Elephant Waterfall

Elephant Waterfall- A Rare Landscape Waiting for Natural Lovers' Discovery

Elephant waterfall which associated with this faithful, woeful and majestic love has been recognized as a national landscape. It is a not- to-be-missed most wonderful and majestic waterfall that tourists in Vietnam travel coming to Dalat- Lam Dong province should visit.

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Elephant (Voi) Waterfall is located about 25 kilometers southwest of Da Lat City of Lam Dong Province in Nam Ban Townlet, Lam Ha District. This waterfall, also called Lieng Rowoa Waterfall, is considered as the most beautiful and majestic waterfall in the highlands province of Lam Dong. It is more than 30m high, about 15m wide with the water flows make an area be obscured by the very white spray.

It is unfortunate that if you visit Da Lat - Lam Dong you do not visit the secret and dreaming of Lieng Rowoa Waterfall (Voi Waterfall). The waterfall appears as many elephants are swimming together.

According to local legend, the name of the waterfall is derived from a folk story about a beautiful girl, the daughter of the head of a tribe in Joi Bieng mountain region, who had an excellent voice, when she sang the foliate seem to stop rustling, the bird stop singing to listen to her. She had promised of becoming spouse with a handsome, brave and strong young man, the son of the head of a tribe in the neighbour region. But one day, the young man must say good bye to his lover to be fighting at the front. She waited for long time but the young man did not come back. She went to the place where they made the promise before and began singing with ardent and mournful voice. The B'ling birds had been moved by her voice. They flied far away to seek out information and then flied back to inform her that the young man had died in the battle. However, the girl did not accept this bitter truth and she sang to call her lover until she get exhausted and falling down. The flock of elephants that had lied prostrate to listen to her turned into stone. The waterfall named Lieng Rowoa Joi Bieng, means the waterfall of elephants that lied prostrate turned into stone before the ardent and faithful love.

The waterfall which associated with this faithful, woeful and majestic love has been recognized as a national landscape. The transparent water flowing through granite mountain sides looks really spectacular, especially when the waterfall is illuminated by the brilliant sunlight, seven-coloured rainbow will appear.

Next to the waterfall is Gio (wind) Cave. The road to enter the cave is narrow between two cliffs, but inside the cave there are many wide spaces and full of wind. Voi Waterfall looks like a lively picture which has been carved by nature with the particularly interesting caves hide after craggy cliffs and many rocks now appear, now disappear look like as many elephants are jostling to bath. At the foot of the waterfall stream there are many large, flat and smooth stones like the nature set up to offer tourists sit to chat.

Voi Waterfall is waiting to be discovered by the natural lovers. The waterfall is still keeping the original's features. Some guest houses, tourist clubs, some poetic bridges are looming in the deep eyesight. Every year, the Voi Waterfall welcomes thousands of visitors in Vietnam travel. If you are the people who like wild, quiet, go to this place to contemplate the hills and mountains, pine forests and rocky waterfalls.

Dalat Truc Lam Zen Monastery

Visiting Dalat Truc Lam Zen Monastery in Vietnam Tourism

In Vietnam tourism, tourists can hide away from everyday worries and seem to be able to regain themselves in the greatness of the nature when visiting Truc Lam Zen Monastery in the quietness of hills and mountains. Zen helps you to live in "full awareness" and bring your soul back into peaceful state.

On the way from National Road 20 to Tuyen Lam Lake, tourists in Vietnam travel have to run right onto a zigzagging tar road at the mountain side to Phoenix Summit, on which stands beautiful famous Truc Lam Zen Monastery in an open poetic natural environment. Established in special social conditions, with the aim of restoring Truc Lam Yen Tu Xen School founded by the King Tran Thanh Tong, this Zen school has harmoniously combined different Zen schools with Vietnamese culture and tradition into Vietnamese Zen. Truc Lam Zen Monastery lies on a protected forest of 23,2 hectares, of which 2 hectares is the building area.

Besides the Main Hall in the middle, on the right are the consulting room, the belfry and displaying room on the right; on the left are the sitting room, library, abbot’s room and contemplation hall. Before reaching the Main Hall, tourists may take two ways. They may start at the bus stop, take the side gate up 61 steps or, from the lake, climb the 222 steps through the triple gate onto the court in front. Inside the Main Hall, statues are displayed simply but meditatively. In the bright spacious sanctuary is the only statue of Sakyamuni Buddha raising a lotus in his hand – a symbolic image of Buddha in Linh Son Dharma Conference, expressing the philosophy of ‘existence in nihilism’ in Buddhist Zen.

Zen helps you to live in "full awareness" and bring your soul back into peaceful state. Truc Lam Buddhist Zen emphasizes on every one’s interior concentration, either a religious or someone in your family. This introspective soul training process leads to personal purification, builds a care-free mind and help one’s good nature to show up; this is the real peace in everyone’s interior, not in a certain paradise in a faraway world.

