Waterfalls, Wild Elephants, and Weally Big Snakes
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2007
1
15
81
Trip End
Jun 28, 2008
Buon Ma Thuot,
Vietnam
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Yesterday we took a taxi - fancy, huh - to Dray Sap Falls. It was wonderful to walk around without a giant group of tourists and take our time. There were a couple of swinging bridges over the river, and although the falls themselves weren't Niagra, they were still pretty impressive. Dray Sap is the widest waterfall in Vietnam. On the way back to the car, we decided to take a slightly different path for a different view. Holy Moly, did I ever get a view I didn't expect! As we were wandering down the path, we must've startled a snake, who then zipped across the path about two feet behind me. Well at least he started out only that far behind me - by the time I was done screeching and jumping there was a much larger distance between us!! Still, in retrospect, it was very cool to see a 6 foot snake in the wild. At the time, perhaps I wasn't quite so keen. We haven't tried to look it up on the internet yet to identify, but I'm sure it was a scary type anyway. :o)
Today we hopped on the local bus and headed off to Ban Don village in the Yok Don National Park. It was interesting to go on a regular ordinary bus with locals. Although, the seat next to me seemed to be a bit revolving - every once in a while one guy got up and let another guy sit down. I think they all wanted a turn sitting next to the tourist lady?! Once in Ban Don, we quickly got down to business - we were there to ride an elephant. It was very cool, although a little worrisome at points for me, to ride in a basket on an elephant's back at least 10-15 feet off the ground. Our elephant was a 32 year old male, and he was a very good elephant.....at least in my limited experience of elephants I would say he was! Afterwards, we got to feed him stalks of sugar cane which was really really really really really fun. In Ban Don village itself we stumbled across a little swinging bridge village of sorts - it felt a bit like visiting the Ewoks. Bamboo swinging rope bridges over the river, from big tree to big tree, with platforms built on some. There was even a restaurant, should you wish to take a rest and swing in a hammock.
All in all, Buon Ma Thuot was a good stop for us. Malcolm really enjoyed the wraps at one restaurant so much that we ate there every night! One thing we shouldn't forget to mention is, Buon Ma Thuot is the coffee capital of Vietnam - can you see why Malx would want to go??? Although, they mostly seem to serve it super sweet and over ice, but still he managed to partake of quite a few cups.
And hey - if you are ever there, the full size tank on the Victory Monument in the centre is actually made of concrete.
Onto Dalat next......
Love,
K & M
