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30th April 2009 Bach Ma National Park
The minibus collects us at 8:15am from our hotel, National Park here we come, ha, ha, no way. We’re dropped just two minutes later around the corner from the hotel at a travel agent to wait in the street for a bus!! This really is getting boring; it would be easier finding Elvis than getting the service that you actually pay for here in Vietnam. We were specifically told we’d have a direct transport straight to the Park with arrival to be about 10:30am. We spent the time talking to an Australian policeman called Nigel who’s on vacation. He’s had very similar negative experiences to us and is also at the end of his tether. We have a very similar sense of humour and hit it off immediately. When the bus finally arrives at 10:30am the one hour journey to the park goes very quickly while chatting & laughing with Nigel, we enjoy his company so much we even arrange to meet up again in Hoi Ann in three days time. Looking at the grey skies over the park as we approach I’m pretty sure Pili would have happily stayed on the
coach all the way to Hia Ann.
We are dropped off in a small town 3km from the Park, the rain momentarily ceases so I try to find in hat direction is the Park entrance, I ask three separate people and they give me three different answers, I sigh and give up. I finally cut a deal for two moped bikes driven by a couple of local guys to take to our destination. These guys confidently assure us that they can fit our huge backpacks in the moped foot wells and still steer efficiently. We climb on and Pili and I both look at each with the same expressions, NO FUCKING WAY are we going to survive this in one piece. The journey takes about 10 minutes through the village heading into the hills. The road is none existent, massive pot holes filled with muddy water hinder our way, other bikes, water buffalo and villages constantly cut us up but very calmly our drivers expertly steer our way around all obstacles and we arrive to the entrance of the Park in one piece. Pili and I were very impressed and immediately booked these smiling villagers for our return journey
when we leave in a couple of days.
We get our rooms keys from the information desk and are lead to our 120,000VND per night room (Vietnamese Dong, what a great name for a currency, I just love slapping down my Dong on the bar and demanding a beer and not getting a slap!)
Our room reminds me a little of our accommodation in Poring Springs, Borneo, I think they had the same interior designers. The wall are a multi shade of mildew and rot, no flushing toilet, were back to the bucket flush. We both have come to expect this by now so we laugh and look forward to dryer times ahead. I hang up another washing line across the room and unpack our damp clothes and hang them up optimistically without really ever believing we’ll ever have dry clothes again.
Time to explore the Park, we don our walking boots, check cameras and pack our water and water proofs and set off up the 16km trail up the hill. We not intending to go to the summit at all, we’re heading for the dense monsoon forest and the ‘Pheasant Trail’ about half way up the
hill with the hope of getting a glimpse of some of the rare wildlife that exists here. We are especially trying to find the exceptionally rare ‘Edwards Pheasant’; chances are slim but were in the right place so anything can happen.
We walk for about 2hrs and see lot of butterflies, some common birds and lizards and even a very shy rodent of some kind which we named Pili until I find out what we saw. When we are about one km from the start of the Pheasant Trail and through the cloud layer on the hill the heavens open and we are forced back down the hill. We do come across a termite colony on the move which I have to film regardless of the conditions. A couple of million insects on the move all in perfect unison, what a great spectacle of nature.
Back at the entrance we check out the only resturaunt in the park and have a beer. The owner and his family are sat having dinner when we arrive, we didn’t wan to disturb them but he insisted and brought us beers, he also brought over a traditional Vietnamese snack which he insisted
we try. He handed us a small item wrapped in banana leaf, without thinking about what could be inside I popped it into my mouth and bite down. The inside of the package consists of a rubbery gelatinous substance and a un-shelled shrimp, I hate sea food so with a forced smile I swallow it whole while watching Pili chew through hers. I have to say this is the worse thing I’ve ever eaten and Pili agreed with me. Even writing this account I’m gagging.
