Today marks a full week that I’ve been in Vietnam, although I technically didn’t get here until around 10:30 last Saturday evening. Still, so much has happened in that week. I’m sitting in the garden of a coffee shop while I write this, shaded from the sun by a bright yellow and blue umbrella. My seat is on the edge of the platform, overlooking the Đồng Nai River. It’s the hottest day since I’ve been here, but the heat is countered by the cool breeze blowing in off the water. I’m waiting for my coffee to finish brewing; made in a French press with condensed milk and served in a cup of ice, it takes time for it to brew. The end result is well worth it, however.
While I’ve only visited Bien Hoa, I’ll be making a trip to Saigon next week. Sometime after the Tet Festival comes to an end, I’ll be taking a train and/or taxi north, stopping in Da Nang, Nha Trang, Hue, and eventually Hanoi. I’m also going to visit the Mekong Delta and take a tour of that area. Vietnam changes depending upon where you are, with the weather, geography, and even language shifting depending on your latitude.
Yesterday proved to be a rather interesting day. I paid a visit to the Buu Long Mountains, very close to Bien Hoa. The area has been dubbed “Dragonland” by an amusement park company, with a huge green dragon marking the front gates. However, the amusement isn’t what you would imagine. Set to look like a massive garden, Dragonland is often frequented by engaged couples having wedding photos taken. I saw no less than four different sets of couples yesterday, all taking advantage of the beautiful scenery.
My friends and I trekked through the area, taking photos along the way, and eventually taking a boat out into the middle of the massive lake. However, midway through the boat ride, the engine sputtered and died. Despite the valiant efforts our driver put into resucitating it, there was no saving the boat. All I coud do was look around and laugh. The scenery was gorgeous, and we were right in the middle of it, afloat in a lake with bags full of drinks and snacks. It made the perfect place for a sort of impromptu picnic, but help arrived before long. Another boat happened by and towed us to shore with a rope.
Rescue arrives!
However, we docked on the opposite side of the shore — and ‘docking’ may be stretching it a bit. Where our boat was supposed to land was dominated by another boat, half-submerged in the water. We pulled alongside the bank and leapt from the back, landing on the soft grass of the bank. The trail took us through a vast field of potted plants, and then to a steep mountain staircase. It was the sort of staircase where the stairs were too wide to cross in a single step comfortably, but too narrow to taking two steps on per stair. By the time we reached the top, all four of us were exhausted, but the view that greeted us made it all worthwhile. To the right, the lake and the mountains stretched out before us, the city visible in the distance through the mid-day haze. Behind us, a temple rose, it’s golden columns centered around three massive statues.
We paused there, taking the time to catch our breath and rehydrate before heading back. The boat awaited us on the shore, and this time we returned to our starting point without incident. It was nearly 1:30 by this time, so we stopped for lunch after leaving the mountains and then returned to our respective homes for a much needed nap.
That’s one aspect of Vietnam that surprised me a bit — much of the country just stops in the middle of the day. The traffic dwindles to almost nothing, and people spend their time indoors, either eating lunch or sleeping. The day starts early and fast; by 5:30 AM most mornings, traffic dominates the streets. However, the heat during the middle of the day makes it tough to do much of anything besides relax — and after the distance we walked up and down the mountain, a bit of relaxation was well called for.
Despite the “inconvenience” (I use that term loosely) of the boat breaking down, I had an amazing time. Those random, unexpected events are part of the reason why I travel. You can’t predict them, and there’s no real reason to get upset about it. Every problem is an opportunity in disguise, and I took the chance to take some truly awesome pictures of the mountains rising up out of the water all around us. And I’ll admit: the mountain pathway afterwards, with a massive temple at the top, made me feel just a little bit like Indiana Jones.
While I don’t know what the coming weeks will hold for me, I do know this: it will be amazing.
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