We woke up early at 6:30 AM, had some peanuts for breakfast, then trekked the Tagong mountains with my sandals. I have to admit that my sandals were not made for going on dam places like these grass fields. Sometimes, I had to jump over or Alex had to lift me up to pass. He was kind enough to do so.
Because of the heavy rain yesterday evening and night, there was water everywhere. Anyway, I tried to keep up with Alex. We couldn’t cross the river, that’s why we made it a long way to the top of a hill. Because the path was so small, I decided that my health and fear of heights weren’t good enough for trekking more. My speed must have restrained Alex because he wanted to do a big round passing several mountains. Without me, he could enjoy his trek even more. I parted ways with Alex and found my own way to go back to the hostel.
The way down was scary. I was very proud to stand alone on the top of the mountain, but then looking down made me frightened. I was scared of heights. There was no track, and the way was steep enough I had to walk very slowly and choose a good place to step on. At least, I wasn’t scared of snakes because there was no bush here. The fright didn’t go because after the mountain came the big field with muddy areas. And I saw some vultures whose voices scared me all the more. I nearly ran pass that field because I was afraid of becoming “the elephant of Tran Hung Dao”. After that, the thrill wasn’t over when some guys stared at me on the way back to the hostel. But I decided to pretend to be calm and took a leisure walk back. I left my camera with Alex, so I couldn’t take any pic on the way back.
Alex came back then we had fried rice for lunch with some eggs. The food made me miss my Daddy.
I decided to take a nap for about 1 hour then Alex woke me up and we went to see the golden temple (Lhagang Monastery) near the town center. Unluckily, there was no way in, so we went to the Tagong Monastery instead. This was the monastery near our hostel. We bought the tickets but dammit, the place was under reconstruction, we couldn’t see many things.
Alex got a lil bit sunburned on his face, but I still encouraged him to trek the mountain behind the monastery by himself. At 3:00 PM, I went back to the hostel watching a movie and waited for Alex. He was so healthy. I envied him.
I was the first person that marked on Vietnam on the world map in this hostel. I was so proud of myself.
P.s.: P.s.: Elevation in Tagong was said to be from 3,700 m. Later, Alex told me that Tagong was his favorite place on our trip. I understood why.
P.p.s: THIS PART I WROTE WHEN I GOT BACK HOME:
“Having been to Tagong Grassland is like having been to Lhasa.” That was a nice saying I needed in order to get rid of my fear of Tagong’s mountain trekking.