Cliff Dives and Sexy Slides: Canyoning in Dalat

Recently I took a trip to Dalat for a weekend away with the girls.  After the shortest flight in history, a mere 25 minutes from take off to touch down, we landed in Dalat for a weekend out of the city.  Our goal was to get some fresh air and see what all the fuss was about for this little city in the Central Highlands.  We got that and more when we signed up for a canyoning trek with Viet Challenge.

Now, I’m all for new experiences, but the thought of rappelling down waterfalls and jumping off canyon cliffs wasn’t my idea of a relaxing weekend away.  Deep down, I’m a wimp.  But Lisa, Lou, and Trina wouldn’t hear it.  So we geared up, wrangled ourselves into our harnesses, strapped on helmets, and set off into the woods with our guides, Duan and Roy.

Trina, me, Lisa, and Lou
Locked and loaded!

Our first abseil was down an 18m cliff.  I was terrified, which I tried to keep under wraps.  But after seeing a couple of the girls take that step backwards off the edge, jump and rappel down the rocks, and land safely at the bottom unscathed, I took a deep breath and grabbed the ropes.  After the initial nerves wore off and we took the plunge, we were all hooked!  The adrenaline was pumping, and we were ready for more...

Eeeeeek, so high!!

Next up was an “easy” jump from a 3m cliff into what looked like very shallow water.  I won’t point fingers, but some of the group backed out of the jump -- it seemed like you would surely smash your skull on the rocks as soon as you hit the water!  (We didn’t die!)

From here, the day got more and more exciting.  We did a few water slides down some shallow falls, which were equal parts terrifying and exhilarating.  We had to lie on our backs, tuck one arm behind our heads to protect our necks from snapping, and use the other hand to plug our noses so we didn’t inhale water and drown.  Fun!

Lou prays that she kept her insurance coverage current

Over the next several hours, we hiked along the canyon, waded across rivers, rappelled down ever-more-frightening waterfalls, jumped from higher-than-sanity-should-allow cliffs, and barreled down slippery water slides.  We even got to share some intimate moments together during a “sexy water slide” which challenged my personal space limits.  If you want to know what is involved in the sexy water slide, I’m going to make you travel to Dalat and find out for yourself.  It’s just too intimate for me to describe here on Samantha in Saigon.

Lisa climbs out of the canyon

Human chain across the river

Riding the waves

We jumped from the platform above that guy!!
11m -- what were we thinking??

Just abseiling down a 25m waterfall.
No big deal.

Wading through the water because the rocks are too slippery

Trina rappels down into unseeable depths in the Washing Machine waterfall

The canyoning trek was incredible, and I can’t say enough about our guides, Duan and Roy.  We had such a blast doing things we never thought we could and laughing possibly more than four grown women should.

But I do have share one truly ghastly thing that happened:

I lost a sock in the notorious 16m Washing Machine abseil!

They call it the Washing Machine because you spin around in the water so much,
you come out clean on the other side!

Sock down! Sock down!