Adventures

Day 9 - Trang An & Hang Mua

First of all: We have a LOT more pictures of the fantastic landscape we saw that day than I could possibly fit into this post, so go check out the corresponding photo set "Trang An & Hang Mua"!

In the Ninh Binh Region the main attractions are boat rides on rivers than run through the rice fields, along the limestone mountains, and sometimes even below through the many, many grottos in the limestone. We didn't have time to go and do all of them, even though they are supposed to be very different. We had read that the Trang An Area was usually a bit less crowded than the Tam Coc Boat ride, and that it led through more and smaller grottos. The main difference is, that in Trang An, the river is wedged in between limestone mountains, while for Tam Coc, the river runs through wider valleys and rice fields.

By the way, the whole Trang An - Tam Coc - Bich Dong Region is actually a UNESCO World Nature Heritage Site and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site - the only place in Vietnam that got both of these titles.

So we once again rented a motorbike, got on it and drove to Trang An. At the tour complex we paid our fare of 200.000 Dong each and were directed to a boat together with two young vietnamese women. Our rower was a middle-aged woman with a very friendly smile, but no knowledge of english. The two vietnamese girls in our boat translated for us whenever necessary. There are two routes through you can take though the grottos, a shorter and a longer one. We had asked to be taken on the longer one, but I am not entirely convinced that it was what we got in the end.

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Easter weekend at home

I spent the easter weekend at home with my parents. And in springtime, that region is honestly one of the most beautiful places in the world. During spring the yellow fields of rapeseed pop up everywhere and create a stark contrast to the fresh greens everywhere else.

So of course I used the long weekend for some time outside, and since I did take my camera with me this time to try out my new lens, I now want to share the beauty of spring with you.

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Ireland - Day 10 - Torc Waterfall & the Killarney National Park

The first thing out our list today was a one-hour-horse riding trip through the Park with Killarney Stables. After that we had planned to hike up the Torc Waterfall today. During the ride we had great, beautiful weather, but as soon as we got to the parking lot at the bottom of the waterfall, it started raining. The path is actually very much like stairs, so we decided we could still give it a go.

We continued as planned. It first rained lightly, and then it started pouring down on us. While we slowly made our way up, sweating in our raincoats, the world seemed to end behind us.

It did get better pretty much as soon as we reached the highest part of the hike though, so we did have a bit of a panoramic view across the Killarney Lakes before we started to descend towards Torc Waterfall.

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Ireland - Day 1 - From Dublin to Renvyle

Our day began really early when we left home for the Frankfurt Hahn Airport at about 4:30 am. At the airport everything was pretty uneventful, and soon we were on the plane and in the air. We had a very smooth flight (which I have been told is rather unusual) and a perfect landing in Dublin at about 9.00am local time. Our next step was the rental car pickup at the airport, and then it was Tims job to take us onto Irelands roads. Driving on the left side, of course, as our rental car, navigational systems and multiple road signs told us repeatedly.

Our first stop was Trim Castle, the biggest anglo-american castle...somewhere.

Anyways, it was in fact pretty impressive - and we walked around the castle grounds for quite some time to take our first photos on this trip. It was drizzling most of the time we spent at Trim, but we did not let that darken our mood. We all brought plenty of rain-equipment, because after all, we're in Ireland, what did we expect?

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