Thus, visiting Truc Lam Zen Monastery in the quietness of hills and mountains, tourists in Vietnam travel are free from everyday worries and seem to be able to regain themselves in the greatness of the nature.

Dalat Palace Golf Club

Dalat Palace Golf Club regarded as Vietnam’s Top Golf Course

Dalat Palace Golf Club, located in the center of Dalat city, is an 18-hole golf course with international technical standards and regarded as Vietnam’s top golf course. The course is crafted into the area's gently rolling hills, surrounded by stately pine trees, and seated above majestic Xuan Huong Lake.

• Spectacular scenery of Tam Dao golf course

The Dalat Palace Golf Club is a golf retreat that soothes the senses, invigorates the body and calms the mind. Since the opening of Dalat Palace Golf Club in 1922, it has hosted golfers from around the world.  

In early 1994, Dalat emerged once again as the ideal golf retreat in Southeast Asia with the revival and expansion of Dalat Palace Golf Club. The 18-hole course is crafted into the area's gently rolling hills, surrounded by stately pine trees, and seated above majestic Xuan Huong Lake. 

The Dalat Palace Golf Club remains linked to its past by the original clubhouse, built in 1956 when the initial 9-hole club was first renovated. The clubhouse has been fully restored and remains in use today with a full pro shop, restaurant, fireplace and outdoor patio areas. The clubhouse restaurant offers both superb Vietnamese and International cuisine.

At 7,009 yards in length and par 72, Dalat Palace Golf Club is an enjoyable challenge for golfers of all levels. Low handicap players will be tested by a series of lakes, which meander through ten of eighteen holes, as well as strategically placed bunkers, which penalize the miscalculating risk-taker. Novice players will find relief with large accommodating greens normally left open for run-up approach shots, as well as wide, forgiving fairways. 

Dalat Palace Golf Club features par 3's ranging in length from 164 to 234 yards and par 5's up to 556 yards. These varied lengths allow a true examination of one's golfing skills, and require that players use each club in their bag - the hallmark of a great golf course. Four different tee areas on each hole allow players to determine their own degree of challenge on the course.

A full practice area complements the golf course, with an open 290-yard driving range, a putting green, and practice bunkers.

Coming to the Dalat Palace Golf Club, visitors in Vietnam travel enjoy the beautiful landscapes here and have a chance to admire the majestic beauty of Xuan Huong Lake.

Dalat’s Datanla Waterfall

Datanla Waterfall is not only one of the most beautiful falls in Dalat city but also a great destination for tourists in Vietnam travel to see in this area. According to a legend of the ethnic minority groups, Datanla became the meeting place of two lovers.

• Xung Khoeng Waterfall Destination in Gia Lai

Dalat’s Datanla Waterfall is just 5 km away from the city center (on the way to Prenn Waterfall). The imposing waterfall is pretty deep; it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk from the top to the bottom. According to a legend, the waterfall had a deep cave hidden in the forest so it was one of the shelters of a troop of local inhabitants in the war with the Chams; thanks to this waterfall the troop can reside a pressure on their force. Therefore, the minorities call it Datanla meaning the water under the leaves, the eater under the stone.

Datanla Waterfall- Dalat City- Lam Dong Province

According to a legend of the minorities, Datanla was the place where the brave man named K’Lang and the mountainous lady named Ho Biang met each other. Here the man had a fight with fierce wild animals including snakes, 7 wolves and 2 foxes. This interesting legend wrote: “trees are blown down, wind roars, the fight is absolutely violent. Lang pulls out his knife and chops down the tow snakes, takes out arrows and shoots at the wolves and the foxes which run away...The trees falling down make deep holes which make a death canyon at the bottom of the waterfall, and then Datanla became the meeting place of two lovers”

Up the waterfall, there are green pine tree forests which are a hundred years old and flat block of stones. The Death Canyon is also the place for visitors to feel adventurous in the cliff climbing game, which means climbing up and down the cliff with sting.

Obviously, Datanla Waterfall is really a great destination for tourists in Vietnam travel to see in Dalat.

King Bao Dai’s Palace

Located on Trieu Viet Vuong Street, Da Lat in Lam Dong Province, Bao Dai’s Palace is a charming structure with a European renovated architectural style that helps beautify this romantic city.

The old palace, also known as Palace III, belonged to King Bao Dai, the last emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) in Vietnam’s feudal regime. It was built from 1933 to 1938 according to a design by a French architect and Vietnamese architect Huynh Tan Phat. The palace has been evaluated as one of the most beautiful architectural works in Da Lat with a hamorny between pine forests and parks, Thuong Uyen (royal garden), Ai An Forest and a small lake.

During his reign, King Bao Dai used the palace as holiday house during the summer. During his holidays in the palace, there were always a regiment of imperial guards, a train of cars called “Cong xa biet dien” and private airplanes to serve him and his family. In 1948, when the French persuaded Bao Dai to serve as “head of state” and then established “Hoang trieu Cuong tho”( Domaine de la Couronne in French) in 1950, Bao Dai’s Palace was renamed “Biet dien Quoc truong” (the palace of the head of state). 

