After a long sleep to make up for the early morning cloud hunting in Cau Dat, waking up to see the beautiful weather, I immediately invited Son - a friend in the group to go with me. Without hesitation, Son said we should leave early to have time to go out, take pictures in the sun and come back early because the sky in the forest gets dark quite quickly.
Scenery at Tuyet Tinh Coc Da Lat
Around noon, Son rented a sturdy motorbike, neatly tied his hat and jacket, had lunch and then hit the road. Leaving the center of Da Lat, turning off Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street onto Ankroet Street, another Da Lat appeared, truly Da Lat. The sun and wind were abundant, the sun shining down on the endless, dark green pine forests on both sides of the road, making the pine leaves shine with patches of light like phosphorescence, mysterious. I sat at the back and occasionally raised my phone to take pictures of the clean, sunny and windy road, the rows of trees touching each other made us feel colder than usual when we were on the road. This road had fewer wild sunflowers than the one from the airport to the city center, but in return, the more we went, the more we felt like we were lost in the most beautiful forest road in Vietnam.
The car crossed the entrance to the Golden Valley, passed Ma Rung Lu Quan, passed Ankroet spillway, passed the place with the famous lonely pine tree of Da Lat and the pink grass hill, crossed Dankia Lake and then Suoi Vang Lake. Interestingly, while Dankia Lake has a deep pale yellow color of basalt soil typical of the Highlands, at Suoi Vang Lake, the water is silvery white. The gentle winds blowing on the sun-dappled pine trees create sounds like the endless violins of miraculous Nature. Passed through Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park, "the roof of the Central Highlands" with two mountain peaks: Bidoup 2,287 m high and Nui Ba 2,167 m high.
The high, vertical cliffs look incredibly massive, the lake below is a clear emerald green color formed by the mixture of rainwater and available underground water.
The scenery was so beautiful that we got lost for a long distance, and only when we lost our phone signal did we feel guilty and find our way back. When we got there, the internet was back, and after a while we arrived at Cu Lan Village. This place was temporarily closed after the death of several Korean tourists. We stopped to take some pictures at the village gate and then looked at Google map again, and saw that it was only 6.5 km away from Tuyet Tinh Coc.
It turned out that the turn to Tuyet Tinh Coc, we had passed it twice, but because it was the entrance to the forest, we didn’t pay attention, starting with a dusty dirt road. There was a muddy section, for some reason, but going through it, we knew for sure that if it was a rainy day, a motorbike like this would not be able to pass.
The further we went, the darker the forest became, the greenhouses for growing vegetables and flowers almost disappeared. The narrow valleys below the hill were dark green, tangled with vines. Finally, Google map directed us to a small road. It was called a road because there were no trees growing there and it had a silvery color because of the traffic, but it was a mountain road with rough rocks interspersed with small mounds of earth, sometimes a deep ditch about 1/3 of the wheel, probably formed by rainwater flowing down from above. Where it was flatter, the path was winding with large pine roots growing out like snakes wriggling in the swamp. Very difficult to walk.
But the scenery is so beautiful. The more deserted a place is, the more wild and hidden its beauty is. The sunlight covers the mountain slopes, on the straight and sturdy pine trunks, reflecting on the ground, creating wild and colorful stereoscopic paintings. Occasionally, there are butterflies and birdsong soaring clearly in the middle of the lonely space of the old forest.
The sound of the car still growled, like the effort of someone trying to climb a difficult slope. After a while, the two brothers stopped at a pine forest, drank a full bottle of water, stood there panting, then got back on the car and continued walking. They reached the place Google map said: "You have arrived" but still saw nothing. Son looked around and pointed to the path on the left, where there were some bows tied, saying to go in there and see what happened. After going in, it was downhill again, so it was probably not there. In our minds, Tuyet Tinh Coc must be a place with murmuring streams and waterfalls. But even though the afternoon forest was so quiet, only the sound of birds could be heard somewhere.
The two brothers were confused and helpless, each of them quickly picked up their phones and “called their relatives”. Son finished calling and looked thoughtful, saying that his friend told him that the entrance to Tuyet Tinh Coc was near a wooden house. Now go out and find the wooden house to see where it was so he can re-locate.
Tuyet Tinh Coc is likened to a charming landscape in the middle of the plateau.
On the way out, I suddenly saw a pickup truck rushing out of the forest like a Buddha. I quickly jumped down to ask for directions. The man driving said to continue for about 5-60 meters, the way up was higher. The way in went around a low hill, still rough and bumpy, so I continued to walk, leaving Son to drive alone to go ahead. While I was panting, my shirt soaked in sweat, staggering in, I suddenly heard Son shout loudly: We're here! So beautiful! Son's voice echoed off the cliff, into the forest in the afternoon sunlight, echoing a ghostly, surreal sound.
A clear emerald lake in the middle of an old forest, surrounded above by steep limestone cliffs, each block of rock layered evenly, covered with the color of time, reflecting on the lake. Looking at the color of the water reminded me of the blue of the Yangtuo Yongzhuo Holy Lake in Tibet. The afternoon sun, clouds, the old forest, cliffs and lake created a wonderful scene with surreal beauty, looking very much like a scene in an ancient costume movie. Standing idly admiring such a beautiful scene, I suddenly thought: Yang Guo lived with Little Dragon Girl in this sky, amidst the wind blowing clouds flying in the high sky and vast land, passionately in love with his confidant, far away from the mundane world, there really was no happier paradise.
Looking at the bridges made of tree trunks extending out to the lake or the swing made of dry branches above, along with the information about the jeep fleet that my friend told us, we understood that this place used to be an adventure tourist destination. But now these bridges and swings have become “heritage” in an almost completely deserted place.
We took pictures and marveled at the beautiful scenery. Starting with the bridge on the left of the entrance extending out to a large rock, where a lonely tree stood in the middle of the lake, then moving to the bridge in the middle of the lake and finally the rock precariously on the right of the lake with the ghostly rays of afternoon sunlight as if Mother Nature had draped an unfinished golden silk across this place.
Opposite the tree growing in the middle of the lake, looking up, there was a large, thick rock with a rather flat surface. Looking at it, I thought if there was some kind of Chinese god with martial arts skills who could use his finger to write the three Chinese characters “Tuyet Tinh Coc” here, how wonderful it would be. After wandering around and admiring it for a long time, the two brothers still felt unsatisfied and reluctant to leave, so Son told me to climb up to look down, who knows, maybe we would see something surprising.
Beautiful nature
From above, Tuyet Tinh Coc looks even more surreal with its steep limestone cliffs and precarious tree trunks that make me think they could collapse at any moment if there is a heavy rain or flood. The sunlight shines diagonally across the upper half, dividing the scene into a bright half, while the lower half, the mist from the afternoon lake gradually dims, dividing the ink painting into a dark half. We just stood there, admiring the scene as if trying to take it all in, trying to use our eyes to capture each frame.
When the two brothers climbed down, it was late afternoon, the sun was only faintly visible. They had been wandering here for more than an hour, but they had to return if they did not want to cross the jungle in the pitch black night.
The road back was bumpy and difficult, but everyone felt satisfied. Our country is beautiful everywhere, but there are unique and surreal, strange and majestic scenes only for those who love nature passionately, dare to go and come to have moments of refreshment and joy in the wild wind and sky.
