Tam Coc, Vietnam

We had a day to spare before flying back to Bangkok from Ha Noi so we decided to go on a tour to Tam Coc. We had been hoping to go to the area for a few days but it was difficult because of Tet so this was our chance.
We were a bit sneaky because we bought the tour from a place othera than our hotel we went there to meet the bus so that our hotel wouldn't know. Silly I know but we like to spread the money around and sometimes guesthouses and hotels get irritated with you if you don't use their services.
Anyway the bus came and then spent two frigging hours picking up people all ove the city. It was good and bad, like a tour of the city but with no information like if we spent the time doing this we would add the time on the back end of the day so that we could fit it all in!
About 20 minutes after leaving Ha Noi we stopped for a 'rest', you know toilets and an opportunity for someone to sell us something. At this time we came to realize that half of the people had bought a tour and the other half a bus ride to a destination close to where the tour went. However they were told they would be there in 2 hours and they didn't get there for nearly 6 hours because everytime the bus stopped to show us something they had to stay on it and it took a long time!
Our ultimate destination was Tam Coc where we signed up to ride bicycles around the village and take a boat ride through some amazing scenery. Well the bike riding turned out to be a 12 km ride in blazing sun. Thank god I had sunscreen and a hat because I had just severely burned my face with wind and sun in Sappa and it had pealed and was now a brand new layer of skin. The ride was beautiful but I had to ride fast in order to control my bike so I got really hot.
You can see from the first pictures the scenery and things we saw on the bike ride. When you get to the picture of the boats with one woman that's where we started the boat ride. There w3re over a thousand boats. Although it was a little like a river highway with all that traffic it was also really peaceful because they were rowed and had no motors.
We were on the river for about 3 hours. We went under three mountains through caves that the river ran through and saw emerald green rice paddies with mountains rising straight out of them. It was so beautiful. When we got to the turning point there were tons of boats waiting to sell us refreshments and souvenirs. They never miss an entreprenurial opportunity in Vietnam.
After a surprisingly good meal the bus headed back to Ha Noi with a bunch of contented tourists on it. Unfortunately for the guide there were no tips because of the debacle in the beginning and his ability with the English language. He was quite insulting to many of us without realizing it!