Bao Dai’s Palace is imbued with the European renovated architectural style.

A room of King Bao Dai for receiving guest.

A great pair of elephant’s tusks are hunted by himself.

Lobbies in Bao Dai’s Palace communicate with each other. 

The showroom of images and belongings of King Bao Dai.

Bed room of Princess Phuong Lien and Prince Bao Thang.

Bao Dai’s Palace was designed with 25 rooms with a system of well-disposed flat roofs. After entering the main gate is the great hall with eaves to shade the car park. The ground floor was used for parties and meetings with foreign guests and government officials. The palace also includes working rooms, King Bao Dai’s office, a library, rooms for entertainment and a large dining room. The working room was designed with small architectural miniatures to create a hamonious combination between the living space inside and nature outside through doors and steel framed windows. At present, in the reception room many precious objects of King Bao Dai are displayed, including a painting on Angkor Wat presented by Cambodian King Shihanouk, and three tiger skins and an elephant’s tusk hunted by himself.

The first floor of the palace was used as the private space of the royal family with bedrooms of King Bao Dai and his wife, Queen Nam Phuong, and their three daughters and two sons. Near the bedroom of the king stands a beautiful tower called Vong Nguyet (waiting for the moon). The bedroom of Prince Bao Long who was selected to ascend the throne was painted yellow and all decorations have the same colour.

The garden on the grounds of the palace.

A tourist poses for a photo in royal dress. 

Visitors are interested in a classic car placed outside the palace.

Foreign tourists record images inside the palace.

/Bao Dai’s Palace attracts a large number of visitors.

Outside, to the right of the main gate and in the back of the palace are small parks with a style often seen in French palaces. Around the palace are small paths shaded by pipe trees.

When visiting the palace, tourists will feel the solemn, close and warm space of the palace where imprints of a historical character, the last king of the feudal regime that existed for over thousands of years in Vietnam, are preserved.

Da Lat’s night market

When the sun goes down, Da Lat city in Lam Dong province is lit up by the bright lights of shops, restaurants and hotels. In the cool night air, you should dress warmly to wander around the small streets exploring the local cuisine.

In the daytime, Da Lat charms visitors with its colorful flowers, green pine forests, beautiful lakes and fresh highlands air. Tourists often make side trips to outlying areas to see flower villages, mountains and magnificent waterfalls. When the sun sets, it’s time to relax and warm up with local food, perhaps the favorite attraction of this highlands city.

Justin Colebrissi, a tourist from the US says: “I love Da Lat compared to Sai Gon, a beautiful city and people are much more friendly. I think the overall atmosphere and the weather are nicer. We’ve been doing a little bit at night market. We eat food and buy new things to take home. It’s good. It’s one of interesting things and prices are much better, too. Tomorrow, I think of a plan to do a little sight seeing and may be go to rent a car to the waterfall, take in a little bit of culture and then drink”.

Many tourists agree that no tour of Da Lat is complete without exploring the local night market and its street food stalls. While tourists in Sai Gon and Hanoi usually go to a restaurant to sample the local cuisine, in Da Lat, it’s the open food stalls in the central market where visitors find something hot to eat to warm up while they observe the street activity.

The food stalls in the central market are tiny with just a couple small tables and chairs, but that doesn’t bother the customers. Ms. Loan, who has been selling soy milk in Da Lat’s central market for 10 years, says: “A variety of food is offered in the Da Lat market. Tourists usually come to the market between 5 and 10 pm to enjoy soy milk and Banh trang nuong or grilled rice papers. Soy milk is a Da Lat specialty. The milk is mixed with sugar, coconut milk and ginger. This is a favorite treat of Da Lat tourists. They drink it hot to warm themselves against the cold Da Lat night air”.

Bánh tráng nướng is the most popular dish with Da Lat tourists- large sheets of rice paper grilled over smoldering coals and topped with some contributions of egg, pork, beef, scallions, chili, pounded shrimp, mayo, or cheese.

Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, who sells Bánh tráng nướng (Grilled rice papers) at the market says: “This dish was created by Da Lat people. I sell from 3 in the afternoon until 11 at night. My shop is the most crowded from 8 to 10. Most of the customers are tourists. Local people visit my shop only on the weekend. This dish is easy to eat and very popular among tourists. Some people call it Vietnamese pizza. Different cooks have different ways of cooking this dish”.

Barbecue shops are another place Da Lat visitors shouldn’t miss. Each shop owner has his own special grilled dish recipe but they are all tasty. Food prices at the night market are quite reasonable. A piece of grilled rice paper is only 30 cents and a glass of soy milk is just 25 cents. So there you have it. The tasty and affordable street food in Da Lat should keep you busy through many cold evenings.

Cat Tien National Park, Lam Dong