After a year with a lot of mental things that had happened to me, I was just desperate to do something differently. So on the Tết vacation of 2022, with the complexity of the covid situation, I decided not to go home but took a small trip instead. Thanks to Facebook algorithm, I then registered a tour to Tà Năng - Phan Dũng, as it’s advertised as the most beautiful trekking trail on the south side.

The tour has about 30 people, all strangers to me, and 4 tour guides, we moved to Lâm Đồng by travel bus on the 2nd day of Tết (mùng 2) and start trekking the next morning. It was a hot sunny day, we walked through woods, through streams, slope after slope, hill after hill, with the yellow of dead grass, the blue of the sky, the green of trees. Since there are no cellular signals on the entire tour, it felt like living off the grid :))
People were so friendly and funny, we are mostly single people that did not go home for Tết for various reasons. We said hi, we helped and shared, talked to each other all along the trip.

At the end of day 1, We camped on the top of a hill when the sun went down, we were even able to take shower and ate some food thanks to the preparation of some local guys (part of the tour).
The temperature went down quickly, and the night was cold as shit, but the sky full of stars, dulcet sounds from the acoustic guitar, warmth from the campfire, sound of laughing, chatting, singing from new friends, all of that has made it a memorable night.
On the next day, we continued the trekking but it has fewer hills and slopes, mostly walking through a forest.

The total distance of this trekking trail is about 35km, I’ve never been walking this much, though my feet were a little tired, yet I felt a little better, and also got acquainted with some new interesting friends. The cost of this tour is about 3 mil VND (Tet price), if you’re interested in taking a similar tour but don’t know how to start, please feel free to pm me, maybe we can go on a trip together.

_ Nhuong Hoang, Feb 22 _