Day 155 - Elephant Falls

We were out sitting on our steps of the hotel at 8:20am scoffing cakes from the bakery up the road and waiting for the tour to start. We were joined by some young little bohemians from all over mainland Europe, who were doing the same tour. It seemed that there were more than could fit into a single van, so we were put into two groups. The managers put us with an older Australian couple, a young Vietnamese family with a child, as I guess we weren't hip enough to hang with the kids. The kicker here is, I think we got on so well with the older Australian couple and had much in common, which is therefore a statement on our age.

Can I skip through the first stop which was a flower garden. I wasn't listening at all, but I saw flowers and sniffed a few. Great!

Next to see a coffee plantation, and they wouldn't let me have time to have a cup of coffee and I really wanted one. I learnt that Arabica coffee beans are most popular in the west for their smoothness. Robusta are the other main kind, which are stronger and more bitter. These are more likely to come from Vietnam. We did grab a coffee elsewhere. I tried some weasel coffee. Those reading my blogs religiously obviously remembered my birthday and describing Luwak Coffee in Bali. This is the same thing really. They feed the beans to the weasel, he shits them out and the poo is collected and then the coffee process begins. The finish product was a lovely chocolate tasting thick coffee. This isn't an ideal description for something that has come out of a weasels arse. We met the weasels concerned, and snappy hyperactive things they are too. My finger was going nowhere near the cage.

Later we stopped at a cricket farm. The crickets are farmed for food, and we of course tried some. They are kept in open pits and you wonder whats stopping them from leaving, but they don't. The finished product was a saucer of the buggers pan fried in oil, mustard and lemongrass. Picked up with a tooth-pick, dipped in chilli jam and eaten. The texture is crunchy like a bar snack. The flavour, past the chilli, is pretty disgusting according to me. I tried them, I was open minded, but I won't be stopping for more.

A quick stop at a silk farm and factory, showing us the process from silk worm to cloth and embroidery was mildly interesting but I was more interested in the next stop; Elephant Waterfalls. 

To be honest I could have just done Elephant Falls and forgotten about the other crap. Maybe a waterfall tour as there are other ones in the area. The falls are quite near the car park so no distance trekking is needed at all. However, once you arrive you have to negotiate down some dodgy steps and some very slippery rocks to get to the bottom of the falls. With many people there, and a slip meaning a bone breaking (but probably not lethal) fall, it seems a dangerous activity. That said three of us of the group of 5 (not counting the child) walked to the bottom. At the bottom you walk through a naturally formed rock tunnel and you are near as damn it under the waterfall. The sound is deafening. I got as far under as I could, but the spray drenched me in seconds. Photography was impossible while under it. It was so refreshing, I wish it was a hotter day, or I bought more clothes and could have got even closer. 

A quick visit to a Big Buddha temple, the Buddha was of the fat laughing variety. Sarah's favourite, not mine, as  I think it has no dignity. Then lunch at some place designated for us. Up to now we were always coy about places to eat chosen for us by guides. This place was an excellent choice, we sat over looking the lake and eating food as inexpensive as anywhere. We talked quite a bit with the Australian couple about many things. I actually really liked and admired this couple, who travel in their later years, and I hope we find a way to do the same in the autumn of our life. The lady part-owned a pharmacy, and the husband a successful taxi business in Tasmania. With others to look after the business they were free to travel for months at a time. She summed up her feelings as a self-confessed 'grand-boomer'. "We earned all this money, saw our children travel off to exotic places with what we earned, so why can't we do it too?". Being pretty much an orphan myself, and not understanding having to rely on parents and having zero sense of entitlement, I was totally comfortable with the idea of this couple enjoying the fruits of their labour. 

walking all over 'Crazy House'

The last stop was called 'The Crazy House', because it is crazy shaped. Very crazy shaped indeed actually. One of those places with extremely quirky architecture, and steps and pathways leading you everywhere. I believe it was designed by the daughter of Ho Chi Minh's right hand man with the aim of being a hotel. It is used as a hotel sometimes and very interesting bedrooms it has too. The cost of a night in many rooms is $90, and this seems more than worth it. However, a visit and getting yourself lost in tunnels and steps is such fun. I particularly liked the steps that were narrow and weaved like ivy over the top of the central building.

Anyway that was our day. The rain held off for all of it, except when we were under cover at lunchtime. We finished the day booking our onward tickets to Nha Trang on the coast. We are leaving at lunchtime tomorrow. 

NO DIGNITY!!