Adventure in Ba Be National Park

Today's guest post written by Henni:

The tour through Ba Be National Park today offered everything we had hoped for and more. With biking, hiking, swimming, boat trips, and cave visits, Vang had put together the most diverse travel day so far.

In the morning, a short bike ride took us through the morning mist to Hua Ma Cave. Here, the contrasts of our travel country were once again evident: an altar at the cave entrance is supposed to appease the evil spirits that, according to local superstition, live here. However, the perfect Wi-Fi signal in the cave also showed that this place has arrived in the 21st century much faster than some villages in Germany. But what was even more special was that we were allowed to admire the breathtaking rock formations (the pictures speak for themselves) alone, without other tourists, without a guide, and at our own pace.

Afterwards, we set off towards Ba Be Lake, which we explored by boat and on land. The 8 km long and thus largest freshwater lake in Vietnam forms the center of the national park. According to the legend of the Tay people, there was once a village here that was flooded out of anger by a snake. This visited the villagers disguised as a beggar during a folk festival, but did not receive any alms. Only a widow showed kindness and took her in. In gratitude, her ground was spared from the floods and today forms the so-called Widow Island in the middle of the lake - our starting point for a refreshing swim in the lake.

During the day, Vang managed to superbly combine our time on the boat with short explorations on land. Short hikes took us to Dau Dang Waterfall and through green-yellow rice fields. We could observe the farmers during the rice harvest and the fishermen pulling in their nets. Finally, we visited Puong Cave, through which a river flows and which serves as a home for hundreds of bats. Impressed by the experiences, we slowly sailed towards sunset on Ba Be Lake to our homestay.

Actually, my little guest post in Sissy's blog should end here, but the evening still had a few surprises in store. The first one appeared as soon as we left our room for dinner: today there was a lunar eclipse in Vietnam! The second surprise was the dinner itself: we had it on the floor - together with Vang, Toang, and our host. After some schnapps, we managed to convince them to serenade us on the traditional instrument of the Tay people - a stringed instrument with a gourd body. All in all, it was a really nice evening on a special day of travel!