Renting a MotorBike and seeing the falls!

Now for a day outside the city limits…

I highly recommend renting a motorbike and going with some friends to the waterfalls nearby Dalat.  There are 3 waterfalls that myself and two others drove to…

Datanla Falls (easy 10 minutes)

Elephant Falls (Voi, not so easy because of construction, 1 hour?)

Pongour Falls (a little further, 50 km, but worth it!  Full day)

So much fun!  Datanla Falls is only a 10 minute ride outside of the city and you can take a one person self guided roller coaster to the bottom!  One thing I wished I would have done is take the ride down the hill TWICE.  It was SOooooo much fun!  The round trip cost is $3.  Put it in your budget to ride twice!  Here is a video to enjoy and give you something to look forward to...

At the bottom of the hill there are a few different waterfalls to see.  One thing to be careful about after reading other blogs... someone said that they had to pay to use the elevator to get to the bottom waterfall.  I don’t believe that this is true because I did not have to pay on the day that I went.  However, there was a chair near the entrance.  Whether or not someone is supposed to be in that chair collecting, I’m not so sure.  There is a gondola that you can pay to take down, but truthfully the stairs are not too difficult at an easy pace.  Its all up to you on what your budget is and how much you want to spend.

After visiting the falls, make sure you stop at the coffee shop (the only one with the view!) on the way back into town!  Best view and cheap coffee!

Elephant Falls

Now here was a real adventure.  One of those things that you keep saying... oh my gosh!  Is this really happening?!  Elephant Falls is only about XX kms from town and would be an easy ride... BUT it wasn’t.  As of February 2014, the ONLY road to get to elephant falls was under construction.  Mind you, it is still open, but VERY. UNDER. CONSTRUCTION.  

I was the lucky driver, with my friend, Ben on the back.  As we approached a turn in the mountain hillside, we were wondering why people were putting on rain ponchos, it was a beautiful sunny day!  And then about 2 minutes later, we understood.  It was because of the MASSIVE amounts on red DUST that were in the air.  The road was mostly just dust and dirt.  All around were large rocks being cut out of the mountain, dump trucks, cranes.  Again, back to the safety standards... there was one point that a crane reached OVER the road and I had to go under the arm to pass by, that is just what you do you know!  A few prayers later and a slow progress for at least 5 kms of construction, we finally got out of it and about 20 minutes later found the turn to get to elephant falls.  From the top it isn’t too impressive, so you most definitely MUST go down!  

 

On the way down my group of 3 Americans was keeping up with a group of locals, a few of them young monks in training.  The most impressive thing about this group of teenagers, though, is that one of them was missing a leg!  There he was taking this treacherous trail with only one leg!  I give this guy mad props!

I'll always remember this guy, doing what others with two legs would shy away from...

It took some navigating to find the proper way to get to a nice spot for viewing and pictures.  The grass all around is wet and muddy from the spray, so do step carefully!  But again I say, if the guy with one leg can do it...

Here are a few fun shots from the area.  I’d recommend a picnic.  We were going to swim, but the water is a little dirtier than we hoped and because of construction our time was at a minimum.  Make sure you get home before dark!  Know what time sunset is and give yourself enough time to make it back to the hotel.  Be safe!

Going home at least we knew what to expect.  Coffee plantations, and construction.  LOTS OF CONSTRUCTION.  At least the construction guys were friendly and amused as we passed by.

Pongour Falls is one of my favorite places, only because of this picture… 

I had seen this picture on Pinterest before knowing I’d be headed to this location.  The water wasn’t flowing much so perhaps it was a little disappointing, but it is still so much fun to walk around on the tiered waterfall!  Some people say to skip this site, but I LOVED it!  Make sure you pack a picnic lunch and be prepared for a LONG ride if you choose to go on your own via moped.  Its TOTALLY doable and a lot of fun.  BUT, it is a pretty long ride, at least an hour.  We had some trouble seeing the sign and went down the wrong road TWICE.  Its near the dam. Don’t go too far!

We went swimming a little way down the river.  There are signs below the falls saying “do not swim” and we were concerned maybe there would be bacteria or something, but no one broke out in a rash.  ;-)

On the way home I let Ben drive and had a few moments of “freak out” (sorry Ben!)  I’m not so used to riding as passenger and Ben wasn’t so used to driving.  He had to dodge a herd of cows and a few semis... almost to the point of “this is ridiculous”!  But good news, WE SURVIVED!  Another great day in the sun and I feel like Pongour Falls was a check on the bucket list of places to see before I die.  I hope if you get the chance to go that the water is flowing a little more.  Make sure to get a friend (or stranger) to take photos for you!

That was the last day in Dalat.  Next up, Ho Chi Minh by bus.

Small trouble along the way in Hue

I made my biggest mistake in Hue, Vietnam.  It sounds like a big deal when I say it like that, but really, this being my biggest mistake of the trip makes my trip that much more wonderful!

Hue (pronounced 'hway') is a city rich with history, tombs, palaces, pagodas and temples.  Hue is a 12 hour train ride from Hanoi and we decided a "sleeper car" would be the best.  And it was!  You can fly for almost the same cost as the train, but the train is just so much more of an experience!  Plus- I LOVE traveling by train!  If you have the opportunity, do it!  If you need help planning, check out this site: http://www.seat61.com/index.html#.U3AWhca09Cg


So, after sleeping in a 4 bunk soft sleeper car, sharing it with a couple for the first 5 hours or so, we arrived in Hue at around 8 am.  We took a metered taxi to our hotel ($2) and our room was available to check in early!  (yay!)  So after unloading into our hotel room and a quick shower to freshen up, we headed to the old Royal Palace/ citadel.

It cost 55,000 Vietnam Dong (About $2.50) to get in and you could easily spend 4 hours exploring.  We probably only took 2 hours to explore and captured TONS of great photos!

Iconic flag tower

Very Asian

And so the "door" pictures begin!

Broken ceramic mosaics. Beautiful!

Now, here is where my mistake comes in.  We went just outside the walls to a little cafe on the North end to eat a great lunch.  Now, everyone and their grandma will try to get you to take a tour in Hue.  We had already refused about 20 earlier in the day, so I was just used to saying "no".  The owner of the cafe was ready to offer us the best tour in Hue.  He and his wife would take us on the back of their motorbikes around the different sites for $40.  This price was way too high for my liking.  We got him talked down to $20, but I wasn't convinced that we couldn't do it for cheaper.  After all, the next cite looked walkable.  What if we walked to the next cite and found a guy there?  The man tried to dissuade us and tell us that it was much too far to walk.  But the map made it look not too far… after all, this man doesn't know how much I like walking! (See previous post about Hanoi).  So… we left him and started walking.  It was 30 minutes later, still walking that I decided he wasn't trying to scam us and indeed we should have taken his offer.

After the not so short walk to the 7 tiered pagoda, we had realized our mistake.  We tried to get a cheaper boat ride, but there were none to be found.  Finally, we took a metered taxi.  They won't scam you.  After more UNESCO heritage sites and 100 more pictures we got back to our hotel exhausted, hot and after spending $21 on the taxi… not too pleased with our mistake.  So, if you plan to go to Hue, learn from my mistake!  $20 for a driver for the day to take you anywhere you want to go is a really good deal!  Hue is definitely NOT a walking city.

And on another note, dinner at HOT TUNA was amazing! Our server was a super friendly college student studying English and we enjoyed our conversation and our charade trying to figure out the word "circus".  :-)

We only spent one night in Hue, but could have done at least one more.  Our day of sightseeing was packed to the max and left us with a pretty early bedtime, but that's Vietnam for you!