An unexpected trip to waterfalls

Dalat is a beautiful city nestled in the Central Highlands of Vietnam making it an ideal starting point to explore this region. After walking around the town on my first day, I decided to get out of the city on the second day. One can go tour, which I really didn’t want to do. Another option is to rent a motorbike, which after my escapade in Mui Ne, I gave up on. So I went for exploring the area by public transport. This option is not the easiest and that’s what it makes so much fun. You never know when your bus comes and where you will eventually end up.

I went to a tourist information centre, where they gave me information about buses to different places of interest around Dalat. I decided to hike to Lang Biang mountain (2.167m), the second highest peak in Vietnam. The following morning I went to a small bus station which I didn’t even notice when I was there the first time. I had to ask people for directions. I came there shortly before 8.30 am expecting the bus to arrive any time. I read on the internet the buses departed every half an hour, but I was told in the tourist office that they departed every hour. Not too bad.

After 45 minutes of waiting and hearing that the bus would only depart at 10 am from at least three people around me, I decided to take a ride by a motorbike. The driver was one of the people who told me the bus departed at 10 which I didn’t believe at first thinking he just wanted to give me a ride and earn some money. But then unwilling to waste more time, I decided to take up his offer. In the meantime, he lowered the price from 50.000 to 40.000 dong. The bus cost 12.000 dong.

We reached the national park gate in less than half an hour. I bought a ticket and tried to figure out where the hiking trail started, but I failed. The only source of information I had was an old post from tripadvisor and even though it helped me a lot, I wasn’t able to find the beginning of the trail. So I decided to hike up the paved road and join the trail later when it would be clearer. Hiking on the paved road wasn’t that bad but for the loads of jeeps roaring past me rushing to another peak with hordes of Asian tourists who seemed to be too lazy to hike. It seemed to me there was no hiking culture in Vietnam.

My heart leapt when I reached the turn-off and saw the real hiking trail leading to Lang Biang. Yay, no more jeeps. At that point I was also able to see the trail going down so later I was going to hike down along a proper trail. From the turn-off the hike was more enjoyable. I passed a pine forest coming into a jungle about half way. I only met one group of tourists who were following a guide. I was so happy to make it there on my own.

The last section of the trail was tough tough. It was rather dark and wet, and I had to climb a lot of steep steps. I made to the top after about 1 hour and 35 minutes of hiking only to be surrounded by clouds. The weather wasn’t that good that day. It happens to me rather often that when I reach a peak I can’t see anything. Being a sucker for the views it’s disappointing. Nevertheless, it was nice to be up there. When the weather seemed to be getting worse I started going down. When I reached the paved road, I started hiking along the trail but when I finally came all the way down I ended up outside the park gate not inside where the trail was supposed to start. I didn’t know where I had made a mistake, but hiking down was much nicer than hiking up. From the bottom, I could even see the top of the mountain, the clouds lifted, but only once I had left. What a pity.

The hike was really short, it took me about three hours to go up and down, so unexpectedly I still had half a day to go and see other places. I thought that if the bus came on time I would perhaps make it to one of the waterfalls. I was north of Dalat and the waterfall was south of the city. It was a long shot, but I wanted to give it a try. I expected the bus to depart at 1. As it happens, the departure was only at 2 pm, so I was told at the park gate. So I waited.

The bus finally came and we left for Dalat shortly before 2 pm. It took about half an hour to reach Dalat and when we came to the bus station I immediately noticed a bus bound for Duc Trong which would take me to the waterfall. I litterally jumped out of one bus and into another one, quickly buying a snack in between as I was hungry. The bus left a bit later than I had expected, but I was excited to be on the way to explore a new place.

I arrived at Datanla waterfalls in about 20 minutes. It really was a short ride. I bought tickets and went to see the waterfall. It had three levels, so to say, a bit further apart from one another. The first and the third were truly amazing. There were, however, loads of tourists. Well, not at the third level, because it was at the bottom of a steep hill and most Asian tourists were not keen to walk down. I was virtually by myself at the bottom.

I savoured the view for a while and then I realized I might still have time to go to yet another place. I went up to the entrance and asked at the ticket booth when Prenn waterfall closed. They said it closed at 5 o’clock, meaning I had less than an hour to catch a bus and see the waterfall. To my great surprise, another bus bound for Duc Trong came in less than five minutes and I was headed for the falls. I was laughing at the unexpected adventure.

It took perhaps 15 minutes to reach Prenn waterfall. When I was buying a ticket they told me they, in fact, closed at 7 pm. So I had much more time to enjoy the place. Half an hour, however, was enough and at 5 o’clock I was already on a bus headed for Dalat which came in no time. I had been told that the last buses departed between 5 and 6 pm so I was glad to catch one and make it back without any problems.

Wow! What an adventure! This is what I call a day well spent.