The Beholder's Eye

Parts 1 to 5 

Whilst what is regarded as beauty is indeed subjective, the natural world sometimes gifts us places or events that leave almost everyone thunderstruck, no matter who they are, and leave us all clamouring to pick up our jaws.

The area around Tam Cốc is one of those places. Gobsmackingly stunning wherever you look.

The landscape around here is made up of limestone karst formations, spearing out of flat rice paddies, waterways, forested bush and wetlands. There's skinny paths passing through tiny settlements or through the fields, flat tracks which are perfect to cycle on, especially when you feel like you've just cycled over the Himalayas, which I just have. Haven't I?

Well, it feels like it anyway.

Buddhist cemetery

Cute little back roads

Bought me a coffee. Skipped on the chilli.

That spot has my name on it. What did I do to deserve this?

Le Coq Café

It was a Sunday. This place is only a couple of hour's drive from Hanoi, so on the weekends it becomes a totally different place, and was seriously bustling. I skipped on the boat trips till the new week.

Hoa Lư

I rode out to Hoa Lư, which, believe it or not, used to be the capital of the whole Dai Viet kingdom between 968 and 1010. All the way out here.

In fact, King Dinh Bo Linh subjugated all 12 of the powerful fighting warlords in the north, and established the Kingdom's first feudal monarchy right here. He was a cultured guy, and established government services, developed exchanges and trading, he even minted coins, and then spent many of them on developing national culture and art.

Temple gate

Burdened beast

Touristy hats, but sometimes they're actually beautifully crafted, like the one on the left, which has its patterns woven into the hat, rather than just painted on it.

I saw steps, so of course I had to step up.

View over the ancient parade ground, where the medieval armies would've gathered and marched in formations, in all their finery

I climbed up further, onto the cliffs on the other side of the hill

It was worth it

Sunday-bested besties

It was such a pretty ride back to Tam Cốc.

Pete, Lisa and I went out for a drink by the river, and then had pizza. Pizza! Wood-fired, no less. It was bloody delicious, and, of course, was delivered at ridiculous tourist prices.

Relative though, of course.

But I don't care. I'm making the most of it while I can.

Hang Mua

Lisa Pete and I visited this beautiful cave and cliff area, I cycled and they rode their rented motorbike.

It's a beautiful place, a spot where the King's daughters would do celebratory dances in the caves when their dad returned from successful military campaigns. Hang Mua means "dancing cave."

The grounds at the bottom are all manicured and fengshuied.

Pete and Lisa, with Lisa trying to shrug off some sort of bug. Could've been one of those hangover viruses. I'm glad I drank slowly and stuck to beer the night before. Lisa wasn't well actually, and struggled as we climbed, she also gets asthma. They both left after we visited the caves.

Spare horses

Journeying King

The tiger cave

Up we went. Along with the six million other tourists.

The views got better and better as we climbed.

Adjoining lower peak

Yeah it was pretty high, up 500 steps. And pretty spectacular.

The crow has landed

Looking back

Many young tourists love to hire traditional local clobber and take selfies in various instappropriate spots. There was a large costume hire shop down below.

Even the oldies get into it, but in their own clothes.

Ponds in front of the larger cave entrance

The cave was actually like a large tunnel through the karst, carved by an ancient river over countless milennia.

Out the other side

Vẫn Long Wetlands Nature Reserve

Lisa really needed to rest, and I rode out alone, to an absolutely amazingly beautiful wetlands reserve.

I stopped for phố on the way. These guys served it up in a steel pot, so hot in fact that the broth was boiling away and disappearing before my very eyes, and I had to shove the phở (flat rice noodles) in quicksmart, to stop it bubbling away to nothing.

No need to tell you how delicious it was.

And, of course, not only did I singe my tongue, but I also burnt the inside of my arm on the pot, which was large, and remained so radiatingly hot that the soup inside was still dangerously hot, right to the last mouthful.

Other diners (all Vietnamese) were cooking their small pieces of goat in there, which is a local delicacy.

Gorgeous views on the way. As usual.

The Van Long Wetlands Reserve is one of those ecological good news stories that are painfully rare these days.

The reserve was set up after a German primatologist, Tilo Nadler, visited the area to study the rare Delacour langur, a critically endangered monkey, which is endemic to this area.

