Hello everyone, how are you today? Hope you have a great first day of the week. I had an energetic Monday after having a great Sunday hunting clouds with my wife and two dogs at the top of Hai Van pass. Follow us on this cloud hunt through the photos below.
Where is the top of Hai Van Pass?
First let me give a brief introduction to the place where we chose to hunt for clouds. Hai Van Pass is an extension to the sea of the legendary Truong Son mountain range, it is the natural boundary between Da Nang city and Thua Thien Hue province. In the past, to travel from North to South of Vietnam or from Da Nang to Hue by road, everyone had to cross the Hai Van Pass. However, because Hai Van pass is dangerous with sharp bends, the government has invested in building a tunnel through Hai Van pass to make traffic easier. Currently, most vehicles move through the Hai Van tunnel, the Hai Van pass is for those who love nature and enjoy sightseeing. From the top of the pass, we can see the panorama of the beautiful city of Da Nang and the long Lang Co beach of Hue. And in this season, an activity that attracts a lot of people here is cloud hunting. Me, my wife and my two dogs also did it yesterday, Sunday. People usually just stop at the top bend of Hai Van Pass to hunt for clouds, but I've been here camping a few times, so I know the way to the real top of Hai Van Pass which is about 2km from the main road. That's where we can see clouds moving below us, not above.
Beautiful nature
It can be said that Hai Van pass is a great place for nature lovers. Covered by green forests, Hai Van pass brings fresh and cool atmosphere all year round. In the summer, the temperature in the city center can reach 40 degrees Celsius, while the temperature on the pass is always 5-10 degrees Celsius lower. In addition, the cool breeze from the sea also brings fresh air flow. Since it is located far away from the city, the atmosphere here is also very quiet, you will not hear any urban noises such as car horns, construction noises, neighbors sound,...except the sound of the wind, the birds, the running water and the rustling of leaves. In addition, when we come here, we can see the green pine forests, green vegetation and beautiful flowers that can help us wash our eyes after hours of working with papers and computers. Especially, if you can get to the top of the pass where I went, then you can get a panoramic view of the surrounding majestic mountains, distant beaches and a clear sky.
Cows' paradise
And an interesting detail in our cloud hunting yesterday is a herd of cows. When we reached the top of the pass, we came across a herd of cows leisurely grazing there. I don't know where they came from, but they seemed to be comfortably focused on enjoying their favorite plants and not paying much attention to us. This is really their paradise with a lot of lush plants around. The calves ran happily around their mothers. This is their completely private space, they can do whatever they like without fear of being disturbed by humans. I really envy them.
A great retreat
With the above characteristics, this becomes a great retreat. While I was walking around to explore the natural beauty of this area and take pictures of the clouds, my wife chose a lawn to meditate and then read a book. She is always like that. As an online marketer, she works with computers a lot, so I understand that times like these are great for her to re-balance her life and regain her energy. I could feel her happiness after spending time there, which also made me happy. And I guess my two dogs enjoyed their time there too. Instead of having to stay indoors, they were free to run everywhere. They followed me around to explore the area, they even challenged the cows. But they seemed so small that the cows didn't pay much attention to them. Until they got tired, they returned to my wife's side. Overall, our little family had a wonderful time together there enjoying the beauty of nature, breathing in the fresh air and doing the things we love. It is truly a wonderful place where we can escape from our busy daily lives to find peace and regain our energy.
Cloud hunting
And the main purpose of my trip today is hunting clouds. This is a great time and place to do it. When we got there around 3pm, the sky was still quite clear and blue. We took the time to explore around. And by about 4:30, the clouds had begun to appear scatteredly. At first they were just small clouds, then they quickly formed cloud streams surrounding the mountains. And just a moment later, a sea of clouds appeared. The sea of clouds became more and more dense and covered everything. I didn't see anything but some peaks rising out of the sea of clouds because I was lucky enough to be standing at a high peak. But then the clouds got thicker and thicker and they formed right on top of where we were. I don't know where they came from, but after about 5 minutes, everything was covered with clouds, I was only able to see things within about 10m. The cows were still grazing, they didn't care about the change around, they must have gotten used to it every day. The temperature dropped quite quickly, so we decided to return to the city before the clouds became thicker and the temperature dropped lower.
We had a really great day hunting clouds at a favorite spot. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post and have a great week head!