot of the options were fully booked, so if you are planning a trip then give yourself 7 days ahead. We were using Tripadvisor and plenty of options were offered, until you tried to actually book the trip, so we booked with Getmyguide in the end.

As a result, we ended up booking on a 5 star trip on the ship Celina, which I have to say, was a fabulous luxury, the only regret was we only had one night to enjoy it. We chose the 2 day trip and it was the equivalent to booking 1 night at a luxury hotel, you board about midday and checked out at 1030 the next morning, before being dropped at the quay for the bus back to Hanoi.

We were picked up at our hotel in the old town in Hanoi, very efficiently and in a very nice mini coach. We were joined on the bus by a mother and daughter who said they were Portuguese, but they had very distinct Russian accents. They explained they were from Porto, where we happened to go last year and we seemed to know more about it than they did. We then realised that there are not many countries in the world that welcome Russian tourists nowadays so we let the matter slide and enjoyed their company as they were fun people, it was their idea to do the Jeep Tour of Hanoi

We arrived in Ha Long, and after trying extremely hard to board the wrong cruise ship we discovered we had a 1 hour transfer on a tender, our boat was too big to get into the harbour apparently. So, after a trip through the bay, we spotted our ship and boy did it look aexpensive. We were advised it is the biggest and most expensive ship in the area.

We were helped aboard by attentive staff and found our way to our fabulous cabin with its own balcony; this is the life. The schedule quickly kicked in and we were sent up to the lounge for our 5 star lunch, which was excellent.

I don’t know why, but 5 star is full of snobby guests. On this trip, there were no friendly people to have a chat with, they all seemed to want to live inside their own shells, except the crazy South Koreans who lived in a much bigger shell, and created a lot of noise and karaoke, now who’s being snobby!

We did have a kayak but it was very dull, we had full stomachs and paddling around a flat calm bay wasn’t any fun. So, we went back to the ship to enjoy our luxury surroundings, we sat on the balcony and were immediately inundated with little boats selling beer and sweets, these Vietnamese know how to make a quick buck, the ocean version of Lidl.

Eventually, the engines started and the ship set off for our cruise, we took up residence on the top deck and ordered cocktails to help enjoy the sunset. 30 minutes later the engines stopped, we’d reached our destination, this came as a bit of a surprise but to be fair, the view was very nice and we concluded that pretty much all the scenery was the same so why waste fuel. The limestone peaks stretch about 50 miles out to the ocean, so it was all going to be the same.

The scenery is absolutely stunning, it is basically the same landscape as the mountains of the Ha Gaing loop further inland, but the deep valleys are flooded so we are just seeing the peaks. Below the ship the water is hundreds of metres deep.

We discovered that the Vietnamese don’t really know how to pour measures into the cocktails, so after a particular weak cocktail, we had to advise them on the size of their measures and we got drunk a lot quicker than we would have done, and spent less money as well.

So, after a smashing lunch it was time for kayaking. Wooksie didn’t want to join me so I boarded the transfer boat. The guide started to pair people off as the canoes were doubles, to my complete alarm I was paired with a crazy South Korean woman who couldn’t apparently swim. I was sat there in shock and decided I wasn’t having any of this nonsense and told the guide I’d forgotten my swimmies and would skip kayaking or go and kidnap Wooksie to ensure I had a sensible partner.

Dinner was very pleasant with fine food, none of the guests talked to each other and the crazy South Koreans continued to make a lot of noise in their part of the ship. Basically, the rest of the day was spent waiting for the sunset, which was very nice, but not as nice as the sunrise that we had to wake up at 4am to see, but it was worth it and was the highlight of the trip.

After sunrise we had a fine breakfast before heading for the coconut boat rides, I think they call it day and night tour, basically a local woman rows you through a cave into an inland stretch of sea which is very pleasant but not particularly exciting.

Once you get back from the coconut boats, the ship cruises very slowly back to its anchorage. I would estimate that you ship moves less that 10 miles at the most, and when they come to sell the cruise ship, it will be categorised as very low mileage.

You can tell that I think we should have gone further than we did. We had a nice time, probably a bit of an anticlimax if I was honest, but you don’t get to spend 24 hours on a luxury yacht very often and I’m sure there were plenty of worst options looking at the state of some of the other ships racing us back to port.

Basically, the Ha Long Bay 2 day trips are 24 hours spent on a ship. There are dozens, probably hundreds of them, in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. They don’t really go anywhere either, Cat Ba Island is vast so they cruise a few miles along it’s coast and that is it. All the tours do roughly the same itinerary and we discovered that you actually do a lot more activities if you do a 1 day trip rather than an overnight. All that said, 1 or 2 day Ha Long Bay is an essential element of any trip to Hanoi. Basically, you get what you pay for with the cruise ships, the cheaper the trip the older and rougher the ship.

