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| At the summit |
On Sunday we visited the Bach Ma national park with some of the CORENARM staff. Our day started at 7 am and we got into a 15-seater mini cab for the 1.5 hour long trip to the park. Ten minutes into the journey the driver told us that we needed to switch the air-conditioning off for the engine to work on the steep ride uphill. Oh well, we slowly roasted on the trip but enjoyed some delicious litchis. We got to the park entrance, bought our tickets, used an icky loo (I have of course used many icky loos in my life but Minneapolis and being at the university had spoiled me), and then drove further ahead. We stopped by a restaurant and used an existing trail to walk to the mountain peak, also called the summit point. Along the way we came across a tunnel used by soldiers in the Vietnam/American war.
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| Structure at the summit |
We reached the top, someone in our group discovered a leech in his shoes, we rang the bell for good luck and vibrations and went towards the house-like structure. It is evidence of our madness and bravery that we all decided to walk on the tin roof of the house, ignoring the chain barriers. It had a pretty solid grip and nobody tripped. We walked back, ate lunch (rice + soya sauce for me which was not that much fun), used an even ickier loo with a praying mantis by the door and drove to another trail that led to waterfalls. This is where it got exciting.
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| Slippery rocks |
First of all, it was very unclear whether the trail was 2 or 5 kms one way. I am also not sure anyone, including those who had been here before, really knew this trail. Finally, it was fantastic fun but there was no warning that it would involve walking on slippery rocks, hanging and sliding down ropes, crossing little creeks (I slipped at the end of one; I definitely had the distinction of falling the most but saving myself), jumping and essentially being mountain goats. It was quite a hike and it was fairly long and arduous. I must say to everyone's credit we all did it. The ropes were incredibly sturdy and as Megan put it 'confidence inspiring'. At one point when I slipped at a rocky edge, I just held on to it and was absolutely fine.
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| Victorious Meagan and I at the final waterfall |
I don't think I am in great shape and I definitely bruised my ego with all my falls (Crocs are not meant for hardcore hiking obviously). But we did it. We reached the rhododendron waterfall and tried to peek down without plunging to disaster. Another trail led to the bottom of the fall but was '689 steep steps' down. By this time we could also hear thunder, were running out of water, and were in general willing to wrap up. There was definitely confusion about how to exit from the trail and which route to follow. We followed the signs and hoped that they were accurate.
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| Our adviser was the fastest of us all. |
I enjoyed the hike but I will openly admit that this is not my favorite activity. I can do it but I don't necessarily get the same pleasure out of it as some of the other hikers. That being said, knowing where we are going and the plan definitely makes things more enjoyable for me. Oh well. We finally figured that the exit trail was 1.2 kms and not 12 kms (sigh of relief) and marched in a single file. Our cab was able to come and get us and we were on our way back. It was a long ride and almost everyone except the driver napped I think. I ate all the litchis that were left. I was hot, sweaty, dusty and basically just disgusting.
I had a quick shower and was hungry as hell. The first shop I went to pretty much told me they had nothing to eat (it was strange and I am not sure what was happening). The second one, a street restaurant, was great. They packed me food and cutlery and smiled at me. I went to another coffee shop to get mango juice and twice in one evening they served me papaya juice because they didn't have mangoes. I had it the first time and asked for a lemonade the second time. With that ended our super adventurous, exciting, active, hot and unexpected weekend. Have a look at the pictures to see how lovely and slippery the waterfall trail was.
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| Parts of our hike |
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| View from the roof at the summit |
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| Calling this the edge of the earth |
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