Ta Nang – Phan Dung was known as one of the most beautiful trekking routes in VietNam, which was located between 3 provinces Lam Dong – Ninh Thuan – Binh Thuan. I decided to take this trip just 1 week beforehand with zero experience and negative preparation (normally people practice 2 weeks prior). I could finish this trip was mostly thanks to helpful guides and supporting groupmates.
Send my special thanks to all these people and another thank you to Ta Nang – Phan Dung for being so kind to me.
Below are beautiful (and painful) memories I recollected from the trip. Hope that it might inspire you to go on a new adventure as well.
Day 1
First time riding a roofless sports car
We arrived at Ta Nang at around 5:30 in the morning. It was super cold, but we had hot coffee and delicious breakfasts (bún chân giò) at the ‘restaurant’. Then we got to ride on a roofless ‘sports car’ (xe công nông =))). In the car, I learned that in Chu Ru ethnics tradition, a woman will bring a water buffalo to a man’s house to ask for his hand in marriage (it’s mostly the other way around in other cultures), and then the husband will come to live with the wife’s house – ở rể.
After getting off at the starting point, we said goodbye to wifi, and even phone signal for nearly 2 days.
A model of who I want to become in my 30s
The first few kilometers were not particularly hard, since we mostly trekked under the shadow of pine trees, and the early morning was still breezy. We also got to rest a lot, eating snacks, drinking water, and chatting with new friends.
Fun fact, the oldest member in our group was 14 years older than me, she has an 8-year-old kid, and she had just come back from a 2-week trip to Thailand! People often said that I should play as much as I can since once I get married, it is equal to some kind of voluntary prison. But seeing people like chị Q proved that it’s just a matter of choice after all. Even in my 30s, I want to keep traveling and exploring the world (with my family).
Met Hiếu, our local guide
There were 3 local guides – led by Gia Hieu – the funniest guy I met in a while – who I later found out was 1 year younger than me. While I was carrying a lightweight bag on expensive shoes, he carried 4 times worth of weight on mismatched ‘dép tổ ong’.
Our group moved really fast compared to the average, so he jokingly said that he asked the “thổ địa” to conjure up a sleepy hill for us to increase the challenge. Every few hundred meters, we had to ask whether this was the hill he talked about, but he just smirked (politely =))) at us. All hills here had their own names based on their shapes or their history? like Dốc con mắt, Dốc khuỷu tay, Dốc Dầu. The weirdest thing was, whenever I thought that I reached the peak of the hill, it appeared to me that was just half the route.
The most delicious lunch!
By noon, we reached our first destination and had lunch there. To our surprise, the lunches were super well prepared, we had bánh mì chấm bò kho and Vietnamese apples. I ate a little too much and fell asleep blissfully.
The afternoon trip was supposed to be much more terrible since we gonna left the protection of the forest to trek on bare hills, but thanks to all of our ancestors, it suddenly became cloudy (but not rainy – if it rained, we will be dead =)) so we are not too exhausted.
Everything in the forest is eatable
However, there are two kinds of eatable: You can eat it only once or you can eat it many times. For illustration, lá ngón is something you can it only once.
The latter type was divided into 2 categories as well: you can eat it periodically or you can eat it every day. Such as, you can eat and then went to the hospital for several months and then come back and eat again.
I got to taste ‘quả trái nghịch với tình yêu’ because when you first eat it, it tasted sour and bitter, but the final taste is super sweet. I also got to taste some kind of tree roots as well.
The Oily Slope – Dốc Dầu
– or often called Dốc mẹ ơi, Bà nội ơi due to the exclamation people made on this slope
The final hill and also the highlight of the first day was called Dốc Dầu – which excelled in both length and slopiness. Walking up this slope without anyone’s help can easily be my biggest achievement this year. Even though many people considered this a physical test, it was actually more of a mental test to me. It was a fight against yourself – to see if you can win over all the thoughts in your head telling you to give up, telling you that you can not do it. I ignored those voices and moved forward step by step, knowing that with each step, I have already arrived.
And once again, we were surprised by the tour guides. Our tents were already set up. The tour guides were making BBQ (chicken, pork), porridge, and salad for us. We got to take a shower (with a make-do toilet) and enjoyed a great meal after a hard-working day. I played Xì dách for the first time. We went to sleep at 9 pm because we need to wake up early the next day.
Day 2
Don’t look up!
I woke up in the middle of the night because of the cold. Sadly the clouds covered the dawn, but the scene was still breathtakingly beautiful. We had breakfast with nui (I ate 2 bowls) and started our come-back trip.
Unlike hiking, trekking means that you might move up even on your coming back route, and somehow the hill seemed to be even steeper. Our guides advised us to focus on our steps and do not look up, so we will feel like walking on flat grounds 🙂
My feet got swollen and I could not move easily. Luckily chị T lent me her urgos and later on chị L lent me her thick socks. Without them, I might as well roll down instead of walking. I felt so much love on this trip because even though the path was quite tricky (easy to slip and fall), I got many sisters & guides at my back to cover for me.
We rested mid-day at a cool spring and had rolls for lunch (super good again!). Since we were a little bit lag on time, we did not get to sleep and had to move on a full stomach.
Saying goodbyes…
The afternoon trip was mostly on flat grounds, I was introduced to many types of trees which were used in home building for Chu Ru ethnics, but are now almost gone due to deforestation.
The last highlight of the trip was a downhill that was located alongside the mountain so if you looked to the left, it was the cliff. After that part, we moved out of the forest by special forces of ‘Grab’ who can carry 2 of us up and downhill at high speed. We were strongly advised to not pinch or scream at the driver so I opted to close my eyes whenever I feel scared instead.
Once we got out of Phan Dung forest, we rested and took a quick shower at a nearby place before moving back to Saigon. We came back to Saigon at around 12am.
Closing thoughts
This trip was a blast of experiences. I had many firsts: First time trekking, first time taking showers in the middle of the forest (among a lot of bees), first time sleeping in a tent,… There were also many inconveniences, like the lack of signal, toilets and electricity – things we often took for granted in our daily life, but it was totally bearable.
If you are looking for a relaxing trip, I do not recommend Ta Nang – Phan Dung at all. But if you want to spend some time away from all the notifications and deadlines to immerse yourself fully in nature, and challenge your willpower a little bit, then I highly recommend this trip for you.
Other Information
Path Length: 34 km
Tour: By To Ong (Excellent service, highly recommend)
Price: 2,790,000 VND
Level: 1 (Easy)
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