We left paradise (DaNang) and took a flight to Hanoi. We booked 2 nights at the Sheraton Hanoi for 3,000 SPG points per night and used 1,500 SPG points to upgrade to Club rooms with free breakfast, canapés from 5-7pm, and free drinks in the lounge during the day. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to make our way to Halong Bay (perhaps on a future trip).
We headed to the "Old Quarter" in the afternoon and spent time wandering the streets, trying weird types of food, and saying "No" to the hawkers. We then headed back to the hotel and spent some family time at the pool at night before heading to bed. The pool was nothing special, but the kids get so excited for any pool.
The next day we got up early and headed out on our full day journey to Tam Coc, which they tell us means "three caves" in Vietnamese. Once we got outside of Hanoi, the scenery started to change drastically. We soon found ourselves in a strange land where huge limestone rocks and cliffs with all kinds of vegetation growing on them surrounded us on all sides. It was an overcast day and there was a mist that was like a thin veil that was weaving in and out of the limestone cliffs.
We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant and then headed to the Buddhist temple that was situated in between the cliffs. We wandered around for a bit, then headed towards the river.
On the river, we were assigned our rowboats and guides. The guys that paddle the rowboats do it entirely with their feet and are kicked back as if they are relaxing. True to the translation, we were paddled through 3 caves. They were so low in some parts that we had to duck down in order to avoid hitting our heads on the top of the cavern. There really aren't many words to describe the scenery...it was truly beautiful.
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