Before heading back to our damp room we decided to look around the visitor centre. A film crew were also walking around and interviewing some of he staff about the festivities that were happening at the summit of the Park. They filmed Pili and I as we were unsuccessfully trying to get some information out of the guy at the info desk. They worked for Vietnam TV, I was asked for an interview early the next morning but I’m afraid the bad weather put paid to that. We will forever wonder if Vietnamese national TV showed two soaked westerners trying to communicate with the confused and nervous attendant at Bach Ma National Park.
We spent our first evening in the Park reading watch the recent James Bond movie ‘Quantum of Solace’ and eating Tuna sandwiches. Pili a quite a shock when she was using the bathroom. She heard sounds coming from the water bucket which startled her; it was a small mouse that had obviously fallen through the gaping hole on the roof above the toilet. She called me out loudly and I went to the rescue and release the scared creature into the wild, the mouse not Pili. I was tickled for the rest of the evening.
1st May 2009
It poured with rain all night, it even kept us awake for a while it was so heavy; things were not looking good for our intended explorations. But midday came and a break in the clouds appeared so we ventured out agreeing that the ‘Pheasant Trail’ was off the schedule as the rains would make the track near impossible. Instead we set out on the ‘Thuy Dien Slippery Falls Trail’ which was a gently walk through paddy fields following the river. We passed several very friendly children some very cute Water Buffalos and were even checked out a local
farm hand that was totally off his face on something.
After an hour gently walking we came to the main attraction, ‘The Slippery Falls’ which were actually a gentle gradient of rocks that the river cascaded down, the rocks were also covered in slippery moss which made them excellent for the children who’d passed us earlier in the day to slide down into the shallow pool below. This has become quite a attraction for the locals and the odd tourists. Several river side café’s have been set up with some woven mats and basic seating along side the river. We were really hot from the humidity so we ordered a couple of cold Singa beers and sat and watched the children playing. As soon as they saw our cameras they really hammed it up and laughed with infectious delight when they saw the pictures.
Also a group of teenagers were playing in the river, they’d all had a few beers but were well behaved and not rowdy in the slightest. There was a lot of flirting going on, the boys strutting around and teasing the girls and the girls pouting and giggling and winding up the boys, all
competing for attention, the mating game is the same all around the world. The inevitable happened when one of the girls lost her footing at the top of the water slide, she slipped and hit the rock with a sickening thud, she’d blocked her fall with her face on the rock and then slid still conscious to the bottom of the slide into the shallow pool. She had a three inch deep gash along her jaw bone and it was bleeding quite badly. We decided to leave at this point but first I cleaned her wound and spread antiseptic across the wound. I also told her friend to get her dressed and warm as she was shivering and possibly in a little shock. In the UK she’d have needed a good five to six stitches. Her friends didn’t seem that concerned, her boyfriend was a little put out that I attended to her; we hope she is alright and recovered well.
It looked like the rain was coming in fast so I put away my camera and covering my bag with my waterproof covering. Camera safe I put on my own poncho. Typically no sooner had I put my
camera away then an Edward Pheasant walked across our path no more than 50ft away. I couldn’t believe it, I’d have had a great shot but it disappeared into the dense undergrowth, well at least we got to see this very shy and very rare creature, it made the rain and the damp room worth every moment.
In the evening we read for a while and then ventured out in hope that the café would be open, we were soon disappointed when we saw no lights through the darkness the place was closed. Fortunately we did find a small hut with a woman sat watching some Vietnamese Pop Idol show, she happily sold us a few beers and Pili and I sat and chatted about our adventures for the next hour.
Back at room Pili had another friend waiting for her, another mouse in the bathroom, they seem to like her, maybe it’s our cheesy smelling damp clothes. Once again I came to the rescue and set the small beastie free while explaining to Pili the mouse was more freaked out than she was.
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billy bui
non-member comment
Nice adventure travel
your trip is really great. I really want to travel Vietnam one day http://www.threeland.com