Up in the very north of Vietnam, right on the border with China, there is a waterfall “family” named Bản Giốc. These are in the Cao Bằng Province of Vietnam and sit about 170 miles (270 km) from Hanoi. That is a long way given the way to get there is not a fancy nice interstate/autobahn. Don’t get me wrong, Vietnam does a good job with its roads but it is an area with a lot of mountains so road travel takes a little longer than the distance would betray.
Despite all that, the trip to the Bản Giốc waterfalls is very well worth it. The waterfalls are just simply beautiful. On the Vietnam side, one walks past a small market into a long path that leads to the viewing points, river-level, from which one looks left to see the main waterfalls. I say it in the plural because there are multiple parts to this waterfall complex. Some lay fully on the Vietnam side and some are smack in the middle of the main part of the river, where the actual border between these neighbors is.
One can appreciate the waterfalls riverbank-side. I saw many small boats lining both riverbanks and suggested to my friends that we get on one of the boats, for a trifling amount, to get up close. The same was available from the Chinese side of the river.
The interesting bit is that China and Vietnam do not allow border crossing by crossing the river. So one gets on a boat from either side and must return to the same side after the tour. This allows the visitor to cross the border which is the middle of the river without necessitating the formalities of crossing a border as one is not really setting foot on the other country. For my fellow travelers who had never been to China, I feel this counted as “being” in China.
In any case, these waterfalls are so much more approachable and even intimate than other famous ones, though some come close, Goðafoss in Iceland comes to mind, for example. It was yet another beautiful statement of Mother Nature and its Creator, in what, ironically, are two Communist (and, therefore, officially atheist) countries! God has a sense of humor!!
I highly encourage anyone wanting to see Vietnam – the real Vietnam – to go beyond Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Hanoi and Ha Long Bay (all worthwhile destinations on their own right), and explore Vietnam beyond those places. These waterfalls, Ba Be National Park, the many ethnic villages in the mountains of north Vietnam, and even other secondary towns/cities will provide a lot more depth to getting to know the real Vietnam!
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