When Tilo first visited in 1993 it was estimated there were only about 50 individuals left. A combination of poaching and loss of habitat was driving the plummeting population numbers, and Tilo realised straight away that unless action was taken the species would soon become fully extinct.

So he negotiated with local communities and the Vietnamese government to set up the reserve, and since it was established in 2001 the population of the langurs is estimated to have quadrupled.

Not bad huh.

There's about 200 there now, out of a global population of between 250 - 275 individuals. The others live in areas nearby.

And who said that one person can't make a difference?

Of course the wetlands are also a major breeding and hangout zone for hundreds of bird species, as well as for mammals like leopards, Tibetan bears, chamois, and macaques. As such it has been globally recognised as a Ramsar convention wetlands site, meaning it's globally significant ecologically.

It's the largest protected wetlands area in the whole of the Red River delta, which covers a huge area in the north of Vietnam.

And all that's before I even get into how incredibly beautiful the place is to visit on a little homemade bamboo boat.

A flock of storks. I didn't see any carrying babies, maybe it's not the season.

Sheer magnificence

My cute old boat rower and I were absolutely enthralled to watch a whole pile of the rare langurs as they slowly travelled across the cliff faces, and swung around in the trees. It was a truly a mind blowingly special and memorable experience for me, to see my fellow prime mates doing their own thing in their own hood.

I couldn't stop smiling and feeling so absolutely privileged to watch these families.

The place was so stunning

We paddled into an underwater cave.

The waterways were really narrow in spots, my beautiful toothless non-English speaking boatman had to struggle paddling through the floating plant matter at times.

Lone goat

Some trees were really flocked up

The views, as we finally made our way through more open waterways, were completely drop dead gorgeous.

And speaking of death, if I drop dead now, I've seen all I ever need to see.

From now on, everything in my life is a bonus.

What I saw today was so overwhelmingly moving and incredible that I feel like my life is now complete.

Experiences and places like these put my whole cosmic pinprick of a life fully into perspective.

Such a hugely and significant existential realisation has totally left me speechless.

What can I possibly do after all that?

Well, then I was forced to cycle the 25km back home right into this magnificent sunset, an unshakeable smile stretching from ear to ear, with my eyes sparkling and my teeth gleaming in the brilliant light.

Bai Dinh

The next day I cycled out to the incredibly huge and artistically magnificent Bai Dinh temple complex, about 20 clicks or so from Tam Cốc.

The temple complex is now the largest temple complex in the whole of Southeast Asia, and that's really saying something, because there's a lot of huge ones about.

I'd actually never heard of it before, but, you know, that's not too surprising, given that the bulk of the temple complex was built in the 2000s. And I've never been to the Tam Cốc region before anyway.

Bánh mì brekky stop. Well, late second brekky stop. My homestay fam were giving me brekky every morn. It actually motivated me to get up earlier, so they didn't have to wait around for me.

The woman from the bánh mì stall kept giving me things, as people graciously seem to do regularly. This time it was peeled forest tubers, they were crunchy and, surprisingly, quite sweet. I could eat a tonne of them. Then she gave me a grapefruit.

People are just so nice.

The original, ancient part of the Bai Dinh complex was actually founded in 1136 by a Buddhist master called Nguyen Min Khong, who went to the area to collect medicinal plants for curing diseases. He was so enamoured with the place that he established temples in the caves, and also set up large medicinal gardens to support the local community's health needs.

Nice guy.

Beautiful views from close to one of the entrances.

Gateway to the newer part of the complex

The scale of everything is so huge, and difficult to represent in pics. These carved wooden statues were absolutely massive, a huge feat of artistic and engineering prowess.

This is an arhat corridor. An arhat is someone who has properly understood the true nature of existence and has reached nirvana. They're enlightened beings, but they're not quite as cosmically wise as a buddha. Yet.

This is the longest arhat corridor in the whole of Asia. It's actually 1.7km long (yep), and contains 500 arhat statues, all made of monolithic green stone, carved by artisans from two local stone craft villages. Each statue is an average of 2.5m tall, and each weighs between 2 and 4 tonnes. What a logistical feat to build such a thing.

All 500 of these have different postures, bodies, faces, scenes - each completely unique and beautiful. The scale is completely off the scale.

A bell tower, containing the largest cast bell in Vietnam. It's rung by bashing a 30cm wide and 5m long tree trunk against it. What a clanger. Actually, the tree trunk is wrapped in material to soften the rupturing of the eardrums.

