This is a story about an Epic Adventure involving 12 people that started late at night one Friday… (16th Sept)

So we met the group at about 9:30pm in HCM and headed off in a convoy of about 9 motorbikes.  It is about a 2 hour drive (100 km) to Tây Ninh aka Black Virgin Mountain and was good as there wasn’t much traffic.  I have been here previously on a day trip by myself;  The Black Virgin Mountain

So we arrived sometime after midnight and stayed at a rest stop so hammocks were the choice of bedding.  I have never slept in a hammock before and I was a little bit scared of tipping out,  but I needn’t worry because between the dogs and the roosters it was hard to get any quality sleep.

Upon waking we had to eat, pack the food and park our motorbikes.  Not all our motorbikes could fit at the one parking spot so we parked half and then we used four motorbikes to go a “short distance”.   We all carried three on the motorbikes and off we set.  Between the cows chasing us, the gravel, mud, pot holes and steep hill, it was a piece of cake and a short drive:).

So we started getting ready for the hike and something odd came out to be placed in shoes for cushioning.  Odd, but made sense.

The identity of this person in the photo will be kept unknown to protect their privacy. And so the journey started, which quickly turned into an epic adventure.  The summit was 1km high from the base and this was to be climbed over 10km, therefore giving a gradient of 10%.  It was basically rock climbing over boulders.

I think one of the most disheartening parts of the hike was when I asked how far we had gone and the reply was about 1/8 (or a half of a quarter as it was quoted to me) of the way, and I had truly thought we must be at least half way up.  One of our team members had done this trail before so he knew the way and there were red arrows on the rocks, however they were sometimes hard to find.  On one occasion some of the group, including me, went a more difficult way and we ended up beside a wasp nest.  Luckily, there was a guide on the trial and he helped to get us out. We then promptly hired him and he helped us up the rest of the way.

The terrain and views were amazing

So once we had finished with the boulders, we came across slippery and steep terrain and I let out a few swear words, and then it became dark and pissed down (rain).  However, like good boy scouts and girls we were prepared and had head torches.

And then came the monkey bridge.  This was a branch that was over a gorge and our guide nimbly walked across this with a rope and created the monkey bridge.  I would have photos however it was dark and thank god I couldn’t see how far down I could go.  So at about 10:30pm we made it to the top and after some hunting around we found a spot to rest our tired and bruised limbs.  As it was still pissing down we pitched our tents and had a meal of ham, meat roll like luncheon, marshmallows and gummy bears.  You can probably guess what I supplied.  So we finally settled down for our sleep at about midnight and in our tent were the three girls when a party outside our tent erupted and went on for about three hours.  Then at 6am breakfast started!

We had a delicious breakfast and enjoyed the views

So in the photo of Trang and I you can understand why I look half asleep, because I was!

Here are some photos of the camp sites that were around us.

So we took the easiest way down the mountain and it still took about 5 hours and a billion steps.  Because we had to take all our own food and water I had almost run out so lucky there was a spring halfway down.

All 12 of us made it down safely and we had a group dinner in the local town and then headed back to Ho Chi Minh and arrived home at about 10:30pm.

It was an amazing adventure, definitely one I will remember for the rest of my life.  Thank you!