Travel Diary

Today was beginning early. Like 6am! At least that is when I woke up. But our tour bus and private guide were arriving at 6:45am, so there was no time to waste. Our guide was prompt and actually a little early. He was very nice and we could see right away that he would not disappoint in providing a great two-day tour. We all climbed aboard the small bus and headed out.

Our first destination was Golden Bridge. It has become quite popular in Vietnam, Asia and to some westerners. Thus, the reason to start early and do that first. The place gets very crowded and fills up during the day with long lines and poorer photos. Our guide was ensuring we were among the very first people to ascend the mountain. It was a long drive there, but he provided a lot of history on the way. Soon, we were at the parking lot.

The place definitely was fairly empty. We raced to get in the best position possible, our guide showing some access pass or what not. Thus, we passed up many people already queuing. Then we were on the gondola ascending the mountain. Apparently, the place gets so many tourists that they have built four entire gondola lines to reach the peaks.

The view changed quite a lot as we climbed up the mountain. For one thing, the weather cooled greatly, but we had been forewarned. I was even wearing my bubble jacket at that point. No need to suffer to see wonder. In time, the view diminished as we entered the clouds. It was just part of the process. No way to avoid the clouds, especially this early in the day. But later in the day would have meant insane crowds. This was preferred.

At the top, we got off the gondola and went straight to the Golden Bridge. I almost now am racing to write these sentences as it just seem like even here, if I wait too long, the bridges will be packed. But they were near empty and we got some wonderful photos. The view was of course the misty clouds, yet that also offered a surreal feeling of being in a wondrous mystical place high above the earth.

After the bridge, we could relax a little. The other sites were not yet crowded and most were going to the Bridge first. We visited a temple and some gardens and such. It was all pretty amazing. Yeah, most wasn’t exactly ancient and traditional, but rather works of amazing skill and creative design. One has to accept these spots for what they are, not what they are not.

Our next stop was a sort of pseudo medieval European motif. Faux castles with streets that looked like in centuries past, perhaps out of France as French names were all around. As the crowds had not yet arrived, it was easy to grab photos of everything. The weather would also change moment to moment. The clouds would leave and sun and blue sky would be seen, only to be obscured about 20 seconds later. Up high, it all moved by so fast.

We ascended a cool little bell tower, though limited view at the time. It did have a neat robotic animatronic to ring the bell every 30 seconds. Fun to watch. Still, we had a schedule to keep. Our guide kept us moving and then we got some great photos and video on the “European” streets. One bonus from our guide was he really knew how and where to get the best shots. It was all planned. Plus, he was adept at using the various iPhone camera settings to capture some really great shots. I’m not sure all guides would have had this ability. The man was an expert at his craft.

Once that part was done, we boarded a gondola and headed down the mountain. There, we could really appreciate the need to start so early. So many masses were gathering and waiting in long lines to go up the mountain, only to likely face immense crowds on the various iconic points. Just did not sound ideal. We boarded our bus and drove off.

The next stop was lunch at a fine Michelin rated restaurant. We had a wonderful variety of food and the weather was perfectly complementing it all. Afterwards, we drove north for quite some time to reach the Buddhist statue that had been seen from the beaches of Da Nang. This spot was up in the mountains a bit, though not terribly high.

We exited the bus and got a nice tour of the grounds and then got to see the wild monkeys. Now, to them, it’s probably so normal that it’s how we view ground squirrels back home, but most of us in America have only seen monkeys in a zoo, so watching them run amok was pretty amazing. Granted, people were feeding them five feet away from signs stating not to feed them. That was expected. We imagined that it’s not something any rangers enforce or fine, but perhaps that if a monkey bites anyone, the authorities can say, “Well, we posted a sign. It’s YOUR fault you disobeyed.” They were forewarned. We did not feed any of them, but did take a number of photos. I also tried to keep my distance as wild monkeys are, by nature, WILD.

The tour there continued as we learned about the history and religion they follow. We also took some photos, but then it was time to return to the Airbnb. This day’s tour ended around 3pm, but would continue the next day.

We rested up back at the flat and then headed out for dinner at “EMO’S,” which was a nice place in town that had some wonderful food, though almost all our meals in Vietnam were exceptional, quite tasty, and very inexpensive. It was a packed day.