There is no way to say lost?
We started from Qui Nhon city, following Highway 1A north for about 50 km to reach Cat Tai commune, Phu Cat district. Mr. Do, our guide, was waiting for us at the meeting point. After parking our motorbikes at his friend’s house, we eagerly shouldered our backpacks and headed up the mountain.
After passing through a vast, gently sloping cashew orchard, the group finally began to climb the mountain. The trees were dense, vines and thorny bushes tangled, and large and small rocks were scattered all over the mountainside, with almost no path.
Start moving towards Ba mountain range
Past the cashew garden is the start of the mountain.
A moment of rest halfway up the mountain
When asked "how to avoid getting lost?", Mr. Do just smiled and did not answer. Climbing quite high on the mountainside, we came across several charcoal kilns that were emitting billowing smoke. Passing through this area, everyone felt their chests tighten because of the high concentration of toxic CO in the air.
A charcoal kiln on the mountain
After passing the charcoal kilns for a while, we stopped at a small stream to have lunch and lighten our luggage. Only then did Mr. Do slowly say: “There are no roads here to get lost. Actually, we… often get lost on the mountain. It’s just that after wandering around for a while, we finally reach a familiar place, and then… we’re not lost anymore.”
While we were still confused, he continued: “Those charcoal kilns are the reason why we often get lost. Usually when going into the forest, we leave traces of our path on the tree trunks, and the charcoal makers cut down trees here today, and somewhere else tomorrow, so sometimes we mark the path up the mountain one day, but a few days later when we go down the mountain, we lose track.”
Go into the bushes
After resting, we set off again. The trees were tangled, we had to use a knife to cut through the vines and thorns to make our way through. Mr. Do smiled broadly: "It's true that I have never been through this path before, but I won't get lost. Once we get up the hill, we will find our way back."Thunderstormit was the ridge. We were starting to find this kind of “searching” interesting so no one asked anymore, just followed him.
Fragrant wormwood fields on the mountain slopes
Late in the afternoon, we finally made our way up to the storm, where there were thousands of Artemisia trees - a type of coniferous tree with many branches and a sweet fragrance - in many places people bundle them up and use them as brooms to sweep the yard.
We immediately located Hon Chuong. After about half an hour of walking along the mountain ridge, quite close to Hon Chuong, Mr. Do stopped at a large, flat grassland, near a small stream, where the group set up camp.
Chuong Island with clouds lingering in the late afternoon
Set up tent, collect dry wood and prepare campfire
A rather special thing: on the top of Hon Chuong, there is a relic of an ancient Cham tower that has never been mentioned by French archaeologists in the list of ancient Cham relics in the Central region. The ruined ancient tower was our destination on Ba Mountain this time, but that is tomorrow's work.
Exploring the ancient tower of Hon Chuong - a failed mission
Dinner of grilled chicken and chicken porridge passed warmly on the mountain. Everyone went to bed early, but stories about the mysterious Hon Chuong tower and the Hoi gold prospectors who once roamed this area continued until quite late.
It rained last night so the early morning was cloudy, we forgot to have breakfast, just kept waiting to take pictures of Hon Chuong hidden in the clouds, it was truly magical.
Hon Chuong is hazy in the early morning clouds
Thin clouds drifted lazily across Hon Chuong
After a hasty breakfast, we only brought along a jungle knife and a 20 meter rope as thick as a big toe, heading straight for Hon Chuong. Passing through the sparse, high bushes, in just 15 minutes we arrived at the foot of Hon Chuong. It looked like that from afar, but when we got closer to the rock, we saw that it was… too big and steep. The back half of the rock was a cliff, we spent an hour not finding a suitable way to climb up, so we had to climb up to a lower rock located right next to Hon Chuong.
Looking back at the camp, clouds covered the mountainside beside it.
We sat on top of the nearby rock, clearly seeing the ruins of the brick Cham tower on top of Hon Chuong. The feeling was hard to describe. There was regret, because we did not reach the final destination; but also a bit of joy because we were here, after an interesting journey, very close to a relic that had almost never been mentioned in the archaeological record.
We climbed up the low rock next to it to get a close look at Hon Chuong.
About halfway through the afternoon, it started to drizzle. We returned to the hut to pack our luggage, clean up the trash, and went down the mountain.
At a suitable time with more complete preparation of time and means, we will definitely return to Hon Chuong.
