A Trip to Tam Coc, Vietnam (2022)

Tam Coc is a quaint village situated in the Ninh Binh province around 100km south-east of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. This picturesque tourist destination attracts tourists from all over the globe. My lucky turn for visiting this place happened on the 15^th of July 2022. Our stay at the Tam Coc Holiday Hotel and Villa was a stone’s throw off from the famous boat ride point. This boat ride on the Ngo Dong River is a unique one. The boat meanders through paddy fields gheraoed by loft mountains of unique look, moving through exquisite and mysterious limestone caves. These boat tours take place in broad day light and they close down by 5 pm and start as early as 7 am. Though we opted for this boat ride, there is another one at Trang a which offers a similar boat ride but for three hours as compared to this one which shuttle for an hour and a half.

The enormous complex of Bai Dinh pagoda stupefied us beyond words. Labelled as one of the largest Buddhist complexes in Asia, a walk through the veranda of the complex with its golden design and architecture and the uncountable statues of Buddha in a row showing different disposition of hand, left us in awe. The Thai vi temple experience was also a sweet experience. The old man playing a handmade instrument, the serene and quiet campus, the pious feeling, took us away from all our worries and the mundane activities and stress. Even the temples and Pagodas of Hoa Lu, the ancient capital, ushered us into moments of peace and inner happiness. Lost we were in the dreamy beauty and tranquillity of Tam Coc.

While day time was reserved for temples, shrines, pagodas and sight-seeing, evenings were meant to be time for bicycle rides through the lush green landscape of rice fields and pink -white lotus fields. Far in the distant horizon are the mountains. I stopped to see, the sun play truant with the lofty mountains; I also stopped to see the sky adorns hues of orange and grey. I stopped to feel the cool breeze brush my body, I stopped to see     the saw the swan and ducks play in the little puddle of water in the fields. I also saw children and adults flock out in numbers in their scooty or cycle and have their own share of fun. The sight of women adorning the typical Vietnamese cone bamboo hat sitting by the side of the field and having their own share of guffaw made me reflect on our lives which is so city-bred, hectic and stressed. How I wished I was Wordsworth so that I could compose a sonnet of my experience. Such is the beauty of Tam Coc

As I left the place, there was a long list of things I would miss. I would miss the food at a small eatery called Father Cooking restaurant, I will miss the decorated double-decker bus which acted like mini restaurants and the kids and young girls dancing around it, I will miss the rides and walk amidst beauty, I will miss the stress-free environment. I will truly miss Tam Coc. Hang Mua caves, Pat Diem Cathedral and Bich Dong Pagoda could not be seen due to constraints of time, but never mind   I would not mind visiting this idyllic paradise again.