Ba Na Hills Sunworld and Hai Van Pass
Country

The day before I was going to leave for Hoi An, I was contacted by a Danish newspaper, which wanted to write an article about this “old weed” who decided to spend 2 months in Vietnam on rice and noodles. I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with a journalist from Denmark, and a couple of hours mailing pictures and other information. Interesting! Let’s see what comes out of that! On my way from Hue to Hoi An, I decided to make a stop at one of Vietnam’s biggest attractions - the Ba Na Hill Sunworld resort. On arrival I was met with hundreds of large tourist busses in the parking area - clearly I wasn’t going to have this attraction all to myself. This was also going to be my most expensive tourist attraction so far. For the first time I experienced “discrimination” in regard to what locals pay compared to foreigners. All through Vietnam I really applauded the fact that I would pay exactly the same entrance fee as locals. In this case I paid Dong 900.000 ($35) and locals would pay only Dong 700.000 ($27). Have to say the visit was worth every Dong! Tickets to attractions in Vietnam are incredibly cheap, generally around Dong 50.000 ($2). Many are even free - particularly when it concerns the person Ho Chi Minh. 6 separate lines of cable cars take you on a 20 minute ride over, and through dense jungle to the top of the mountain, at just over 1.400 meters. The hundreds of cable cars have a capacity of 10.000 passengers per hour, and is considered one of the world’s foremost cable car systems, with awards to prove it. When you exit at the top station, a short walk will take you to the 150 meter long “Golden Bridge” in the Paradise Garden - from a distance it appears to be suspended in open air, in the palms and fingers of two giant concrete hands (a petty I still can’t post pictures, but try to google it). A short cable car ride will take you across the jungle to an authentic French village, complete with fancy restaurants. There is also a beautiful French La Jardin D’Amour Garden, as well as special amusement parks and buildings for kids. The place was pretty packed, but was certainly one of the most memorable attractions I have ever visited. After about 2 hours I took the 20 minutes spectacular cable car ride back to the start. All alone in a 10 person cable car, I made myself comfortable and enjoyed the ride. I quickly found my Honda and was soon en route to Hoi An, and my homestay there. On the way I had the pleasure of riding the Hai Van pass for the third time.