This time our destination was the Langbiang Mountains in the Vien Lam Highlands. The name Langbiang consists of the names of two neighboring summits, Lang and Biang. The names come from a legend about a love relationship between K'lang and Ho Biang, a couple from different ethnic groups. To continue the story here would go beyond the scope. Therefore, we refer to the internet.
We booked the tour in our hotel because we couldn't find out what to expect on our way to the summit and we felt safer with a guide. You don't have to worry about the arrival and departure, everything is all inclusive. We were picked up at 9:00 and driven to the village of Langbiang.
The village is predominantly inhabited by the Lac, one of the many ethnic minorities in Vietnam. Our guide 'Paul' belongs to this ethnic group. After we introduced ourselves and were provided with water, we started.
On the left our destination: the Lang and on the right his 'beloved' the Biang.
The asphalt road ends in the village at a parking lot. The starting point of our tour was the unpaved road that leads to the right past the parking lot.
It can be easily identified by the wooden sign above it.
We left the road after about 300 m behind a 90 ° curve to the left. A short steep climb led us through blooming coffee fields always with a view of our destination.
The pine trees followed after the coffee plants. Here nothing reminded us of the jungle, but rather awakened memories of the Black Forest. ... and from the constantly steeply rising path, we went up to large irregular stairs created by human hands. It now had an alpine character. It was incredibly sweaty and even Paul, behind Anke, started to sweat. Nevertheless, he kept his jacket, which he wore over the traditional shirt of his people.Paul spoke very good English. He taught himself, as he told us believably. He started with reading the Bible in English. As a devout Catholic, he knew it in his mother tongue. Later he bought grammar books and regularly watches English-language documentaries. He notes new vocabulary in his vocabulary book and learns it!He told us a lot about his life, in which he experienced the war as a teenager, both the Vietnam War and the subsequent conflicts of individual mountain tribes with the Vietnamese government. We had not known anything about this period at all and learned something new. After a climb of about 600 meters, we reached the summit of Lang: 2167 meters above sea level. Unfortunately, the view from the summit was not as expected due to hazy air. On a clear day, you can supposedly see the sea. We had to be satisfied with the view of the surrounding mountains and the blurred view of the village of Langbiang. What looks like large buildings here are greenhouses, which are available here in an infinite number, mainly for strawberries and cut flowers. The descent was not as strenuous as usual, but the high steps and later the pine needles on the sloping terrain were still challenging. It was a beautiful but also exhausting tour, but we would have managed it without a guide. In principle, there's only one way to the top and it's hard to miss. But this way, Paul had an income and we had an entertaining conversation partner.
