Vietnam - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 846

INTO CHINA
THE TRAIN TO CHINA
Tickets should be booked well in advance for the direct train service from Hanoi to China, and
you'll need your passport with a valid China visa when you buy them. The Hanoi-Beijing
service (42hr; around 7,000,000VND) leaves Hanoi main station on Tuesdays and Fridays at
6.30pm and cannot be boarded anywhere other than Hanoi; it stops in Dong Dang, Nanning,
Guilin, Zhengzhou and Beijing. The Hanoi-Kunming service was suspended in 2004 due to
landslide damage on the Chinese side, and works on the tracks were still in progress at the
time of writing, but services may resume in early 2015. Meantime, you can take the train to Lao
Cai, and take a bus from there to Kunming (see box, p.857). See W seat61.com for up-to-date
details of train journeys between Vietnam and China.
HUU NGHI AND ON TO NANNING
The road crossing known as the Huu Nghi (“Friendship”) Gate is 164km northeast of Hanoi
at the end of Highway 1 and is the most popular border crossing in the north. Local trains from
Hanoi (hard seat only) terminate at Dong Dang station, 800m south of the main town, from
where you can take a xe om up to the border (40,000VND). The Huu Nghi border (daily
7am-5.30pm) has no exchange facilities; there's a walk of less than 1km between the two
checkpoints. On the Chinese side, shared taxis and buses (from ¥20-40) will take you to
Pingxiang , 15km away, for the nearest accommodation and the trains to Nanning (3 daily;
4hr-5hr 30min; $7). If entering Vietnam here, ignore the touts and get on a minibus at the
Dong Dang minibus terminal, with frequent services to Hanoi (2 hourly; 3hr 15min).

11

altar. To the right, a slippery 3km path
leads steeply uphill (1-2hr), at the end of
which a gaping cavern is revealed beneath
the inscription “supreme cave under the
southern sky”. he Perfume Pagoda is also
dedicated to Quan Am and a flight of 120
steps descends into the dragon's-mouth-
like entrance, where gilded Buddhas
emerge from dark recesses wreathed in
clouds of incense (bring a torch). You
must wear long trousers and long-sleeve
shirts to visit Chua hien Chu, and shoes
with good grip are highly recommended.
If you don't want to hike to the top, you
can take the cable car (one-way/return
60,000/100,000VND) to the summit.
his is a popular destination for
Vietnamese tourists, day-trippers from
Hanoi and Buddhist pilgrims; to avoid the
worst of the crowds, don't come on the
even dates of the third lunar month
(March or April), avoid weekends and
expect to be pursued by hawkers
throughout the experience. he easiest way
to visit the pagoda is on an all-inclusive
tour from Hanoi (approx $15-20).

but serves as a good base for exploring the
beautiful countryside that surrounds it.
Two radio masts provide convenient
landmarks in town: the taller stands over
the post o ce in the south, while the
shorter signals the northern extremity 2km
away up Highway 1 (Tran Hung Dao).

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
he most rewarding way to see the area is
by renting a bicycle ; the surrounding
landscape, with giant limestone karsts
dramatically rising from glistening rice
paddies, makes the journey to Tam Coc
worthwhile; it can be combined with the
temples of Hoa Lu in a day-trip.

Tam Coc
It's hard not to be won over by the
mystical, watery beauty of the Tam Coc
region, a miniature, landlocked version
of Ha Long Bay. Journey's end for the
three-hour sampan ride through the
flooded landscape is Tam Coc , three long,
dark tunnel-caves eroded through the
limestone hills with, in places, barely
su cient clearance for the sampan.
he starting point is the dock in Van
Lam village. Boats leave here between
7am and 5pm, as they fill up (go early
or late to avoid the crowds), and cost

NINH BINH AND AROUND
he dusty provincial capital of Ninh Binh ,
90km from Hanoi, has little to detain you,