[News Flash! For a much more concise pictorial account of our trip, see Tim's site. Also, Karl Rove hates America. That is all.]

Of the zillion motorbike owners in Vietnam, a healthy percentage spends all day loitering on street corners and offering budget taxi service to foreigners.

There they are. The most common pickup line: "You wan motobai?" We quickly learned to ignore the guys completely. But because our destination, Bach Ma National Park, was not on the tourist track, it was motobai or bust. Our chauffeurs were cool, and had enough English to negotiate the terms and schedule of a round trip. Handy!

The park encompasses Bach Ma Mountain's 1450m peak and the surrounding area. (Bach Ma means "white horse", after the appearance of the clouds that periodically roll over the area.) It was originally a French hill station. The bombed-out remains can still be found, especially by ace maritime troubleshooters like Tim.

The altitude eased the heat and humidity somewhat, but it was still sultry stuff. Still, just being away from the city and tourist insanity felt great. The waterfalls were pretty rad, too.

Bach Ma's "Five Lakes", where a river flowing down the mountain runs over a series of terraces.
This results in a river, waterfall, [pond-sized] lake, river, waterfall, lake, river... pattern which is quite beautiful.

Reminded me of northern Minnesota. The park's Big Momma waterfall is Rhododendron Falls. Top to bottom, maybe 250m or so? But I ain't scared. Gonna take me a nap.

We got up bright and early the following morning in order to subject ourselves to the nearly 700-step stairway to the base of the falls. On the way down, we saw this guy, who was kind enough to pose for a picture.

The view from the bottom. Tim wonders why Karl Rove hates America.

We also took a dip in the pool at the base, but I sold all the pictures of shirtless me to Hott Scrawny Pasty Boyz magazine. Sorry. As you can imagine, the hike back up the steps was pure heart-exploding fun!

There were also some pretty flowers.

And what park would forget a sign with some anthropomorphized flora and fauna imploring visitors to be considerate? Cute. Almost (gasp) Japanese!

Next stop, another city that apparently has some famous shit in it.

wchat you don't know, briian, is that people reed your sight. they read it real good. and the things you say are sometimes too good for furry. and when that happens, peace lives. oftentimes on tuesday,and in christ. so think over that, when you're sitting in your high chair, nda looking over all you cervey. think about that. d00d.