An eventful day canyoning!

Yet again the hotel didn't disappoint with the breakfast and we both tucked into the spread knowing we had a long and tiring day ahead of us.

We got picked up at 08:30 by Gurn and two others (a driver and a chap called 'Happy'). We travelled out of the town to our practice area for abseiling and our first dry slope before attempting the waterfall decents. After the practice and a thumbs up from Gurn we ventured further down the canyon to the first 20m rock face - mission accomplished with no drama.

In good spirits we continued along the gorge occasionally getting wet as we waded through the river that was quite high due to it being the rainy season.

Rock face number two approached, this time slightly higher and into water. Old 'Happy' went down to the bottom to attached a rope across the fast flowing river (this was so when we got down to the bottom we could walk across with ease and not be taken by the waterfall near by). Rach went first and like a pro descended down. It wasn't until she got into the water and attached herself to the rope mentioned above that the trouble began! Old 'Happy' (a trainee we found out later) didn't secure the rope properly so when Rach grabbed it, it came undone and she was taken by the rapids. Suspended there and holding on to avoid the waterfall below she struggled to keep her head above the water. 'Happy' tried to pull her up onto the nearby rock but unable fell in and was washed over the waterfall and down the river (he lost a shoe but was OK). Meanwhile Mark was at the top was telling Gurn to get him down there! Gurn abseiled down to sort it out as Mark had had enough and started making his way down by the path nearby. However, on reaching the bank some 20m away he realised he couldn't get to Rach and could cause additional problems if he got stuck so stood and watched helplessly. This episode lasted over 5 minutes before Gurn pulled Rach out of the water. Finally everyone got to the farside bank to reflect on the drama. Gurn in no uncertain terms had a word with 'Happy' and despite not speaking Vietnamese we understood the gist. 'Happy' tried to apologise but we (particularly Mark) wasn't interested and made it quite obvious he wasn't a happy boy. We decided to continue but this time Mark going first, however, we'd lost a bit of confidence in the team around us and when we got the next activity we decided to sack it in. So not the experience we were looking for today really but we're all OK especially Rach.

We headed off for lunch at the Tigerfalls (the place we couldn't find yesterday) and Gurn was very apologetic and Mark suggested old 'Happy' should do some weight training.

The plus side at lunch was there were lots of dogs including some puppies for Rach to take her mind off the morning. We fed them bananas as they looked very skinny. Probably not the best thing to give them but Rach couldn't resist. She wanted to take them with us but not the best idea!

The mood mellowed over lunch and Mark cleared the air by venting his frustrations. It wasn't Gurn's fault and he was obviously disappointed as much as we were. Him and the driver had bought a bottle of Dalat red wine. They filled the glasses and then told us the custom was to down it in one. No problems there after the morning we'd had!

After lunch we drove back to Dalat and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing before meeting Gurn and Warn (The driver from today) for dinner. We went to a traditional Vietnamese restaurant and the food was great. Rach had a vegetable stir fry and Mark, Gurn and Warn had a beef hotpot, which consisted of a bowl of beef stock on a small stove, with raw beef, vegetables and noodles. You put the meat, veg and noodles into the stock in a ladle and then scooped out into your bowl. It was fantastic! Earlier in the day Mark enquired about snake wine (having seen it on top gear!) When we sat down for dinner Gurn showed it to Mark on the bar and then ordered a jug of it. The wine is fermented with medicinal spices and a snake coiled up in the bottle! Funny enough Rach didn't try it but Mark had no choice and drank copious amounts in small short glasses.

It was a really nice evening and certainly made us forget the dramas from earlier today. A great way to end a very eventful day!

Tomorrow we're going to hire the motorbike again to explore more of the beautiful countryside and then on Tuesday start our 2 day cycle ride to Nha Trang (150km)

Love Rach & Mark. xxx