Cycling tour to discover nature near Hanoi
The program visits the nooks and crannies of Ninh Binh, Ha Long, or the streets of Hanoi with historical
Ngoc Dung decided to spend the weekend to join a bicycle tour to discover Hanoi at a cost of about 1.3 million VND.
Likes traveling experiences, Bui Ngoc Dung (28 years old, Hang Buom, Hanoi) signed up for a tour of Ninh Binh by bicycle.
But after waiting for a long time without arranging a suitable trip, Dung decided to try the experience first with a bicycle tour around Hanoi.
She wants to try to see if she can complete the 40km journey to discover Hanoi, before starting a long journey with a trip to Ninh Binh.
“I moved to Hanoi to live for about 1.5 years, so at first, I didn’t think this tour in the heart of the city would have too many impressive and new things for me. But in the end, I went from surprise. from one surprise to another, to see a very different, peaceful and ancient Hanoi”, Dung shared.
Previously, Dung was born and raised in Saigon. In 2020, Dung moved to Hanoi to work. Loving the climate and people of this city, Dung decided to stay and stick with Hanoi longer.
On the weekend morning, Dung gathered at the tour operator with 6 other tourists. All visitors must ensure that they have received 2 full doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, make a medical declaration.
Here, they get to know each other, start lightly, and are guided by the guide (HDV) to use the bike. Each visitor is provided with a vehicle suitable for height, weight, and gender.
7:30 am, the group started to depart. In the first part of the journey, the group will go quite slowly so that tourists can get used to the vehicle, leisurely watch the Long Bien bridge in the early morning sun. Under the guidance of the tour guide, Dung and the tourists took their bicycles through the stairs connecting Long Bien bridge to the alluvial area.
“I never knew about this area, so I was quite curious,” Dung shared. The deeper into this mudflat, the more Dung sees the fresh air, surrounded by green trees, separate from the noisy city.
Here, she and the delegation visited Mr. Duoc’s house – the first person to go to the beach in the middle of the Red River to “temporarily stay” and have been with him ever since. Mr. Duoc told the group of guests about his floating life, the times he sacrificed himself to save the drowning, commit suicide, … or the journey to bring the unnamed children in the middle of the beach back to their hometown to make birth certificates.
Next, Dung and the whole group roamed through the middle beach. The deeper you go, the narrower and narrower the road becomes, and sometimes you have to go uphill suddenly.
“Many segments of the tour guide have to remind themselves of the number or increase the number to suit the road,” Dung said. But in return after the bumpy journey, the group came to a very “chill” camping spot, located right next to the Red River, where you could see the river, Nhat Tan bridge…
Along the way, Dung also admires vegetable fields and long banana groves – images that she has only seen in villages far from the city center.
Leaving the Red River alluvial ground, the group will follow the dike to return to Dong Ngac and Nam Tu Liem areas, to visit hundreds of years old communal houses such as Chem communal house and Dong Ngac communal house.
Here, Dung was very interested in talking with the 85-year-old intellectual – Mr. Nguyen Bao, a son of Dong Ngac village. He is the “guide”, directly welcoming the delegation, introducing the history of the village, the communal house, the studious tradition in this land.
“Uncle is very close, intimate, like a grandfather in the family. His story has both historical knowledge and great pride. Uncle directly rode a bicycle and led the delegation to visit village roads and alleys. neighbors, their churches are hundreds of years old,” Dung said. At noon, Mr. Bao again welcomed the delegation to visit the house, having an intimate meal with the whole family.
In the afternoon, at the end of lunch and resting at Mr. Bao’s house, Dung and the group went back to the shores of West Lake to watch the sunset.
“I used to travel to many places, but before, I thought that if I wanted to find something new, I had to go far away from where I lived.
I did not expect that the place where I live is still so different and new. The trip brought me not only joy, new friends, practical experience of local life but also historical and cultural knowledge,” Dung shared.
According to the representative of this bicycle tour provider in the heart of Hanoi, the tour has been deployed from the beginning of October until now, mainly on Saturdays and Sundays. After about 2 months of implementation, this unit has received a lot of orders from tourists.
“Previously, our main customer file was French-speaking guests. Most of them preferred to explore deeply about the destination culture, preferring the wild and rustic features instead of mass tourism.
At this time, we develop and open a bicycle tour service to domestic tourists – those who are passionate about discovering new things and love in-depth experiences. At a time when the epidemic is still complicated, this tour is well received by domestic tourists”, the representative of this unit said.
Currently, tourism activities in the city are much more popular with Hanoians than in the past. Instead of going far, the people of the capital choose to participate in experiential activities such as rowing on the Red River, camping in the suburbs, camping at the foot of Vinh Tuy bridge, paragliding on Doi Bu…
