TRAVELLIVE MAGAZINE Travellive 12-2015 | Page 120

ON OTHER SIDE OF THE ABYSS, THERE ARE COUNTLESS WE STOPPED TO RELAX AND CONTEMPLATE Although they cannot understand our language of Kinh ethnic, they are friendly and happy to take photos with us. They were on the way to forest to collect some kinds of leaves. One shown us the precious medicinal plant that she had taken. Then, our guide told us they called it Sinh Khung. Afterwards, the terrace got more varied. We crossed meadows, bamboo forests, cardamom fields and a strange forest named Tung Cua Sin. In that forest, we found hawthorn trees with pure white flowers, “chi co” trees with bright yellow flowers and hundreds of crimson azaleas. We also met Ha Nhi ethic women wearing their traditional costumes. 120 TRAVELLIVE From a height of 2400m and above, I crossed dry fields with burned trees. The forest here disappeared after villagers cut trees to build their houses, hunted wild animals, slashed and burned. A Ho shared that on the other side of this mountain, pristine forests still exist and are home to wild animals thanks to their remote and difficult-to-access position. Towards Den Sang, we could see the Nhiu Co San Mountain appearing among spongy white clouds. On other side of the abyss, there are countless stones with very strange shapes. We stopped to relax and contemplate the beautiful scenery. Our guide called this stop “stone waves”. Although they have been friends with the mountains for a long time, the two guides were as excited as us when presented with the captivating beauty of nature. They even asked us to take photos for them. I’m madly passionate about clouds. Although in the opposite site - Trinh Tuong, clouds were hovering, at the stop, we could not see any sign of the cloud sea as hazes covered the entire area. We all expected to see the more