Big Mountain

Despite the title 'big mountain', the mountain itself isn't all that big. It's a decent size, but nothing special. I know because I hiked up it on Monday. I felt more like one of the community when I did. There were hundreds of people hiking up the mountain. There is a small road that winds it's way up the mountain. They are actually doing construction at the top of the mountain (supposedly for a cable car connecting big mntn to small mntn) so the road is decent. This road gives you two options, take the road, or take the path. The path is obviously steeper and more like hiking. If you take the hike, it only takes about 30 min. to get up, The road would take longer because it winds. Most of the vietnamese walk around the hours of 3 to 6. I tried going at 10 am on wednesday and there were no people. No one. So picking the right time is important. The view from the top is quite nice. The town looks quite nice. You can see our house on small mountain (sort of) and you can see endless expanse over the ocean.
I took a squirrely trekk back down the mountain, I think it was a water run off. When I came out of the bush I was at a Buddhist temple. It was a huge complex with all sorts of elaborate gardens and statues. I only saw a few monks, mostly people like me passing through. On the way back to the bike I bought some mangos and pomegranates. I have since realized that pomegranates hve got to be the worst fruit, not because of their taste, but because they take more energy to eat than you get fromt hem. Mangos however, are delicious. The one thing I enjoyed about the fruit was that it looked like it actually grew on a tree. It was weather beaten. It didn't look like the fruit from north america: the perfect colour, the perfect shape. It tasted the same, but I could almost see the mango tree in my house growing something similar (unfortunately our mango tree does not grow fruit).
Hiking big mountaint is definately something to do. And for those less inclined to walk, you can drive up the winding road. Which creates a great opportunity to cost down on your bike in neutral, which is quite invigorating.
Hope the weathers fine. It's blazing hot here :)
Brandon.