Nha Trang: Ba Ho Falls and Doc Let Beach

If ever a day existed where the journey eclipsed the destination, today would be it. We began it like many other, that is to say, we woke up late and took our time with breakfast. Even then, we had enough time left in the morning to rent a pair of motorbikes (this time with enough gas in the tanks and a local girl volunteered to lead us to a service station). And so our road trip began.

We revved up our Chinese made motos and sped through the remainder of Nha Trang, promising ourselves that we'd stop at all the interesting sights on the way back (through past experience, this never happens - today was no different) and up a winding hilly slope by the city's border. Most of the hillside real estate on the northern edge of town is taken up by colourful mini mausoleums. I've been told that like the Chinese, grave placement is important to the Vietnamese. A hillside location is apparently most auspicious.

Further down Highway 1 (about 20 clicks), we ran into a little difficulty. The turn off to the Ba Ho falls, we found out, doesn't have any signage. Luckily, the guidebook mentions an intersection by the Quyen restaurant. Too bad on a highway littered with little roadside restaurants, it's not difficult at all to overlook one that's a landmark, especially when it's a dirty old shack. After going back and forth a couple of times (with a quick stop for some overpriced pho), we found our way onto a rural dirt road, across a railway track (where the "Reunification Express" runs) and through a little village.

The initial reaction at the entrance was one of disappointment as it consisted of a trash strewn picnic area aside an equally trash strewn stream and little else. After paying for admission and parking, a group of Vietnamese women gathered around us to sell us heavily marked up soft drinks. I eventually caved and bought a bottle of Thai imported Red Bull on the way out.

Somehow, I'd forgotten that near-death experiences come part in parcel with my visits to waterfalls. I think there were at least a half dozen in the twenty minute climb up and another half dozen on the way down. Certain stretches were sheer cliff faces overlooking gaping crevasses between boulders. The small iron bars haphazardly placed on the cliff faces weren't made for over sized feet in over sized sandals so the climb was that much worse for me.

Further disappointment greeted us at the top as, despite the rainy season, the falls didn't offer much more than a trickle. Anyway, the exercise was good and none of us came out injured so things worked out in the end.

Sweaty from the climb, we hopped back on our bikes and continued north to the Doc Let beach for a little rest and relaxation.

Along the way, we stopped by a group of farmers who were more than willing subjects for our photographs. Surprisingly none asked for "wan dollah," which seems to be customary in these parts.

The scenery on the way to Doc Let:



Another letdown greeted us at Doc Let as a number of exclusive resorts have taken over the beach and posted guard huts at the entrances. It was probably for the best anyway as it was getting late in the afternoon and we needed to get back to town before nightfall.

On the way back, Andrew, who was driving ahead of me, slowed down to say hello to a group of bicycling school children. So shocked were they of the strange foreigner, a couple steered directly in my path. Neither were hurt in the collision but I seared my leg on the hot exhaust pipe in the process.

We made it back to town just in time to catch the sunset



Because I have nowhere else to post this, here's a photo of a napping cyclo driver taken earlier this morning: