After close to five hours on a mini bus we were finally coming up on our destination, the less frequented by tourist area of Ba Be national park/ lake, I had never heard of it before and judging by the fact Chau and i were two of about six people going not many others had heard of it either.
Last 30-45 min of the journey to the inhabited parts of Ba Be had been over some very rocky and mountainous terrain but i guess it all just adds to the sense of going off the beaten track. After reaching a few clustered buildings with homestay signs out front our bus stopped and all the passengers except Chau and i were told this is their booked accommodation, seems we were staying a bit further along the road.
Another 10 min saw us at out homestay, our homestay like many in Asia was pretty basic but for the prices we were paying you can't really complain. After dropping our bags we went to find our hosts in the hope of hiring a scooter (i recommend, or at least a push bike) and went exploring. Exploring by scooter is a lot of fun and there is almost no traffic making it much easier than pretty much the rest of Vietnam, after driving about all afternoon and seeing some amazing countryside we realised there didn't seem to be that much to do on our own so went to find a tourist office.
Not a bad view from out guesthouse
We found a building that advertised tours down at the lake and found out that anything worth seeing has to happen by boat around the lake, being the case we made a deal with one of the locals who agreed to take us to the sights the next morning so we went back to our guesthouse to prepare!
Due to the remoteness and lack of large tourist numbers your dining is pretty much down to the guesthouses so be prepared if you don't like the local food.
The next day we were off bright and early at 7am and down to the boats to start the day of sightseeing around the lake, our first stop was Na Phong cave. The cave is easily accessed by boat as a river runs though it that flows into the lake itself so we were able to simply float in and make our way up the purpose built steps and along the man made path that snakes through the cave allowing you to take in the full magnitude of the cave and its impressive display of stalactites and stalagmites that adorn the cave.
Cave entrance
Chau exploring
After the caves we made our way back down the river to the Dau Dang water fall, this is actually a few waterfalls together which you'll get to after a short trek through the forest. its a relatively nice waterfall made better by the fact we were the only ones there at the time but to be honest isn't really worth spending more than a few minutes at.
Dau Dang Waterfall
Our third stop brought us to Fairy Pond, a small inland lake that I'm told is a beautiful blue during the dry season but as were here during the wet its more of a green but still not a bad place to visit, the pond has its share of traders here obviously in expectation of tourists but we seemed again to be alone here at this time.
Fairy pond
The final stop on our journey brought us to a temple up on a hill which to be honest was a bit unimpressive, there was some small buildings and a shrine and a couple of dogs tied up barking their heads off at us so did'nt spend much time here.
After that we headed back to shore and to our homestay to pack and prepare to return to Hanoi. We only ended up spending one night as we though it was sufficient, the only reason i would stay longer is to do some trekking in the mountains.
I believe the reason this area is less frequently visited is along with its remoteness theres not a lot there, i enjoyed the landscape and peacefulness but not sure if its worth the journey in the end but am still happy i was able to see another part of Vietnam few people tend to experience.
On the lake