Lang Biang Trail

Printed out the DIY hiking instructions by some reviewers but left it in the hotel! Got to depend on the pictures downloaded from their reviews on my phone to do the hike. I was quite sure we lost our way in the pine forest. Thank God we met some villagers picking up pine leaves in the woods. We asked where the peak was and one villager who could speak very little English just told us "no!no!no!", and pointed us in a direction. We faithfully followed that direction and managed to walk out of the pine forest and found ourselves not too far from the entrance of the trail that led to the peak. The ranger at the entrance told us it would take us 1-1.5 hrs to reach the peak but we took 2hrs. As we didn't expect the first part of the hike would take so long, we didn't bring enough food and water. The final climb to the peak was tedious, especially when we were all dead beat and hungry. But the view at the peak was rewarding indeed! We started the hike at around 930am and reached the entrance of the trail at 1145am. Reached the peak at around 130pm and was back to the entrance around 3pm. We took a jeep back to the car park (cost us VND300,000) as one of us couldn't walk any longer. When we reached the car park, the driver was shocked to see us all looking shag :p He thought we had taken the jeep up and wondered why we took so long to return. It's an unforgettable experience and we didn't regret not taking the jeep up. BUT, there's always a risk if you DIY the hike. AND, remember to bring ample food and water!