We woke up to our bunkmate, John, letting us know it was 7:30 am. It was a decent enough sleep all things considered. The disgusting bathroom with a “present” left on the toilet seat, dirty tea cups, dirty ashtray, lack of sheets and general filth of a room not cleaned since being built decades ago. Our snoring bunkmate.
We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with our new friends. Chicken soup made from a chicken slaughtered that morning at our hotel. After pictures and goodbyes, we set off in opposite directions. It was 10:00 am. Plenty of time to make it to Ban Gioc Waterfall.
Ban Gioc Waterfall is proclaimed to be Vietnam’s most beautiful waterfall. It straddles the border with China, and is one of the fourth largest waterfalls on an international border. Only 60 meters high, it’s beauty comes from its 300 meters of width and cascading three levels.
After a unique lunch experience in an unknown town, thick noodles with a dark brown sauce consisting of mystery meat and bean, and our first real dessert in Vietnam, frozen yoghurt with fruit and jellies, we made it to Ban Gioc by 2:30 pm. Added bonus, I found a decent looking Chocolate donut with gold sprinkles in the unknown town. A perfect treat for Shawn.
We checked into a hotel recommend by the friends we had spent the previous evening with. At 1.2 million VND per night, 3-4 times what we typically pay, this was a splurge. The Saigon Ban Gioc. A large, vacant resort. Not advertised on any of the Hotel booking websites we tried, we have no idea how you would know this hotel exists. And because it is the only hotel in town, there are a few shadey guesthouses, you wouldn’t just show up here expecting to spend the night – at least not at a million dong a night. And so we had the expansive, overpriced hotel to ourselves. We were celebrating after all.
Although a nice enough looking place, the undertrained staff and being the only two people in the resort and restaurant made it an uncomfortable and cold experience. We couldn’t order a cocktail because the cocktail menu was in English, so our unfriendly waitress just shrugged and walked away. The wifi didn’t work in our room or anywhere on the property. The dozens of staff just watched us with unfriendly eyes. At the restaurant we were sat at an uncleaned table, while beautifully made up tables sat empty around us.
After checking in we headed off to the waterfall. Another underwhelming experience. The waterfall is beautiful and it is somewhat fun to watch boats leave from both the China side and Vietnam side to meet under the waterfall. We took the boat and it was definitely a better way to appreciate the waterfall. But compared to the waterfalls in Lao and the “hype” it wasn’t something I would make a special trip to see. Maybe seeing it in rainy season would change my mind. We did enjoy freshly roasted chestnuts being sold at the waterfall. I small reminder of Christmas around the corner.
After the waterfall we climbed to the pagoda which offers a better view to appreciate the full size of the waterfall, the upper falls hidden when standing at the base.
Dinner of fish and pumpkin was tasty, despite the uninviting and lifeless ambience. We played music through our iPhones which almost gave the large empty space some missing pizazz.
And we still managed to get drunk. Where there’s a will…
Or where there is untrained staff. Ordering a “shot” of rum to go with our fresh passion fruit juice resulted in a glass of rum. Well, if you insist.
Live Life Epic 