Da Lat

Our first day in Da Lat might have been my favorite day abroad so far. We went canyoning as it’s called in Vietnam or canyoneering as it’s called in the States. For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, according to the company’s website, canyoning is navigating your way through a canyon. In this case, the canyon contains water and in some sections the topography requires ropes to navigate your way successfully. Other sections can be hiked or swam through. That’s the technical definition of what we did, but here’s it in a little more detail!

Our day started off by hopping in a van with another couple and four friendly guides. They took us to the adventure park that they operate out of, and here we learned about repelling and practiced the skills we would use.

Once we demonstrated the skills at a level of their approval, we hiked our way in to the canyon. As we were hiking, we got talking to the other couple, who turned out to be pretty similar to us. Simon and Julie, a couple from Scotland, were around our age and had also quit their jobs to come travel the world. Over exchanging a few stories of our travels and talking about our plans for where we would be going next, we quickly became friends.

Then as we were walking along and talking, we came to an abrupt stop. All of the sudden we were at the edge of a cliff, and that was our first challenge. This cliff was the easiest because it was the shortest and also it was dry. All of the other cliffs we repelled had rapidly flowing waterfalls going over them.

A few days earlier, the dam had been opened. So when I say rapidly flowing water, I mean there was so much water that we almost got swept away just crossing streams. The guides told us that this is the second most amount of water that they have ever seen here. The first was when they somehow added water or made the water current stronger for an episode of Man vs. Wild that was filmed in this location. Needless to say, the day was quite the adventure and even the simple tasks of crossing the stream became a challenge.

Once we all had repelled down the first cliff, we floated with the current to the next cliff. At this cliff (waterfall), we repelled about halfway down, until there was a drop off in the rock. When we got to that point, we let go of the rope we were holding on to and then soared across the stream on a zipline.

Here are some pictures from that.

For the third cliff (waterfall) that we repelled, we walked out in to the middle of the waterfall and then one by one we worked our way down the 75 foot cliff. The top part was the easiest because if you walked in just the right path, the water would flow on the sides of you and not straight in to your face.

The second part of the cliff was more challenging because here you basically couldn't do anything to keep the water from pounding you in the face. You were supposed to look at the guide down below for signals as to which way to move to try and avoid the water, but after getting water in my contacts I couldn’t see anything.

The cliff was very slippery and I slipped and fell as I was trying to hurry and work my way down. They had instructed us in what to do if we were to fall, and the main thing was to remain calm. Somehow I was able to do this and pull myself back up and get my footing again. I started repelling again, and then finally made it to the point where we were told to just let go and fall in to the water.

The waterfall pushed me out, and I was thrown a rope to be pulled over to the rocks. I came out of the water trembling, from not being able to breathe very well with all of the water pounding on my face, and proud that I had conquered this waterfall!

Here are some pictures of Brad and I both conquering this waterfall.

After the big waterfall, we swam and hiked a little ways until we came to a place to cliff jump. Here, we all jumped (pictured below), and then floated down the stream to the place that we stopped for lunch. We had a picnic lunch of sandwiches and fruit, and then hiked a little farther into the canyon to get to the fourth cliff.

The last cliff (waterfall) was named ‘the washing machine’ because during the repel, you go right into the waterfall where you can get spun around (like clothes in a washing machine). It starts out with you repelling right next to the waterfall, and then as you repel further down, you end up right underneath the water. The water pushes you down, twirls you around, and then finally pops you up a little further down the stream.

Here are some pictures from the washing machine.

The washing machine was the last challenge for the day, so after everyone had completed it, we started hiking out of the canyon. We got picked up once we reached the top, and then were driven back to our hotel.

Canyoning was such a thrill and Brad and I both loved the adventure! We definitely recommend if you’re ever in Da Lat, that you should try it!

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Just an FYI: the beginning of this post was written by Brad.

For our second day in Da Lat, I thought it was a brilliant idea that we should rent a motorbike. Let me start off with it is currently rainy season in Vietnam, which is why they were letting out so much water from the dam for the day before. Anyways, regardless of the weather, I ran down and rented a bike from the guy who runs the hotel. It started to sprinkle but I didn’t care because I was not driving and I had my trusty shield Brad to take all the rain. We will just say he wasn’t too pleased with this adventure, but he sucked it up and we carried on (what a trooper!!!)

We take off from town to our destination, the Pongour Waterfalls, which are 43 kilometers away. This is roughly 20 miles away on a scooter topping out at 40 kph or 20 mph. So if you do the math, it took an hour to get there, sprinkling the whole way (love you Brad aka shield). 

The weather would not be our only challenge for the day. Even though, in Vietnam, they drive on the same side of the road as us, their driving style is nothing I have ever experienced before. There are no rules to the roads, and any lane could be used for either direction. Even as passenger, it was terrifying. Man, I’m so lucky to have my own personal chauffeur, Brad!

Okay, okay, Brad’s no longer allowed to write this post.

Anyways, when we finally reach the waterfall, we park the scooter and hike down to the bottom of it. Here we climb out on to the rocks and take some pictures. Take a look for yourself.

When we had finished admiring the view, we got back on the scooter and rode the hour back to town. It sprinkled for a little bit, and then right as we were getting back, it started to rain harder. We were going to ride the scooter straight to lunch, but the “navigator” (myself) had Brad driving all over town because roundabouts are pretty tricky. We ended up deciding to return the scooter and just walk to find something to eat.

We wandered in to a traditional Vietnamese BBQ, in which they cook the food for you right at your table. The guy taking our order asked if we wanted, beef, pork, chicken, or seafood, and seconds after deciding on beef and pork, a platter of raw meat was set on our table. The raw meat sat on our table for a bit, and we weren’t sure what was going on, but after about five minutes, they brought over a hot plate and cooked it for us. We had some fried rice with it and a Siagon Special beer. All in all, a pretty tasty meal!

After dinner, we went back and crawled in bed, exhausted from the past two days adventures.

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On our last day in Da Lat, we spent the morning at the Truc Lam Pagoda. This is another Buddhist temple, but it is situated up in the mountains. To get to it, we had to take a cable car from in town. Here is a picture of Brad loving mornings and one of our view during the ride.

When we got up to the temple, Brad was wearing shorts, so he couldn’t go in to all of the different parts. I quickly went around and read the information and took some pictures, while he waited patiently.

While I was taking pictures, I got talking to a monk who has lived up there since 1995. He studies everyday and has not left the plot of land that the temple is on since the day he moved up there. (That seems pretty crazy to me, to not leave one place for over 20 years!)

The monk also explained to me about different parts of the temple and how this specific temple tries to recreate the spirit of Zen Buddhism that ruled Vietnam back in the 1200 – 1300s. All of the flower gardens at this temple are what makes it that spirit of Zen Buddhism. It was nice being able to talk to him, as we have been to many temples, but thanks to this monk and his willingness to talk to me, this is the one I learned the most about.

Here are a few pictures from of the temple.

After I got done taking some pictures, I went to find Brad and we headed back to the cable car. We rode it for 15 minutes across the valley, and then came to the other side. Here we got out and then walked back to our hotel.

We fly out this afternoon, so after grabbing some lunch on our walk back to the hotel, we got a cab to the airport. We then got checked in, went through security, and then flew back to Ho Chi Minh.

We got in late and got check in to our hotel around 9:00 pm. We then went out and grabbed one last Vietnamese dinner, and came back and headed to bed. We have an early morning bus tomorrow, so make sure to keep reading to see where we go next!