![]() The fluttering Buddhist flags on the pagoda lent an additional charm to the scene. The vista at the top was stunning: gradients of green and blue, lush paddy fields, jagged limestone mountains and the azure blue of the Quay Son river, dividing into two and cascading down to become the Ban Gioc Waterfall. My husband and I took in the sights of ethnic women bounding up a mountain with blocks of cement slung over their shoulders as we walked alongside a family of chanting pilgrims. The children whooped for joy as they ran, skipped and hopped up the steep climb to the two-level pagoda. Our first glimpse of it came from Truc Lam Pagoda. Thankfully, the fourth largest waterfall in the world didn’t disappoint. I was the one who had thrown out Ban Gioc Waterfall, on the border of Vietnam and China, as a destination we needed to visit. Everything about this part of the trip hinged on this day. The next morning, we drove two more hours to Ban Gioc National Park. He also discovered that coffee beans are roasted for longer in this part of Vietnam, making the coffee incredibly bitter. ![]() My adventurous husband found out that most of the nearby eateries didn’t have heat, which is why everyone was bundled up like Eskimos. When we finally reached our hotel in Cao Bang, the kids and I went straight to bed. ![]() I hadn’t checked travel times, hotels or any of the finer details. I didn’t look at a map to see where any of the places were located, I was in the middle of unpacking my life after moving us all from the US to Singapore and excited to let someone else plan our first vacation in Asia. In my defence, a good friend of ours had invited us to visit Vietnam, and we simply shared with her and the travel agency she put us in touch with the destinations we would like to visit. Truth be told, had I known about the long drive, I would have brought their devices along – and reconsidered the itinerary! We were about to tackle squatty potties, roadside snacks, food huts and an entire new world of travel I was suddenly grateful that our friends had given us the large bag of cookies and snacks that I’d deemed unnecessary a few days ago. We could have argued that we chose to do this so our children could experience a completely different facet of life. Surrounded by terraced rice fields, tea bushes, curving mountain roads, water wheels, the occasional herd of buffalo and overgrown jungle. We were out of civilisation gone were rest stops and touristy markets. “The next time you guys throw out places you want to visit,” our eight-year-old said crossly, “maybe you should check on how long the drive time is.” Journey into the unknown Our children (aged 12 and 8) were watching us intently. The driver had just informed us that we had another seven hours to get to our destination in the northeast. Not a good question to hear when you’re halfway through a trip! We had driven approximately six hours that day after leaving Sapa in Vietnam’s northwest early in the morning. “Who put this itinerary together?” our tour guide asked us. Then there’s SHIMAALI FERNANDO-GOMEZ, whose preparations for a family trip to Ban Gioc Waterfalls in Northern Vietnam were, let’s say, a little thin on the ground. There are those of us who pore over maps and websites before a big trip.
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