8. Ba Na Hills - Cable cars and the golden thread bridge
Our Xmas 2018 trip to Vietnam took in only 3 places - Danang, Phong Nha Caves and the Angsana Lang Co resort. While in Danang, the only thing we really wanted to see was the golden thread bridge.
When we first saw the photos, we admired the audacity of building such a design. It turns out that the bridge is in a theme park called Sun World Ba Na Hills which is about a 40 minute drive away from Danang city centre. There are various sections to this theme park in the hills - and cable cars link these sections together. The cable car rides were fairly impressive - I believe they are some of the world's longest and greatest in terms of elevation change. Humming over the lush green scenery, the first ride took at least 25 minutes.
Aside from the golden bridge, the park is an odd mix of fake France, Chinese pagodas, pretty gardens and indoor amusement arcades. The French quarter was the most disconcerting - in the warm Vietnam sunshine, a gothic cathedral stood in a square with a few streets with old European-style shop fronts. A fleeting aesthetic though, as quickly your brain realizes it's just paint and there is no substance to it. You can't walk in the stores. The church is not a real church. Walk a little further down and the facade drops, ending with construction sites still in progress.
As it turns out, back in 1919 French-occupied Vietnam, the French officials wanted to take a break from the intense heat. Ba Na Hills which enjoys some cooler temperatures due to its elevation was the resort built for this purpose. Originally, I had played around with the idea of staying at the resort as there is an onsite Mercure hotel. It seemed needlessly expensive though compared to the hotels in Danang city centre. Luckily, I did not as I'm not sure it would have been too pleasant to stay at the resort. We walked around a bit but 3-4 hours was enough time for the resort.
The golden bridge was indeed very shiny and its design made for some great photos. The cable cars were an unexpected highlight and the natural scenery was beautiful. Aside from those two features, everything else was missable.
When we first saw the photos, we admired the audacity of building such a design. It turns out that the bridge is in a theme park called Sun World Ba Na Hills which is about a 40 minute drive away from Danang city centre. There are various sections to this theme park in the hills - and cable cars link these sections together. The cable car rides were fairly impressive - I believe they are some of the world's longest and greatest in terms of elevation change. Humming over the lush green scenery, the first ride took at least 25 minutes.
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| Golden bridge in the misty Ba Na Hills |
Aside from the golden bridge, the park is an odd mix of fake France, Chinese pagodas, pretty gardens and indoor amusement arcades. The French quarter was the most disconcerting - in the warm Vietnam sunshine, a gothic cathedral stood in a square with a few streets with old European-style shop fronts. A fleeting aesthetic though, as quickly your brain realizes it's just paint and there is no substance to it. You can't walk in the stores. The church is not a real church. Walk a little further down and the facade drops, ending with construction sites still in progress.
As it turns out, back in 1919 French-occupied Vietnam, the French officials wanted to take a break from the intense heat. Ba Na Hills which enjoys some cooler temperatures due to its elevation was the resort built for this purpose. Originally, I had played around with the idea of staying at the resort as there is an onsite Mercure hotel. It seemed needlessly expensive though compared to the hotels in Danang city centre. Luckily, I did not as I'm not sure it would have been too pleasant to stay at the resort. We walked around a bit but 3-4 hours was enough time for the resort.
The golden bridge was indeed very shiny and its design made for some great photos. The cable cars were an unexpected highlight and the natural scenery was beautiful. Aside from those two features, everything else was missable.
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| Shiny bridge |
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