Dalat Canyoning Tour

10:19 PM

What's up guys!~
It's been a few weeks since I've been back from my grad trip with Regine to Vietnam and posted a sneak peak of my adventure on Instagram. 
(If you're not following me yet it's about time you do so -- @tengtengzxc)

Since then, I've received a couple of questions about the location, course of activities, prices, etc. 
And to be honest, this has probably been the activity that I have never stopped sharing about to date!
So today, I'm finally posting about it to fill you in with the details that you need to know or at least what I know for all you adrenaline junkies/adventurous peeps out there!

(Be prepared for a lengthy post because this is gonna be a really comprehensive "guide")

  Getting There/Back

The company that we booked our rides thru and fro with was Viet Fun Travel and payment can be done so online using MasterCard which is super convenient!
Buses leave from Ho Chi Minh/Dalat every hour and the trip from HCMC to Dalat is approximately 7 hours (depending on traffic) so you can choose whichever suits your itinerary best. Since ours was simply a 1 day trip to Dalat so we had ourselves booked to travel through the night so we won't waste any time on travelling. 

Some things to take note of:
  1. Please remember to clarify all doubts, get all the information you need and most importantly understand how to read your ticket and find your bus and seat with the english speaking staff at the main office because those staff at the station have 0 english proficiency which almost cause us to board the wrong bus and possibly ending up at Mui Ne. (Thank God we didn't!)

  2. Drop-offs/ Pick-ups are also available to and from your accommodation in Dalat; all you'll have to do is request and discuss it with the staffs via email! Follow and ask the bus guide who dropped you off at Dalat or anyone in that sort of uniform. DO NOT be confused by those taxi drivers who will start crowding around you the moment you alight.

  3. If you're reaching back HCMC in the wee hours/ earlier than expected which in our case we reached at 5+ instead of the estimated 7am, please take a taxi to your hotel for safety reasons! (I almost got robbed and it's traumatising af, which I shall share more in a separate post.)

As for the travelling experience, I guess it varies but here's a rough idea:
  • Given my height and size,  I had a pretty decent amount of space to flip around and even squeeze my belongings below my feet so that was fine. Then again I'm only 155 so you can do the math yourself.
  • The bus has various pick up points along the way so be prepared to wake up a few times in between especially if you're a light sleeper. 
  • Other noise contributors would include the constant honking (which is a norm if you're wondering), snoring of other travellers and possibly a loud bus driver talking non stop to himself (i'm not even kidding).


We booked a room at Hai Long Vuong Hotel/Hostel for a day ($10 USD/night for a double bed) as we tooked bathing after our canyoning tour into consideration which by the way was probably one of the best decisions ever!

It might be anything fancy but trust me on this, they truly have one of the best services ever!
Go ahead and search them up yourself and you'll see all the good reviews they've received!
Our originally booked tour was cancelled (what even!!) and it was all thanks to the ever so kind owner were we still able to do canyoning and tried cheap delicious food which he introduced!
A place I'll definitely stay at again when I'm visiting Dalat. 

🗻 Canyoning Tour 
Ever since I came across the photo on a senior's instagram, i've been wanting so badly to try this out and I finally did after more than a year!
So well, here's probably the most anticipated part of the post, yay!
The 1st thing to take note of is that the Vietnam government has just introduced a new policy last month and thus there's only 5 canyoning tour companies that are legal to operate. 
As much as possible please book through your hotel or do some proper research prior to booking to avoid disappointment as ours just went MIA. 

Okay! So due to our earlier cock up (pardon my language), ours was just a half day tour booked with Dalat Passion Tour which costed us $28USD which was totally worth it.
They do have many other tours and the guides were awesome so that's def a big thumbs up!
They picked us up from our hotel around noon and it was just a short 15min drive or so before we reached our location. 

If you've never done anything like that before, these professionals has the proper equipments and provided us with trainings/try-outs such as how to prepare your harness properly and how to abseil and all prior to starting off actual just like below. 
and from here, i shall do less talking and let the pictures tell the story. hehe
The very first activity on the list was rock sliding. 
The period when you're heading down kind of matters i suppose due to the currents. 
Thank God, the period when we were there was just amazing; sun wasn't cray hot, water currents were enjoyable and breeze wasn't too strong - can't ask for more. 

Second up was abseiling down this 25m waterfall!
This probably doesn't need much explanation. 
This was pretty fun honestly just that my arms were about to give way by the time I reached around 17-18m down? The pressure from the falling water wasn't helping and it was pretty slippery too.
The rope doesn't go all the way to the bottom so be prepared for the free fall.
(which i was super happy to do because my arms were really aching so bad then)

Number #3 - Cliff Jumping (7m/11m) respectively. 
Yeahhh... Some call us cray. 
You have 0 clue how afraid I was to jump off at 11m cause of the rocks below. 
"you must run and jump as far as you can. you cannot run and stop then jump because got rocks and you will hit the rocks and you don't want that" 
😰 😱 😲 Not helping bro 😰 😱 😲
You get the gist of it. 
As nerve wrecking as it was, it's def a good experience and I'm proud to say i conquered it.
*awkward height difference*
-yes laugh all you want-
and lastly: abseiling once again down "Washing Machine"
This waterfall really does resemble the washing machine as the name suggests. 
Once again, the current strength really does differ over the periods of time (you can check out their fb albums to see what i mean)
Apart from all those above, expect tons of trekking which fyi was the main cause of all my bruises instead of all these above activities. 
If you're wondering why, it's because the steps were huge and my legs aren't long which probably explains why I kept falling and getting myself scraped, hahaha

In any way, I would say that my overall experience was amazing; something I'll recommend everyone to try if you're visiting/wanting some adventure and something that I'll definitely remember for a long  long time. 
Just within a day, I pushed myself way past my own limits, crossed out 2 things on my bucket list, caused a relapse in my breathing issues and covered myself in bruises 😅😅
- still worth it! -

There's actually tons of other stuff that can be done in Dalat which I'll love to try on my next visit but for now, I'm contented.
So with that, thank you for reading and if there's any thing that you think i've missed out or would like to know more about, just leave a comment below 

Swee Teng 💗

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