Last night was a bit rough. So far it has been tough to find peace and quiet Vietnam. We are in a relatively small town, but our hotel has large noises. If it isn’t the screaming kid, then it is the barking dogs. Not to mention the blaring music at 4 or 5 am. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep that well. This lack of peace and quiet is beyond our current hotel, but this hotel is by far the worst.
We had a slow wake-up, and since the weather was ok, we elected to rent the motorbike and see some sights. Our first stop was to head off to the botanical gardens. It was in the national park, about a 8 km sojourn. This motorbike behaved much better than the last one. The brakes and acceleration worked better, and the kickstand didn’t break at all.
Once we got there, we took the tour. It started with some really low budget but fun dioramas. They didn’t photo well, so we didn’t include them. After the exhibit, we hiked around the gardens. The hike was around 4.5 km, and the crowd was strictly western. While the jungle obscured much of the majestic views, we could see the crags peaking through the leaves.
We eventually found a clearing with a nice view, then hiked down to see the waterfall. Oh boy was the waterfall beautiful. It seemed to go on forever. You had to use ropes to navigate the path, which was quite cool. Using ropes help ease our anxiety associated with the climb. At the top, there were amazing views of the valley where we stay.
After a not so quick lunch, we headed to take a boat tour of some caves. This cave was ash’s favorite, and it was quite impressive with large stalactites. We navigated through the cave for about 30 minutes in a boat before hiking out. The hike out allowed you to get up close and personal with some stalagmites. They were especially vibrant up close with a blend of purples, blues, greens and reds. The caves don’t photograph so well due to the low light but definitely worth checking out if you get the chance.
Next stop is the beach!
Wish we were there! Sounds like another great day.