Day 65 - Turning the Corner in Hoa Lu: Coconut Coffee, Ancient Ruins & Small Wins

Things are definitely trending in the right direction now. Everyone woke up feeling at least a little better, which was a relief. Maddie is basically back to 100%. Emmett is still coughing his way through the night, and Kia was coughing a fair bit too, but she said she actually felt okay when she woke up. Not great, but not awful either, which feels like progress.

Breakfast was much the same as the last few days. Kia and Emmett still weren’t very hungry and both felt a bit nauseous. Maddie is eating fine, but we’re starting to hit the limits of the set breakfast menu here. I think we’ve officially tried everything and none of it is really a favourite, which makes mornings a bit harder when you’re already feeling off.

We decided to get out anyway and ride our bikes into town for a coffee. It was misty and cool, but not freezing. Jumpers on, rugged up, but actually quite nice. On the way in, Kia wanted to duck back into the adventure store we’d been eyeing off for a few days. We ended up buying the second carry-on backpack we’d been looking at, so now we’ve both upgraded.

They’re smaller, more structured, and somehow still hold the same amount of stuff. No wasted space, no floppy bits. They should fit way better on planes and just be much easier to manage with everything else we’re carrying. It feels like one of those quiet travel upgrades that’ll make life easier moving forward.

We found a coffee spot not long after. Kia grabbed an espresso but didn’t love it. Said it was really tart and not very pleasant. I tried coconut coffee for the first time, basically a flat white made with coconut milk, and it was genuinely excellent. Easily one of the better coffees I’ve had in Vietnam so far. I was very happy with that choice.

After coffee, we headed back to the accommodation to reset before heading out again. The plan for the day was to visit Hoa Lu, the ancient capital nearby. It was a bit too far for everyone to bike, so we booked a Grab.

That’s where I made a bit of a rookie error.

I assumed that “Hoa Lu Old Town” on the map was where all the ancient temples and ruins were. Turns out, not quite. We arrived in a spot that actually looked really cool. There were some beautiful temples, an old riverside area, and this huge limestone rock you could climb, with a pagoda sitting right on top. It felt old and peaceful and atmospheric.

We wandered around for a while, but everything was closed. Shops, stalls, cafes. We couldn’t quite figure out why. It felt like a place that probably comes alive at night, but during the day it was almost completely shut down.

By this point, it was getting close to lunch and hunger was suddenly back with a vengeance. Kia and Maddie were starving. We walked around a bit more, found an ATM that wasn’t quite the bank we were looking for, but worked anyway, and then spotted a small food place across the road.

Honestly, it ended up being one of the best meals we’ve had in a long time.

We ordered a few shared plates, not really knowing how much everyone would eat. In the end, we finished everything. Pork belly with steamed rice, shaking beef with fried rice, a light soup, some chilli vegetables, and one strange fruit dish that nobody touched because it wasn’t great. Everything else was incredible. Proper comfort food and exactly what we needed.

After lunch, we worked out that we were actually in the wrong spot for what we’d planned to see. So we grabbed another car and headed towards the actual ancient capital area. On the way, we drove through Trang An, a UNESCO-listed landscape with rivers, limestone karsts, and boat tours winding through caves and valleys.

It looked stunning and very clean, but also very similar to a lot of what we’ve already done around here. Boat, river, hills, caves. Beautiful, but familiar. We decided not to stop and kept going.

The ancient capital itself dates back to around the 10th century. There’s a lovely bridge to cross and a big archway entrance. Inside are old ruins, temples, pagodas, and village-style buildings. I think we slightly misunderstood the layout or didn’t quite find the main areas, because it felt a bit disjointed. We saw some interesting structures, but not quite what we expected, and ended up wandering into a nearby village instead.

It wasn’t bad, just not quite what we thought we were heading into. One of those travel moments where you realise you’ve missed something, but can’t quite work out what.

By then, Kia and Emmett were ready to rest, so we headed back to the bridge and caught a Grab back to the accommodation.

I still had some energy left, so Maddie and I headed back out on the bikes. We cruised around the hills, found a few new tracks and paths, and just explored for about an hour. We ended up riding around 10 kilometres, which is a solid effort for Maddie.

After that, she asked if we could go find somewhere to play pool. So we went back to the place we’d had dinner the other night that had pool tables. We played two games, and halfway through the second one, Kia messaged saying she was ready for dinner and asked if we could grab food and bring it back.

We finished our game and stopped at the place where I’d had lunch the other day. They make a really good pho, which is exactly what Kia wanted. We ordered pho for her, fried rice for Emmett, shaky beef with chips for Maddie, and fried pork with steamed rice for me.

Another excellent meal. Even better, everyone actually ate. Kia ate a decent amount, and Emmett got through a fair bit of rice. That felt like a small but important win after a few tough days.

Everyone has already decided they want to go back there for lunch tomorrow, which doesn’t happen often. I don’t usually get unanimous approval when I choose food on my own, so that felt good.

After dinner, it was showers and straight to bed. No late night, no pushing through.

Day 65 done.

The sickness has dragged on longer than we’d hoped, but it really feels like we’re finally turning a corner. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny. I’m hoping to get the drone up and fly it around the mountains here if the weather plays along.