The 36 tonne bell, hanging by a seriously fat chain.

And below the bell is this 70 tonne bronze cast drum. It must be such a hassle getting it to gigs.

The views from the tower were truly bellissimo.

A magnificent 10m high statue of Avalokitesvara, who has 1000 eyes and 1000 hands. Her hand-eye coordination must be stellar.

She/he/it, whatever they is, completely bedazzled me. This whole place is a complete artistic marvel.

A Kuan Yin of my heart and soul, carved from a single magnificent tree. Tall and slim, like looking in a mirror. I could kiss her without having to bend over, a luxury I've had little of in my life.

I hope that's not blasphematory. May the Goddesses be my judges.

There were countless temples, halls, pavilions, and random buildings like this, all featuring beautiful traditional Vietnamese architecture.

State-sponsored vandalism

You can't see how tall these warriors are. They're seriously tall, carved meticulously from hardwood.

Another masterpiece, ho hum.

More Buddhas than you can poke a rolled up meditation mat at.

Each of them unique and beautiful. Of course. Nothing but the best around this place.

Burly turtle. This guy's been around for awhile.

Looking at somewhere from somewhere

There were a few little cafés in one part, to stop people starving to death or dying of thirst, as the complex is so bloody huge. At one spot someone was making traditional rice sweets.

Beautiful pagoda

In Vietnamese culture, the turtle and the crane together symbolise enduring power and longevity.

Truffula tree garden, Viet subspecies

The largest Maitreya Buddha statue in blah blah blah. There was lots of braggadocio in the signage.

One of a whole series of massive carved turtle corridors

Eventually I made it to the gateway into the forest hillside, to the ancient temple part.

Look at those psychedelic colours! It's either the slug or it's me.

I've seen this guy in a horror movie somewhere, but just can't pick it.

The ancient cave temples.

He could see right through me

Still life with mandarin and grapefruit

Eventually I crouched through to the back of the cave, and found myself alone in the forest.

This is where that kind master originally set up his plant apothecary.

The forest shelves were full of product.

I crept in, trying not to disturb her while she was drinking. I knew how dangerous it was, from Harry Potter.

A prize for the first person to spot wildlife in this shot

There's a turtle at the back of the Pearl Well, a spring-fed well whose waters apparently have healing properties.

This side of the temple complex is beautifully garden-heavy.

As I waited for the temple transport to take me back to the parking area, a bunch of drivers invited me over for delicious green tea, a drink I've enjoyed many many times with locals in this country. I wasn't light on my praise of the artistic and aesthetic magnificence of this whole place.

The guys were proud as punch.

Military hats are all the rage with men from about 50 upwards in this country. Sometimes even younger. And particularly rural folk.

This is a red bean steamed bun made with yellow beans

Riding home was another treat. Blah blah.

Beautiful old temple gate

Sorry to bore you with such unfathomable beauty, it must get so boring.

Goat is a delicacy widely savoured around here. This is actually a real live, I mean real dead, skinned goat. It's had its neck slit, so it ain't comin' back. I saw a number of these unfortunate beings on table stalls on the side of the road, all ready for the barbie, goatisserie, or very large billy.

Looks rather brutal, if you ask me. But maybe it's better than the packaging of anonymous meats at a Western supermarket. It's useful to look dead-eyed into the dead eyes of these slaughtered creatures every now and again, to remind yourself of where your dinner's coming from.

Hung Yen

And so it finally became time to move on from Tam Cốc, and from Pete and Lisa, with whom I'd regularly hung out. They're really beautiful people, we got to know each other over our time together, and had some pretty moving convos. We celebrated our last night together with North Indian food. Of all things.

It was actually delicious, especially after having a break from my overdose of it in India.

I appreciated my time in Tam Cốc so much. It's a beautiful place, and I'd love to return one day, and hang out.

So I packed up my guitar and all my other things, loaded up my bike, and off I went, roughly northwards, in the direction of Hanoi.

I took the back roads, as the highways here are super busy, full of massive trucks and buses, cars and motorbikes. It's only 100kms up the fat road to the capital.

The Red River Delta is Vietnam's second big food producing region after the Mekong Delta, which is near Ho Chi Minh City, way down in the south of the country.

This northern delta is a massive area jam packed full of canals and waterways, fields, orchards, farms and wetlands.

