A Visit to History : Hoa Lu Temples in Ninh Binh Vietnam | IndoChina Travel Blog Series | Vietnam

Hi everyone,
I am back to continue sharing our Vietnam Itinerary when we had our Indochina tri-city trip. Previously, I have shared our Day 1 experience here on Hive where we went to the viral Hanoi Train Street and tried some Street Foods.

In this post, I will be sharing our wonderful stroll in the province of Ninh Binh on our Day 2 in Vietnam, where we felt like we visited a paradise, and proudly, we visited the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ninh Binh- Hoa Lu Temples, Tam Coc, and Mua Caves. And to start with, I'll be sharing our stroll in Hoa Lu Temples where we had our first stop.

Ninh Binh

Ninh Binh province used to be the old capital of Vietnam, however, when King Ly Cong Uan moved to Hanoi from Hoa Lu, he brought the civilizations with him and Hanoi became the capital. Vietnam is rich in history, with various attempts to colonize the country at the hands of the Chinese, Americans, and French, Ninh Binh's mountains served as the protector of their people in the northern province of the country.

Our tour in Ninh Binh served as the highlight of our Vietnam trip. As I scouted activities in Klook, I was hooked up with the Hoa Lu Temples, Tam Coc river cruise, and Mua Caves tour, and luckily, Ninh Binh was also an option for my friends to visit. Originally, @ybanezkim26 requested a Ha Long Bay tour but Jovy and I saw many expectations vs reality videos on the internet, featuring an over-crowded tour and site, so we opted for Ninh Binh over Ha Long. Fortunately, Ninh Binh is also an option for Kim, so we didn't have a hard time deciding which place to prefer.

So, we booked a day tour to Ninh Binh through Klook, as getting there by ourselves was too risky for us in terms of transportation. Getting into a chartered tour is the better option plus, we learned so much information about the province from our tour guide.

The chartered tour already includes bus rides and transfers to the three destinations which is pretty convenient and comfortable, and that already includes the entrance fees, lunch buffet, and a complimentary bottle of water. We were picked up from our hotel at 7:30 am since our hotel is just located on Old Quater Street, and then the bus continued to pick up the other tourists within the city for almost an hour before we proceeded to travel to Ninh Binh for 2 hours.

Hoa Lu Temples

Hoa Lu in Ninh Binh province is the ancient city of Dai Co Viet (the old name of Vietnam). The Hoa Lu temples speak a lot about the culture and history of Ninh Binh which became the resting place of the late kings, unfortunately, the other temples of the previous kings were destroyed by the war and only two temples remained which are for King Dinh (King Dinh Tien Hoang) of the Dinh Dynasty and Kind Le (King Le Dai Hanh), who also fought for their freedom from the wars and colonizers 1000 years ago. Moreover, Hoa Lu temple is also the old citadel of Northern Vietnam.

The place is a ground to commemorate the rich history of the province and the country, where during the spring season, the Vietnamese gather to celebrate their festivals.

The temple behind is the Le Dai Hanh temple, which is dedicated to the princess of the early Le Dynasty. The temple was rebuilt at the end of the 16th century.

The Dinh Tien Hoang Temple

Below is the Dinh Tien Hoang Temple, the temple for the late Emperor of the Dinh Dynasty.
In their temple architecture, you can also see the symbols that speak for their dynasties and rulers. Dragon or "Long", as they call them, symbolizes power and nobility. Unicorn or they call them "Ly" or "Lan", symbolizes intelligence and goodness. Tortoise or they call it "Qua" or "Rua" represents the double symbol of Heaven and Earth. Phoenix or they call it "Phuong or Phung" considers the paragon of virtue and grace. These are shared by our tour guide as he tours us around the temple.

At the back of the temple is the beautiful Yen Ngua Mountain which creates a scenic background of the temples. To know more about the place and Ninh Binh's history, you may read some facts here.

As a tourist, we love the scenic surroundings of the temples matched with the cinematic vibe of the Sao Khe River at the entrance.

As a traveler who embraced history, it feels like I am traveling to the past and imagining the scenes during the war where soldiers fight back the attackers sailing on their boats in the middle of the night. They'll get rid of them on their bow with fire, and some fell to the river. Here I go again with my crazy imagination, lol.

Just a reminder if you're a tourist on a chartered tour like us, never miss a sight with your pack, as the guard will never let you in unless they see your ticket that will be carried along with your tour guide. It was a cringe mishap that we disowned ourselves for several minutes because it is "not-so-us", irresponsible tourists, lol but not lol.

I was expecting that the place would just small and not that scenic, but it actually exceeded my expectations, and below are some beautiful scenes we captured as we strolled around the Hoa Lu temples.

There are other temples inside and statues that honor and commemorate the late kings and rulers, and there are many groups of tourists learning with their tour guides, we missed some other information and what was left for us was to appreciate the place as we stroll around.

After which, we proceeded to our next destination, the Tam Coc where we experienced the river cruise along Trang An River, which I will be sharing on my next blog...

Thank you and see you at the next destination!

XoXo,
Kim