DANANG AND BACH MA NATIONAL PARK

HEADING BACK TO DANANG

After six amazing days spent in Hoi An we decided to head back up to Danang for two nights, as we were sure there was more to enjoy here than we’d seen in the one night we spent previously.

We got a taxi and headed back North. Sadly the hotel we’d stayed at before, which was both ridiculously good value and in a great location, was unavailable. We stayed in a place called ‘Danang Center Hotel’ this time, which, as the name suggests, was in a pretty central location, but the room wasn’t great and had a strong smell of damp. Still, you win some, you lose some.

LINH UNG PAGODA

On the first of the two days in Danang, we visited the Linh Ung Pagoda.

I’d visited so many temples and pagodas in my time in Asia that I thought nothing would astound me any more, but this place was really special and I’m so glad I paid it a visit.

On the outskirts of the main pagoda, were many large buddha statues, facing a central female buddha:

Walking through to the main pagoda area, there is a huge courtyard area where there were 18 large stone statues, each apparently resembling a different human emotion. Here’s a few below. Any guesses which emotions they’re trying to convey?

The pagoda itself looked stunning against the backdrop of hills and rolling fog descending in the distance:

The most stunning of all, however, was the monumental lady buddha statue, or the ‘goddess of mercy’ as it’s better known.

Standing at an incredible 67 metres high!

Here she is!

The views from up here were incredible and you could see out over the bay to the city of Danang in the distance.

Visiting the pagoda was truly a breathtaking sight. Here’s a few more pictures from the visit:

DANANG BEACH

After an hour or two wandering around the pagoda, the sun was beginning to set, so we left, but took a walk along Danang beach on the way, before heading back into the town.

The sunset was beautiful and you could still see the lady buddha lit up in the distance.

A great first day back in Danang. Day 2 wasn’t quite so blissful, however, as we were going jungle trekking in Bach Ma National Park.

JUNGLE TREKKING IN BACH MA

On our second day in Danang we’d signed up to go on a jungle trek in Bach Ma national park, which was around 1.5 hours drive away.

Tourists aren’t allowed to drive scooters up into the park and I can fully understand why. The road is incredibly steep and snakes up and around, for miles and miles, surrounded by sheer drops to the side.

As we were journeying up and up the heavens started to open. The sort of heavy rain I’ve only ever seen in Asia.

I have to be honest, that I was praying for the tour guide to say that we would have to bail on the trip, but it went ahead. Overall I was glad, but this was a tough trek!

As we arrived in Bach Ma park, we exited the minibus and the guide fortunately gave us all ponchos to wear, but they were really flimsy and quickly tore.

The sky was densely filled with fog, which made it hard to see anything more than a few feet in front of us, but added to the atmosphere.

We walked initially for around 30 minutes, until we made it to the highest point in the park at 1,450 metres above sea level.

Apparently the views from up here are excellent, but due to the rain and fog we couldn’t see any of this.

The views within the fog were amazing though:

Up here was a ‘peace bell’, which apparently you should ring to wish peace to the rest of the world. We did ring it and with the fog closing in and the chime of the bell ringing in the air, it did have quite a magical feel.

Rocking the poncho

After leaving the summit, we trekked back down and stopped off for some lunch, before starting on the main part of the trek.

We ate lunch, prepared by the tour guides, in this hall with the rain continuing to beat down. I looked outside, futilely hoping that the rain would cease. No chance.

After drying off and relaxing on our lunch stop, we got back onto the trek. A little reluctantly, I might add.

I assume this trek would usually have dry tracks to walk down, but due to the mammoth rainfall, everything was at least ankle deep.

Every now and then I’d look down at my feet to see leeches trying to get a grip and suck my blood. I’d wrestle them from my legs and they would then take hold, sucking at my thumb and fingers. Nasty little critters and really hard to get off.

There were several streams that we needed to cross during the trek. These streams had an incredibly strong current, propelled by a waterfall; and were certainly deeper than the guide expected, due to the heavy rainfall.

We waded across these streams, sometimes up to our armpits, while trying to fight the current and avoid being washed downstream. Some of the streams had the benefit of a rope to hold onto, to aid crossing, but others didn’t and were far riskier propositions.

One of the streams we had to form a human chain, to avoid losing anyone to the current. Absolutely bonkers, but exhilarating.

At the end of the trek, we reached the top of Rhododendron Waterfall – a 300m waterfall.

Due to the current, we couldn’t get close enough to see over the edge of the falls and due to the fog, we couldn’t see the views beyond.

This is close as I got, with my camera:

After leaving the waterfall, we continued on our circuit back through the jungle and back to where the minibus was waiting for us.

We got into the minibus, warmed up and looked forward to getting back to the hotel to dry off and clean ourselves from the day’s trek, but, the car wouldn’t start!

Not what we were hoping for at all.

Fortunately, after around 45 minutes of trying to get the car started another car appeared and helped jump start us. We were on our way.

We stopped off back at the base of the national park, where we could use the toilets before our drive back to Danang.

I took this opportunity to check for any rogue leeches, expecting a ‘stand by me’ type moment. Fortunately there were no leeches in my pants, but as I took my shoes off I noticed that one of my socks had turned almost entirely red from blood. One of the little blighters had been having a good old suck on my ankle, without me knowing.

The leech bite continued to bleed as we drove back to Danang.

TREK VIDEO

Here’s a video of the ordeal:

LEAVING DANANG

I was glad to arrive back in the city, to wash and rest up, before moving on again. The trek was a great experience. I’m sure that clear skies and great weather would have been a more pleasant experience, but it wouldn’t have had the same sense of danger, atmosphere and achievement that I felt from braving the elements.

The next day we were heading further North to the town of Hué. Read on….