Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam
It was yet another early start at 6.00am, with breakfast followed by our pickup for the trip to Ba na hills. An hour and a half drive from Hoi an.
There were five other couples and us, all residents of various states of Australia, although a few were originally Scottish and one young woman was Canadian. They were all very friendly and we all got on well, which made for a pleasant group. As the day went on, no one held up the group and we all enjoyed sharing the experience.
The trip started with a long drive through Da Nang with a brief rest stop at a marble carving industry that had some stunning pieces of artwork all carved on-site by men with water cooled angle grinders. They were just wearing very basic face masks and the dust was flying everywhere, so I didn’t like their chances of a long life!
There was an array of large carvings outside which included various animals and lots of different Buddha’s and the inside showroom housed thousands of tiny statues carved from marble and various semiprecious stones. A lady kept following me around the shop pointing out various weird little things that she thought I should buy, but I was really only interested in the life sized baby elephant statue carved from marble.
They were adamant that it could be posted to me, but I decided it was a little too big for the backyard.
Up into the mountains we continued then with beautiful vistas of the surrounding jungle. There were a few resorts along the way and a very nice golf course that had lovely views of the surrounding countryside.
Arriving at the base of Ba Na mountain we disembarked our mini van and went into the initial part of the park while the guide, Sherlock (not his real name!) purchased our entrance tickets.
Once we got the tickets ( do not lose your ticket or you won’t get lunch!!!) off we went to the beginning of the long ride upwards on the first of two cable cars that would take us to the enormous theme park at the top of the mountain.
The ride on the cable park was lovely with extensive views, and we rose up over the top of the mountain and then up a bit further on another cable car until we reached the platform where we could get off to see the beautiful golden bridge which is seemingly held up by two giant hands, and which is the major tourist attraction of the park, built in 2018.
The ride on the cable park was lovely with extensive views, and we rose up over the top of the mountain and then up a bit further on another cable car until we reached the platform where we could get off to see the beautiful golden bridge which is seemingly held up by two giant hands, and which is the major tourist attraction of the park, built in 2018.
It was a bit cooler up there than down in Hoi An and we wandered around the huge park looking at all the gardens and various sculptures that peppered them. There seemed to be an enormous amount of people there but our guide assured us that it was much worse in the summer.
It was an incredible feat of engineering and perseverance building this huge theme park on the top of a mountain, and there is much more planned for the future including several hotels and attractions.
It was originally a holiday destination for the French aristocracy living in Hoi An in 1919, but later fell into disrepair until resurrected by the Sun group and turned into a theme park.
A lot of the buildings were actually empty and a huge castle that we caught a funicular train over to from the main park, was yet to be properly developed inside. We went to a theatre in the castle which showed one of those films where your seat move’s giving the sensation of flying into the film. It was ok but not a patch on the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios. Although the ladies in the front row did a lot of screaming and screeching.
After the film we indulged in our included lunch which consisted of a mega buffet with all kinds of food including Vietnamese and Indian cuisines. It was quite nice and we sat out on a balcony overlooking the park to eat.
We had a couple of hours of free time after lunch so we immediately headed to the Starbucks that we had spotted earlier, for a frappechino. Four years without one is a long time!
There were various rides around the park but since they all seemed to have a 40 minute wait time we didn’t manage to get on any, so we just wandered around looking at the various colourful attractions until it was time to go back down in the cable car.
The cloud had rolled in by this time and the whole place was shrouded in mist and you could see nothing on the way down until we nearly reached the bottom.
All in all it was quite an enjoyable day and something a bit different. The park will be very extensive when it is all finished and there are even apartments being built up there . Not sure it would be a very practical place to live though.
After everyone was dropped off at their various hotels it was back here for a swim in the pool.
Tomorrow we will go into the old town for a better look and take in the sights of the night markets in the evening. At least we don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn again.
Jill D
2023-03-29
The hills look beautiful, glad you had a good day and found yourself a Starbucks 😂
Ken
2023-03-30
Sounds like a great day out, I'll look forward to seeing the baby elephant when it arrives