The Red River itself originates in central Yunnan province in China, and is the fourth longest river in Southeast Asia. I'll be following it off and on as I head northwest into China sometime soon.

Many of the canals host barges, transporting everything from mined ores to food produce to manufactured goods.

But it's a peaceful place. There was no one around on the narrow back roads, everyone was working the fields, or at school, work or home, just doing whatever it is they do.

Christian cemetery, Viet style

And the Buddhist version

I really don't know what this is for sure, but I think it's actually a private house

These logs have been transported here through the canals, as there are no major forest areas through here. They look like old growth hardwood to me, not a good sign, and could have come from the forests of the north. Some trunks were really massive. This is not sustainably farmed timber.

Young vines starting their climb

Aquaculture pond for freshwater prawns, a very common food in Vietnam

Fukaduk, there were a lot of these around

Of muddy complexion

Crossing a bridge over the huge and infinitely wide Red River. For the second time today.

I stayed in a small city called Hung Yen. I had trouble finding a room, but managed to wiggle my way into one by promising to be out by 8am sharp. That's gonna hurt.

Lots of wide, communist-era boulevards, squares and monuments in this place

Floral examination

Nice eating spot by the lake. It was cool, with a microscopic drizzle.

My veg phở came with kimchi, of all things. Never been served that in Vietnam before. It's a long long way to Korea from here.

Downtown Hung Yen

Artfully Dodging

I had a few forgettable moments on the road today, ones that I'll definitely remember. They all involved cars, trucks, buses or motorbikes and little vulnerable me getting way too close to each other.

I almost got clipped by a relatively fast-moving car turning in front of me, when the roadway I was on completely disappeared into a non-negotiable pothole, and I slightly swerved into its path without knowing it was there. Normally they'd be beeping the shit out of my eardrums before they pass.

Anyway, I made it in one physical piece, but sporting a few mental divots.

This presentation ceremony was happening just out of Hung Yen.

Rather grand cathedral. Vietnam was a French colony, remember, and, surprisingly, Christians still comprise nearly 10% of the total population of 100 million people. Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are the big 3 religions here, despite the state being officially atheist.

Local street market

All the delta towns and settlements around here are surrounded by food producing areas and waterways.

First glimpse of the big smoke, even though I was already breathing it in on the roadway.

I stopped for a bean dumpling and some stuffed cassava balls. As I was munching away a young local man bought me an iced green bubble tea. He just saw me and stopped and bought it. What an amazing guy. He didn't want to chat, he was busy, and he probably didn't speak English. He just handed me the drink, I said thanks profusely, and off he rode.

My faith in humanity, and in the kindness of strangers, is constantly bursting through my pores as I journey. Every day. Without fail.

But right in amongst that, my faith in most of humanity's leaders continues to excrete through my consistently disappointed slophole.

I'm sticking to my latest demand that potential political and corporate leaders should be required to undergo strict psychological testing before they're given any responsibility or power over others. Too many of them are currently demonstrating their complete psychopathy, characteristics that are quite easy to spot with currently available standard testing.

Try getting that through parliament.

A much busier Red River crossing, now that I'm suddenly smack bang in the capital.

Bustle and Bureacracy

So I think I'll need to be in Hanoi for at least a week or so.

I need to apply for a Chinese visa, which unfortunately is a very tedious and complicated process these days. Once the excruciatingly fiddly application is in, I'll need to wait a few business days before I can collect my passport, hopefully sporting a new visa with the maximum 60 day visit period.

My bike needs work. Poor Black Bewdy. She's been through a tough trot lately, in the rocky, muddy, potholey steep hills of northern Laos and Vietnam. She badly needs a proper service, a clean, a grease and oil, new brakes, new this new that. The journey north-ish from here is gonna be long and hilly, and she needs to be in prime condition for all that pedalling.

I really know nothing about bikes, so I need to trust in the knowledge of strangers, yet again.

But one thing I can do is change a bike tube. And, unbelievably, I haven't had to do that since I was first reunited with my graceful carriage way back in Vientiane. I know that record won't last, but I'm counting my lucky tars while I can.

Of course, my most important task in Hanoi is to have loads of fun.

And, let me tell you, if you're looking to do that around here, your options are endless.

Yeah it's party time, and for once I'm not talking about the Communist Party❤️

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