22/07/2026
Vietnam roving charges rip off

We have just received our phone bill from our trip to Vietnam.

Despite having an eSim and our data mostly switched off, and doing all the blogs on wifi, the costs are absolutely horrendous. We are talking thousands not hundreds of pounds.

The problem is mostly down to issues with our UK suppliers (O2) removing our cap in error, but it also transpires that Vietnam has the HIGHEST ROVING CHARGES IN THE WORLD.

So fellow travelers beware.

19/07/2026
Ha Gaing Loop – Ma Pi Leng Pass and an early morning waterfall

Day 2 of the Ha Gaing loop started in Dong Van with good news, the rain and cloud had cleared and we had beautiful blue skies. Even better, no hangover from the Happy Water which our driver, Mr Happy, had provided in great volume the night before. He had promised that we would have no aftereffects, though lack of sleep from the late night was still an issue.

We loaded ourselves into the SUV and headed for the Chinese border for views into their superpower neighbour. Basically, we were only a few miles from the border so it wasn’t long before we were staring across the vast expanse of a valley across to China.

During Covid, the Chinese were clearly bored or had a spare million workers, so they erected a still fence along the 800 miles of border with Vietnam. It is also not clear what the border is for, it is to keep the Chinese in or the Vietnamese out. Either way we could see the fence stretching in both directions with guard towers long the way.

After waving at the Chinese guards we settled into the SUV for a long day of driving. One of the most memorable things about this trip was hiding in plain sight. The Vietnamese subsistence farmers have used every inch of these mountains to cultivate crops. The soil appears to be sparse, so wherever there is a nook or cranny in the rocks, they have filled it with soil from the valley and planted corn.

Mr Happy advised us that all this corn is so that they can drink lots of happy water, but I’m thinking that it might reflect just how hard the mountain life is for these dispersed communities.

The next big event was the Ma Pi Leng Pass which is part of the Dong Van Geopark, this is an amazing feat of humanity, a road built in the 1950s and dug by hand by thousands of labourers, opened up a pass that rose to 1800m. It is a really stunning site and there is a monument at the top to all they labourers that lost their lives in what appeared to be brutal conditions.

We trekked up the mountain for a better look out, and there were corn crops everywhere and we were amazed at how hard life is for the locals. The climb also gave us a view of the beautiful reservoir in the valley, once again, man made but provides a stunning contrast to the mountains.

It is quite difficult to pick out more highlights as the Limestone Karst landscape rolls through the mountains for miles and miles as the roads wind through the valleys and over more passes eventually dropping down into our overnight village.

We stayed at a little village and stayed at a hostel, which inevitably had a karaoke machine that the bikers loved and the Dutch made extensive use of before heading off to a night club in the village.

The highlight of Day 3 was the early start, before breakfast we headed off early to avoid the crowed, Mr Happy led the way along the valley promising us something special, and it was, we arrived at a stunning waterfall, and I might be 66 years old but there is nothing quite like jumping off a waterfall into freezing cold water to start the day.

The final part of the trip was the drive back to Ha Gaing and the bus back to Hanoi. The highlight of this having an egg coffee at the top of one of the valleys watching the easy riders coming up valley and hoping that we would see our lad Sam in one of the groups with his tour operator Bong.

A last coffee with Mr Happy overlooking Ha Gaing and it was time to board the bus.

The Ha Giant loop was a lot of fun, a lot of driving and we were very grateful for the company and humour of Mr Happy who made the time go quickly.

Time to head for Ha Long Bay and the adventures that away.

19/07/2026
Ha Gaing Loop adventures – Day 1 to Dong Van

Before we could do the Ha Gaing Loop we had to get out of SaPa, and that proved more challenging than we expected. An hour to go 1.5km in a cab seemed ample but nope, the place was still gridlocked at 8.45am with people leaving the celebrations, so the trip to the bus station ended with us abandoning the cab and running down the middle of the road with bags on our bags in scene straight out of “Race Round the World”.

We arrived at the bus station bang on time, only to find multitudes of buses leaving in all directions except Ha Gaing, my head was swivelling in all directions until I accepted the situation was useless, found our travel agent who said our bus was late and not to panic.

So, at 1030, and after much anxiety, we boarded our sleeper bus to Ha Gaing. This was our first sleeper bus and it was quite an experience; they are beautiful things. I had a flat bed, that sort of propped up, a little cabin with a privacy curtain, lots of switches to fiddle with that changed the lighting atmosphere.

