Vietnam - The Ba Na Hills Experience

Hello everyone. Welcome to the third edition in this video series, I Love Vietnam. In this video, I take you on a day trip from Da Nang to the number one tourist attraction in all of Vietnam. So stick around, let's see what happens. Good morning from beautiful Da Nang, Vietnam. Today I'm going on a day trip to Ba Na Hills, one of the quintessential experiences that everyone must do when you come to Da Nang. I'm just out front of my hotel at the moment waiting for a shuttle bus to come. I booked last night. I hope the booking comes through and I hope they show up soon. And we'll see when we get there. To be honest, before arriving in Da Nang, I had never heard of Ba Na Hills nor knew anything about it. My number one priority was to see the Golden Bridge, the arched bridgeway supported by two massive hands coming out of a mountainside with amazing views of the valley below. However, trying to book a tour, I learned that it was all part of the same attraction, the Ba Na Hills experience, which included the world's longest single line cable car gondola ride, access to the Golden Bridge and a host of other areas, attractions, temples, gardens, amusement parks and a French village all on the top of a mountain. So this was my Ba Na Hills experience. Well, we've made it to the base camp here at Ba Na Hills. We're just about ready to go up the world's longest single line cable car. We're just getting our tickets. We'll be on our way up. The Sun World Ba Na Hills Park opened its doors in 2009 and is about 25 kilometers west from Da Nang City. When it opened its doors, it set two world records for the highest and the longest non-stop cable car system in the world. There are actually five different cable car systems at Ba Na Hills, each one going to different locations on the mountain. The combined capacity of all five cable cars is 7,000 people per hour. The main line going from the base to the very top is 5,771 meters, the longest single line cable car in the world. The views going up were spectacular. From up above, we could see waterfalls and mountain streams weaving through the jungle below. Looking down, we could see banana trees lined up the hillside and learn that that's how the Ba Na Hills got its name from the abundance of banana trees on the mountain. So this is the longest single car in the world? Yes, one line. By the end of the 15-minute ride to the top, we were 1,500 meters above sea level and the temperature had dropped considerably and the visibility was quite poor. It wasn't looking too good for my selfie on the Golden Bridge. So behind me, big hands holding up the Golden Bridge at the top here in Ba Na Hills. This Golden Bridge is world famous. It was built in 2018. Hope that it clears up a little better so we get some better views. It was about 10 a.m. It was still early in the day and the crowds weren't too bad so I took the opportunity to explore around a bit and check out some of the other areas with hopes the visibility would improve after lunch. I suddenly realized how massive this area was. Pathways leading to the different areas were so elaborate and they had such a mystical feeling amongst all the fog. The first attraction along the way was the Bar de Bay wine cellar, a 100-year-old wine cellar used initially by the French colonists to keep their wine out of the heat and at the perfect temperature. An extensive underground pathway takes you back in time replicating life a century ago and even today they continue to store wine there at the perfect temperature where you can sample or purchase it at a wine sampling area as you exit the cellar. We're getting to experience such a beautiful place up here but being the winter season of course it's a little bit foggy up here today and the views aren't as great as we were hoping but hopefully maybe as the day progresses it might clear up a bit and we'll get some better shots. Right behind me is the Lin An Pagoda top here at Bana Hills, one of the three famous pagodas in Da Nang. So with the fog today up at Bana Hills the temperature we're experiencing right now is 12 degrees which is very cold for the Vietnamese people but it's a nice break for me from taking three showers a day and sweating non-stop back in Thailand. Right behind me is one of the most amazing views from Bana Hills but today slow again. Several well-manicured gardens were all around the big buddha statue where many people can enjoy some solitude, offer a prayer or escape for a moment of reflection. It occurred to me that this park was well prepared for large numbers of visitors on site. Prior to the recent travel restrictions in 2019 the park had 2.5 million visitors in one year. The humidity is so high here that you can see my breath. It's only about 12 degrees so I'm kind of liking this cool weather. A small tram takes you along the mountainside to a medieval castle themed hotel where we got to watch a short interactive video before we moved on to the largest indoor amusement park in all of Vietnam. There were rides for kids of all ages as well as the usual target shooting, racing games and everything was free with your entry to the park. There was a Jurassic Park section filled with grand displays of many of your favorite dinosaurs. Every little detail was so carefully crafted I had to keep reminding myself that they built all of this on the top of a mountain. I'm impressed. After a quick lunch we decided to take one more chance to see if we could hopefully get our selfie with the view on the golden bridge. Unfortunately it just wasn't my day so I'll be back again one day with warmer climate and try to get that selfie one more time. But for now I'll fight my way against the bridge traffic and call it a day. Jump on a cable car and head back to Da Nang. Well I got the cable car to myself. What can I say about this amazing area? It's absolutely beautiful. Today we got a little bit of fog so it hampers the view a little bit but you can still see the beauty of this place. I highly recommend that you come to Ba Na Hills on your next trip to Da Nang. Unfortunately today I didn't get the great views I was hoping for but I did gain an immense appreciation for the amount of work that has been put into this place. The amount of money invested, the amount of time, the immense detail, the beautifully manicured areas, over 25 acres all on top of a mountain in the clouds. This is Sun World at Ba Na Hills. Well that's it for this video folks. Thanks for watching. I hope you liked it. 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