Da Lat and Mui Ne!

To set the scene for you: In December, our friend Zack texted Jessie and I pictures of the red and white sand dunes in Vietnam and suggested we all plan a trip. We looked up how to get there, when we could go, etc, and booked our trip for the beginning of February. Monday of the week before we go Zack realizes he has a school event and can't actually make it. Jessie and I, being the amazing friends that we are were like, "ohhhh, bummer! Because we're still going without you." 

And sorry, Zack. We had a great time. 

The timing for a weekend getaway was excellent because the gloom and apocalyptic air quality doom had fully set in that week in Hanoi. The view from my classroom usually has many buildings, a big ol' bridge, and a sky in the background but one day this past week it looked like this:

We got out.

The dunes seem to be equally far from a bunch of different airports so we flew into Da Lat for the weekend and had a tour arranged to go to the dunes on Saturday. En route to the dunes we stopped at Pongour Waterfall and had a lovely walk to the falls and the entire viewing area completely to ourselves.

From the waterfall we continued south and out of the mountains. We estimate we were in at least two different biomes* over the course of the day.

We got to the town of Mui Ne on the southeast coast in time for lunch before we were directed to the Fairy Stream. Or, more accurately, we were walked to a bridge, told to take off our shoes, and go down the steps and start walking through the river. To say we had questions about this is putting it mildly but for some reason we followed instructions.**

Fortunately, we ended up in a pretty gorge-like thing and the stream walk was enjoyable when you weren't worried that the leaf on your foot was actually a flesh-eating animal of some kind. At some point the water got pretty deep so we didn't make it to the ultimate waterfall destination***

When we returned from the Fairy Stream we got into a hot pink jeep and the adventure was ON! Is this my new dream car? Sure is! Hi Barbie!

We stopped along the water on our way to the dunes to see it packed with fishing boats.

And then it was dune time! We started at the white sand dunes and rode an ATV to the top and all around. It was super fun and I am super glad we were not the ones driving. Apologies to Jessie for the cursing she endured when I realized we were not going down the gradual way from the highest dune but instead down the steep way. It was terrifying and thrilling. What a time to be alive!

From the white sand dunes we went back along the ocean for a jeep photo shoot. Did we know this would happen? No. Were we incredibly excited about it? YES.

Our next stop was to the red sand dunes where we trekked to the top and posed absurdly.

From there we were back to our non-pink car and back to Dalat. We had time to cruise the night market in Dalat and venture around a bit the next day. My highlights were flowers in the market and around town!

When we got back to Hanoi, the sun was out! I'm hoping it stays that way but, either way, there are a mere three days before we are on holiday for Tet!

See you on the next trip!
KT

*Buy us a drink and ask us about biomes some time.

**I'm certain this is how, historically, many bad things have happened. Someone suggests it and a bunch of people are like, "Why though? But okay" and then suddenly you're in it. 

***We assume that's where we were headed? Maybe we were just supposed to walk until we hit ocean?

Victoria Falls: Zimbabwe Edition

Today, we crossed over to the other side. Of Victoria Falls, that is. After seeing it from Zambia yesterday, we saw the falls from Zimbabwe today. We had been told to go early to see rainbows* so AT indulged me and got up at a cool 6am** to hit the streets. 

She pretended to feel like this:

But I know she felt like this:

WARNING: If you STILL don't like pictures of waterfalls,*** close this window now and go reevaluate your entire existence.

Because of our (arguably too) early arrival time, we had the park to ourselves for a good 20-30 minutes and we got to see the sun rise over the falls. As someone who likes to sleep in, I hate to admit that it was magical. But it was magical.

Of course, Dr. Livingstone was there again.

One of the biggest differences on the Zimbabwean side was that the canyon the falls are going into is much narrower than on the Zambian side. This meant that there were entire sections with spray so thick you could barely see anything through it.**** The name for Victoria Falls in Zambian literally translates to "The Smoke that Thunders." At some point we wondered if there were still waterfalls at all!

The clearest point to see the waterfalls came at the very end, across the canyon from the Zambian side. Overall, we decided that we did prefer the views on the other side,****** but these weren't exactly awful.

I now give to you an entirely new category of photo: "Waterfall gazing" 

Oh! And there were rainbows. Beautiful, beautiful rainbows.

It wasn't all waterfalls and rainbows. There were also giant trees and vines.

 In case you really did come here for the waterfall pictures:

 In non-waterfall news, AT had the best cappuccino of her life!******

 And tried on a hat!*******

And in our continuing coverage of "Seeing Animals Without Even Trying," we had guinea fowl, more monkeys, and a warthog!

 When he was a young warthog . . .********

Whew! That might be all of the waterfall pictures for a hot minute. I promise I did narrow them down, though,********* so if you are in desperate need of more, let me know.

Until the next wonder of the world!
-KT

*Thank you, Vicki!
**That's "oh-dark-thirty" in Terry time.
***WHY DID YOU EVEN COME HERE???
****The ultimate smoke and mirrors.
*****The waterfall is always bluer on the other side?
******This is not "that" Rainforest Cafe
*******My favorite past time. #neverforget https://teachersummer.blogspot.com/2015/09/happy-labor-day-or-at-in-hats-part-ii.html
********(When I was a young warthoooooooooog!)
*********There was a lot of "next to the bench, in front of the bench, next to the bench, in front of the bench."