Michael Powell's Blog, page 31

The Ancient Capital of Hoa Lư

During the 10th and 11th century, Hoa Lư was the capital of Vietnam. Located in the karst hills southwest of present-day Ninh Binh, the site is today home to temples and tombs, and is a popular tourism destination, especially for locals.

Hoa Lư was the birthplace of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, who proclaimed independence from the Southern Han of China in 968, thus becoming Vietnam’s first emperor. He situated the capital of his new empire in his home town, which sounds like a vanity move, but made a lot s...

The View from Hang Múa

If you’re looking for an unforgettable view of the karst hills south of Ninh Binh, you might want to skip on the popular boat tour of Tam Cốc, and instead seek out Hang Múa. Over 400 steps will bring you to the top of a mountain, from where you’ll be able to see the unique landscape in all its glory.

Show up to Hang Múa as early as possible, in order to avoid tour buses. While not nearly as crowded as other attractions around Ninh Binh, the presence of even one big, rowdy group can ruin the...

The Temples of Bích Động

Located a few kilometers north of Tam Cốc, the mountainside complex of Bích Động consists of three temples arranged in a vertical order. A climb to the upper pagoda is rewarded by magnificent views over the region.

Bích Động was established in 1428 by two Buddhist monks from Ninh Binh, who recognized the area for its natural beauty. They built three pagodas at different heights on the mountain, making use of the limestone caves and recesses in the rock. The individual pagodas bear rather lit...

The Bizarre Landscape of Tam Cốc

Among Vietnam’s most stunning images is the aerial view of Tam Cốc: a region of rice fields and steep limestone hills, just south of Ninh Binh. If you’re spending any time in the region, it’s a photo you’ll see over and over again, in the window of every tourism agency, hung on the wall of every restaurant. And every time you see it, you’ll think to yourself… “Man, I’ve got to go there!”

A visit to Tam Cốc consists of a two-hour boat trip along the rivers that cut around, and through, the va...

More Photos from Pù Luông

Rarely have we spent time in an area so beautiful and remote as the Pù Luông Nature Reserve. In fact, in terms of sheer beauty and remoteness, I’m pretty sure this place tops the list. We took hundreds of photographs during our two days here, and could have taken hundreds more.

Everywhere you turn in Pù Luông, it’s nearly guaranteed that you’ll encounter a scene worthy of a picture. And the longer you look, the more charming it becomes. Look at that river coursing through the valley. Oh, and...

Party Time in Bản Kịt

It wasn’t exactly how we planned to spend our day exploring the Natural Reserve of Pù Luông. And it wasn’t an experience we had really even considered within the realm of possibility. But when you find yourself invited to an alcohol-soaked community party in a remote Vietnamese mountain village, what are you going to do?

After sleeping surprisingly well in our ultra-rustic homestay, we awoke early and got on the road after devouring a breakfast of sweet banana pancakes. Our plan for the day...

The Pù Luông Nature Reserve

After a few days in the Phong Nha National Park, we were happy to stay focused on Vietnam’s nature, and relocated to another park: Pù Luông. Just like Phong Nha, this is an exceptionally beautiful area. But unlike its more famous brother, Pù Luông is still largely untouched by tourism. We spent two days exploring the region, and never once saw another foreigner.

Established as a protected reserve in 1999, Pù Luông is over 40,000 acres in area, and comprised of a long valley squished between...

Paradise Cave in Phong Nha

Deeper into the Phong Nha National Park, and much more difficult to reach than the park’s eponymous cave, the Paradise Cave is even more spectacular. There are no boat rides, this time, just a path twisting through grand chambers filled with some of the most massive underground formations we’ve ever seen.

The visitor’s path is only one kilometer in length, but the cave itself stretches on for over thirty, making it the longest dry cave in Asia. Paradise Cave was just discovered in 2005, by a...

Phong Nha Cave

Phong Nha Cave isn’t the biggest cave, or even the second-biggest, in the Phong Nha National Park. But it’s the one which bears the park’s name. So we felt safe assuming that it would be spectacular. And we weren’t disappointed; this is an underground wonderland of stunning beauty.

Phong Nha is a river cave, which means that any visit must be aboard a boat. In the middle of Phong Nha Village, you’ll find a Welcome Center with a fleet of small tour ships, waiting to ferry passengers into the...

A Hike in the Phong Nha National Park

We spent four nights in the Phong Nha National Park, which is home to more than 300 caves including, incredibly, two of the world’s three largest. On our first full day in the park, we embarked on a long hike through the forest to visit two of the regular-sized caves, one of which we’d be swimming through.

Having visited the cities of Hoi An, Danang and Hue, one right after the other, we needed to reconnect with nature, and were really looking forward to Phong Nha. A three-hour train ride fr...