Day 204 – Ban Gioc Waterfall, Vietnam

August 29th, 2019

Today is our fifth wedding anniversary!  Brendan and I would NEVER have thought five years ago we would be spending today riding the Vietnam/China border heading to a remote waterfall that is actually the fourth largest border falls in the world (after Niagara, Iguazu, and Victoria).  A lot has changed in five years!

The scenery and the ride today were absolutely incredible.  We were so fortunate to have perfect weather and the best time of year to see the falls.  I am so amazed that Vietnam just keeps getting better.  When we started in the north at Halong Bay, that was supposed to be the highlight of the country.  And it totally was a highlight!  There just happens to be many more highlights as we go. It is really awesome. 

Our overnight bus pulled into Cao Bang around 5am.  We found a hotel close by that we would stay at tonight and went to drop our bags off.  By the time we organized our bags, packed a day pack, changed clothes, found a coffee and Brendan had a breakfast Banh Mi sandwich, it was 7am and the motorbike rental shop was open.  We were on the road by 7:15am to go the two hours to Ban Gioc. 

The road has been recently updated and is in really good condition.  This route has not yet fallen victim to mass tourism, so it is still really authentic and totally beautiful.  Brendan said this was the most favorite motorbike ride he has ever done, and I would have to agree.  The scenery was breathtaking, the villages along the way were sparse but cool to see, the road was good, we had a new scooter in great condition, and the only traffic was the occasional herd of cows or water buffalo. 

This part of Vietnam is where we have encountered the largest language barrier of our trip.  No one along the way spoke any English and even in the town of Cao Bang it was very difficult to communicate with the hotel, restaurants, bike rental etc.  For some reason Google translate was only about 20% useful as well.  We made it to the waterfall though and it was beautiful.

The spray from the falls was a perfect way to cool off and we enjoyed walking around taking it all in.  They have little raft boats that take you up close to the main part of the falls and that was really fun too.  The boats depart from both the Vietnam and China side.  I noticed the boats with the Chinese tourists  were all very full and everyone was wearing bright orange life jackets.  Brendan and I were the only ones on our boat that left from the Vietnam shore, and we did not have to wear life jackets which was cool.

After all the oohing and aahing we did at the falls, we found a little restaurant for some food and drink.  Again, we were the only ones in the restaurant, and it was kind of awkward with interactions as we do not know a word of Vietnamese and they did not know any English.  After that we saw a big temple on a hill and decided to go up to see the view from the top.  I wasn’t sure the motorbike was going to make it because it was such a steep incline but with the help of Brendan using his legs we made it to the top.  This was another jaw dropping moment as everything around was so beautiful, and we could see the valley we drove through to get here and the falls off to the right.

There was a cave not that far from the falls that I had read about. We still had a long ride back to Cao Bang and I was getting kind of tired from such an early start with not great sleep on the bus but we decided to stop;  and I am glad we did!  I have been to quite a few impressive caves over the years but this random one ranks right around the top of the best caves I have ever been in.  The formations were huge, and we were once again the only ones there.  We payed the $1.50 for the entrance ticket and then just walked around on our own inside the cave.  It was also very cool in the cave and a great way to beat the heat. 

Our ride back seemed even more beautiful with the high sun lighting up all the greenery making it glow.  The ride this morning was beautiful too because it was still kind of misty but there was something about the sun casting its light on things that just can’t be compared.  I had Brendan stop for many photo ops of scenery and we had a really nice ride.  I even took a turn driving the scooter so I could feel the unobstructed wind in my face as we drove through the valleys.  I’ve never driven a motorcycle with a passenger as big as Brendan though, so I made us both a little nervous starting off when the bike got super wobbly!  He said later after my wobbly start that he was nervous for me to stop!  I kept it upright though and it was fun getting to be the driver for a bit. 

After a long, beautiful day we made it back to Cao Bang and officially checked into our hotel.  I was completely exhausted!  I showered and knew there was no way I wanted to get back out of bed although it was still pretty early.  I was lucky that Brendan didn’t seem tired at all and said he would gladly take the bike back out to go get us some dinner.  My anniversary dinner request was pizza from the only non-Vietnamese food option in town.  He went out and got the pizza and we ate it in the room with two Sprites.  They even made the pizza half and half, so I got veggie and Brendan got BBQ chicken.  Pizza is a great way to end any day!