[tintuc]
Bo Bla waterfall is 80km southwest of Dalat on
Highway 20. Set in an undulating landscape covered in coffee plantations and
dominated by the Di Linh Massif, these spectacular falls were once a major
attraction for Vietnamese tour groups. Now, it seems, Bo Bla’s glory days have
passed, and this once popular tourist site has been left to rot and decay in
the sun and rain of the Central Highlands. The car park and entrance are now
almost completely concealed by bushes and trees; there’s mild graffiti on the ticket
kiosks; young lovers have carved their names into the concrete viewing huts;
the steep, winding stairway down to the falls is blocked by fallen bamboo and
banana trees; and the kitsch concrete elephants on the grassy bank by the falls
have lost all their painted colour and a few of their tusks have fallen off.
However, Bo Bla’s state of decay is great news
for travellers, like me, who prefer their waterfalls to be empty of tourists
and left in their natural state, rather than ‘embellished’ by fairground
statues and ruined by trash. Indeed, the abandoned theme park feel of Bo Bla
only adds to its appeal: there’s something of the magic and mystery of
‘Spirited Away’ about this place, and all the kitsch decorations look much
better with age and neglect – it feels as though you’ve stumbled upon an
ancient sacred site of ritual worship.
The dilapidation of the tourist infrastructure
is in stark contrast to the vitality of the falls themselves, which crash down
onto volcanic rocks from a height of over 50 metres. There’s a wide pool at the
base of the falls where you can bathe, watched over by the surreal concrete
elephants. The river beyond the falls is rocky and shaded by big tropical trees
with exposed roots reaching to the waters’ edge. This is a good spot for a
picnic, although there’s still some rubbish around, left here by the
not-so-thoughtful visitors who once descended upon this place when it was still
a popular tourist site. The crumbling stairway down to the falls offers superb
views of the cascade, glimpsed through dense foliage. Bo Bla is certainly the
prettiest and also one of the most atmospheric of all the falls I visited in
Lâm Đồng Province.
There’s no admission charge as there’s no one here to man the
ruined ticket kiosk. Young locals still visit from time to time for a romantic
walk at dusk, but, if you come on a weekday morning or afternoon, you’ll have
to entire site to yourself. The nearest town is Di Linh (10km) where you’ll
find food and accommodation, including Juliet’s
Villa Resort. You can take a local bus from
Dalat to Di Linh and then find a motorbike taxi to take you to the falls. Or
you can rent a motorbike or larger vehicle from Dalat and drive here yourself.
The falls are a two hour drive
