Canyoning in Đà Lạt, Vietnam

As I traveled through Vietnam I enjoyed all kinds of trips. But scared as I was to get hurt and still need to travel for a long time I took this trip in almost de last week of my two months travel.

I went to Đà Lạt, up in the hills of Vietnam. Đà Lạt is the capitol of the province Lâm Đồng and is located in the highlands of Vietnam. The city has an altitude of 1500 metres above sealevel.

Đà Lạt has many tourists because of the cooler climate and its surroundings.

Đà Lạt is known for her wine, flowers and vegetables. A tourist attraction is the cableway in the mountains around Đà Lạt.

The streets of Đà Lạt

I came there from Mui Ne and enjoyed the beach and the Dunes there a lot. And the nice warm temperature. When I arrived in Đà Lạt I wasn't prepared for the weather.  For a Dutch girl it was still warm, 19 degrees...but I was allready 6 weeks in Asia and was  shivering from the could.

That first night I wore my pants for the second time. First time was in Phonsavan, Laos. At the Plain of Jars, also in the highlands it was also fresh/cold.

That night I booked a trip. My travelagency in Ho Chi Minh City had adviced me to do a trip in the area of Đà Lạt. Because of the winefields and flowers. I went to the agency next door to my cheap guesthouse and saw that they offerd Canyoning. They had some nice pictures from people having fun sliding down a waterfall and descending on a rope down a waterfall. It looked great!

They told me that during the day the temperature was good for this kind of a trip. I booked!!!

Later that night I went to the market place on Hoa Binh square.  Nice and busy with locals. There were also tourists but not that much as in other cities where I was in Vietnam. Many locals eat at this market and did there shopping in the part that was indoor.

I walked to the Xuan Huong lake  and had a nice kumquat tea at the Blue Lake Restaurant.  The taste is very strong and tasty. I warmed myself on the cup of the tea.

The next morning I was early at the travelagency. I was eager to start. I sat down at the door and waited in the sun. After half an hour an other couple came and then a guy from Germany came. That was all, the group didn't got any bigger so we went off.

You needed to wear gymshoes or open sandals. Because of the waterfalls you would loose your shoes or flipflops.

 

At first we got a lesson in how we need to secure yourself to the rope. The showed us some knots and told us what to use and when.

First we did a short descent from a hill, after that first one you had the feeling in your body and felt safe with the leaders of that day.

Those were two men. Those were the first real sportive vietnamese men I saw that, in my eyes, were actractive. They had muscles and were manly. That is not something I couldn't say about most men in Asia.

From the one place to another hiking through the beautiful landscape

We had to hike a couple of miles before we got  to the first place. We went to a waterfall where you could slide down. The rock was smooth and you could slide down easily. The leaders ofcouse had figured out that it would be nice to go down a couple of times. The first time feet first, the second time you needed to go head first!! And the last time was with another person. We had a great time overthere!!!

With a Spanish guy going down the waterfall

In between we had a lunch at a waterfall side. The weather was real nice, as cold as it was the nigt before as nice it was during the day. The sun warmed us good and dried us up quickly after every dip in the water.

After that we came at a waterfall. They explained that we will be descending  into the water. At the end of the rope we had to let go and swim to the side. I loved it. At first you are kneedeep in water but when you go lower the waterfall start to splash in your face. At some point you can not see anything, just descend. And all of a sudden you hear the leader screaming that you neet to  let go!!! And then you fall in the river and need to swim but because you can not see how deep you are going to fall it is really scared!!! I loved it!

The last waterfall they had named the washingmachine. We had to descend and  it was that steep that you hang in the ropes at a certain point. And when you came to the water the rocks where so close to eachother that the water was turning and twisting you around. That was a challenge to swim to the side. I went down that one two times.

The last one was a jump from a rock, from 6 metres high. I hadn't done that before but I did it!!! And I jumped for a second time also!!

It was such a good day, we had such a good time in the group. Almost everybody in the group had crossed a limit what he or she thought would never to do!! A real good day!!

I stayed in the Peace Hotel (Hoa Binh). I think I payed like 10 euro for a night. I was a good hotel, clean and I got a simple breakfast with it. It's busy with backpackers in the morning who slept there but also only come for the pancakes they serve. I saw everybody eating pancakes :)

I booked my trip near this hotel. At the other side of the street and going up hill are a lot of agencies. This was the first to enter and I am very happy with them. Small group so you got enough attention when needed. The place I booked this trip is called Green Adventour!