Eventually the bus pulled out, I laid down, and that was that for the next 6 hours, I couldn’t read as I was on my back and the bus rolled around, so I just listened to podcasts and stared out the window and eventually we were dropped off in Ha Gaing, and I certainly wasn’t ready for bed !

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Ha Gaing is a nice, clean and friendly town and we stayed at the De La Mont hotel that was really excellent. I went out for a walk and found myself having a beer in a little street café, at which point the clouds opened and once again I was drenched.

Ha Gaing itself seems to have absolutely nothing to do, in the centre, for food there is only very basic street kitchens and getting something to eat proved very difficult, so not a place to hang around. For such a famous location, tourism seems to have passed the main town by, I guess the bikers must stay out of town in hostels or something.

Next day, we were picked up for the Ha Gaing loop tour by our guide Mr Happy, and things took a definite turn for the better. We had a nice SUV to travel in and we had a guide who spoke excellent English and was clearly going to be a bundle of fun, so we settled down to 3 days of good company.

The Ha Gaing Loop can be many different routes, using the road system that runs through the mountains of Northern Vietnam and along the border with China, The actual route you take will depend on your tour guide and mode of transport, and as we set out from Ha Gaing it was raining again and I was feeling very smug that I had chosen the SUV option as we watched the bikers in their waterproofs huddling from the rain.

Mr Happy was a great guy and taking us to all the interesting places. The scenery is quite stunning, the Limestone Karst landscape in the Dong Van Geopark is covered in little peaks that jut out of valleys and mountains full of caves.

Unfortunately, the views on the first day we spoiled by the low cloud and fog, but that is life. We went to see the Booby Mountains, basically two hills side by side that look like a pair of tits and everyone does this photo!

This area of Vietnam literally was bandit country, ruled by warlords over the centuries and they seemed to take a lot of delight in beating of the Chinese and more latterly the imperial French. They united under one leader in the 20^th century and is one of their legendary figures, so we visited his palace, which wasn’t very exciting but had to be done.

The landscape was constantly changing and after one long climb through the mist was arrived at the top of a mountain pass, that looked every bit like I would imagine the moon, A rocky landscape with minimal soil anywhere, but there was a cafe, where the locals were blasting out their drum ‘n bass tracks to keep the travelers happy, strange but true.

We also started to notice that wherever we went on the mountains, the locals had used every crevice to grow plants, in particular, corn. According to Mr Happy this was so the could make plenty of Happy Water, their local brew.

Eventually we arrived in the down of Dong Van, our tour operator had organised a decent hotel which was nice. After a quick scrub up we went out for dinner with Mr Happy. We ended up in a big dining warehouse with lots of other groups who were travelling by bike, it was at this point things took an unexpected turn of events when we were introduced to the local custom of toasting and drinking Happy Water.

Happy Water appeared with the drink made from corn, (in other parts of Vietnam it can be made from rice) and upon tasting it you know immediately that this is not going to end well. Mr Happy was a very enthusiastic distributor of Happy Water and very keen on the toasting game that each group was doing, even though there were only 3 of us, we got roped into the game too.

At this point, Mr Happy developed an even happier personality, very akin to Mr Chow from the Hangover films. Before we knew it, we were standing on tables and doing lots of toasting. One of the groups had an American sport teacher who was very used to this chanting idea and adopted Wooksie and taught her how to lead entire room in chorus.

When dinner was over, Mr Happy took us on a tour of a surprisingly lively little down that had been taken over my groups of people on bike trips. We ended up in the main square in some sort of community dancing game that made as much sense as the toasting game, but it was a lot of fun.

Mr Happy was on a roll now, we were oblivious to the time and next stop was a karaoke bar, where everyone from dinner had gathered. The Vietnamese bike riders were enthusiastically tucking away the Happy Water and every other Karaoke song was in Vietnamese and they joined in with gusto, then we would have a Western song, where we all joined in with gusto and the night rolled on into the early hours.

Mr Happy assured us that nobody gets a hangover from Happy Water, which I found hard to believe, so we drank beer as he sourced more Happy Water and headed off to join his local pals. Eventually we headed back to the hotel and agreed a 7am start wasn’t necessary and we would see him at 9.30am, which was definitely a good plan.

To be honest, Happy Water did leave us with clear heads in the morning, the only problem was we hadn’t gone to bed till the early hours.

Next morning, the sun was out, the weather warmed up, we connected our phone to the Bluetooth in the car and we headed off on day 2 of the Ha Gaing Loop.

Here is the full story of our big night out

04/07/2026