(A French tourist told his wonderful trip in Da Lat and gave useful suggestion to others)
I climbed a mountain today. Probably the oldest, fattest American ever
to climb it, and I can hardly believe I did, but I did. We have
pictures to prove it.
We signed up for the "easy" trek with
Groovy Gekko, an outdoor tour company right next to our hotel here in
Da Lat. Mercy. We went straight up the side of a mountain. No steps, no
walkway, just tree roots and dead pine needles to give you traction.
Our ever cheerful and encouraging guide Thanh and my companion Joseph
both supplied a helping hand or shoulder for balance at times, but I
actually made it all the way up on my own legs.
Paradise Lake from mountain
On the way up, a local Vietnamese mountain climber passed us as if he
did the climb every day (I suspect he just about does). Later he came
back down holding a bright yellow yard-long poisonous snake over his
head. He let us "pet it" all the while Thanh was explaining to us how
deadly it was.
At the top we took in the view, had our picture
taken by one of the Buddhist monks camping at the top of the mountain
who graciously broke from his meditation to come take pictures of the
three of us at the summit, and then we each ate a couple of bananas.
Okay, time to go down the other side. I was hoping for a more leisurely
way down. After all, this was the "easy" trek. But, alas, no. If
anything, the way down was steeper than the way up. After timidly
progressing 20 yards or so down, I was ready to accept that I may just
hae to stay there, and depend on passing Vietnamese to give me
something to eat and drink now and then, and perhaps bring me a change
of clothes now and then.
Luckily, our guide had a better idea.
He was carrying a plastic tarp for us to sit on for our lunch later in
the day. Instead, I used the tarp as a sled, and SLID on my butt DOWN
THE MOUNTAIN. Thanh said he thinks he may have hit on a new sport–butt
mountain sledding–for his company to promote. Needless to say, once we
hit on the trick, going down was much faster than going up, and my rear
end is only a little sore from the couple of times I completely lost
control and shot out into mid air for a few seconds before coming down
to earth again.
A bit about our guide: Thanh is a recent
college graduate. He's been leading these tours for about two years. He
told me he's lived in Da Lat all his life, and went to college there,
but that his parents are from the north. Other than English, he also
speaks Russian, which he said he studied in college primarily because
his grandfather, who studied in Moscow, told him not to take it because
it was too hard. I suspect grandfather was perhaps applying a little
reverse psychology there.
Fishing in Paradise Lake
The whole trip today was truly incredible. Before the real mountain
began, we went through a small family-run pineapple and coffee farm
where I had my first taste of berries from a coffee tree. And after our
descent we had lunch next to Paradise Lake in a lovely park filled with
an amazing collection of flowering trees and shrubs, and with hundreds
of butterflies, with seemingly no two butterflies alike.
After
lunch, we shared a boat with a passel of drunken fishermen to cross
Paradise Lake. They kept trying to convince us to share their wine, and
two of them couldn't resist the urge to rub the fat foreigner's belly.
I told Joseph my tummy should be pretty shiny by the time we get back
if people keep rubbing it at this rate. One drunken fishermen stumbled
and almost overturned the boat at one point, my reaction to which they
all found very amusing.
Once across the lake, I faced the last
challenge of the day, a 222-step climb to the largest Buddhist temple
in the southern part of Vietnam (another way of saying it's the second
largest Buddhist temple in Vietnam). The place was just crawling with
monks and nuns. If I remember right, about 250 live there. We got to
listen in on a class taught by the head monk, an 84-year-old who
lectured with a very VERY tranquil voice, which was nice to hear after
our challenging day. It was only after our climb up the steps, and a
tour of the place, that I discovered the aerial tram that takes most
tourists from Da Lat on an easy ride right up to the temple - no steps
required. Sigh.
The Crazy House in Da Lat
After the temple, we jumped in the tourist company van and headed back
to the hotel for a shower and to drop off my dirty clothes at the front
desk for the evening laundry service. Then a stop at the bakery, and
then finally here for beverages and a little Internet time.
Today was a truly amazing day. The last time I did a rough mountain
climbs like this was in northern China, again a long climb up a
mountain to visit a temple. I have friends who actually do things like
rock climbing on purpose, but for me, walking up a mountain is almost
always something I find myself surprised to be doing, not something I
do by choice.) For that mountain in China, I was much younger, lighter,
and more vigorous then - maybe 18 years ago or so. I'm not sure how
long it will be before I try this again. Right now, though, I feel
GREAT. We'll see how I feel in the morning.
Tomorrow's outing
is sightseeing - mostly by car. I understand that a couple of the stops
feature a lot of steps, like the temple today, but after today's
mountain, that will be like a cakewalk.
The Chicken Village
In general, I'd not recommend heading to Da Lat for these "sights." But
the surrounding countryside is beautiful, and if you're into hiking,
biking, or motorcycling, this is really a great place to visit, and the
weather's a real break from the sweltering humidity of most of Vietnam.
A number of outfits here will rent you motorcycles or bikes so you can
go exploring the surrounding mountainous terrain or your own, or even
cycle or motorbike all the way back to Saigon. I have searched on
internet and found an attractive website about adventure
www.activetravelvietnam.com. So cool! I like Kayaking tour, I should come to Ha Long bay soon, I can't wait anymore.
If we have time tomorrow, we'll head for a southern district of Saigon
that's supposedly just crawling with monkeys. Who can pass up hanging
out a few hours with a bunch of monkeys? Not me!
More information about Adventure tours, please view at:
www.activetravelvietnam.com www.bikedalat.com