48 hours in Gia Lai

Gia Lai has K50 waterfall, Bien Ho lake, hundred-year-old pine trees and many delicious dishes, suitable to experience in October and November when wild sunflowers begin to bloom.

Gia Lai is a mountainous province located in the north of the Central Highlands with Pleiku city as its capital. This is a place with many beautiful natural landscapes, majestic K50 waterfall, Bien Ho Lake, hundred-year-old pine trees and many delicious dishes. 48-hour journey to explore Gia Lai as suggested by Ms. Ngoc Diep, Head of Tourism Management Department of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the province and a group of tourists from Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 1

Morning

Breakfast in Pleiku city is with Gia Lai dry pho (also known as two-bowl pho) for between 30,000 VND and 55,000 VND. This is considered one of the typical dishes of the mountain town. Hong dry pho and Ngoc Son pho are the two most famous two-bowl pho chains in Pleiku, with many stores in the city.

Gia Lai Pho with beef or chicken. Photo: Phong Vinh

Pleiku is also famous for coffee, no less than Buon Ma Thuot. So, enjoy coffee after breakfast. The coffee shops in the city are all spacious and beautiful. You can choose Omely, Maya, Cuoi Acoustic, Java Coffee, Pleiku Old Shop, V7 Coffee.

After breakfast, depart for Kon Chu Rang (K'Bang district, about 150 km east of Pleiku city center) to explore K50 waterfall. In recent years, K50 has emerged as a "must-conquer" waterfall. This place is likened to a "princess" hidden in the Central Highlands mountains and forests because of its pure beauty.

"Coming to Gia Lai without going to K50 waterfall is like an incomplete journey," said Ms. Diep, adding that in the past, the road to K50 waterfall was very difficult to travel because you had to go through the forest. Now there is a concrete road, motorbikes can get close to the waterfall so traveling is easier, but it is still mainly on forest roads. K50 waterfall is located in Kon Chu Rang nature reserve, so visitors need to go through the management board.

According to Ms. Diep, the height of the waterfall is 50 m, so it is called K50 waterfall. In addition, the waterfall is also called En because behind the stream of water is a cave where many swallows live. K50 waterfall is like a silver silk strip sparkling among the green of the vast mountains and forests. Visitors walk on the dirt road for about 15 minutes to reach the foot of the waterfall. Because they are traveling through the forest, they need to wear long-sleeved clothes, high socks and a walking stick to avoid insects and snakes.

K50 Waterfall. Photo: Anh Minh

After checking in and exploring K50 waterfall, visitors have lunch in the forest with food prepared in advance by the reserve management or bring their own.

Evening

On the way back to the city, visitors will pass through Stor resistance village and Mo Hra village, typical and meaningful villages to the people of the Central Highlands.

The resistance village is about 70 km from Pleiku City, where hero Nup was born and raised. Here, Nup initiated and led the people to rise up to fight the French. Stor village and hero Nup have become symbols of "The Country Rises Up".

Mo Hra village has the cultural identity of the Ba Na people. This place is now a community tourism model that attracts many tourists. Visitors have dinner and enjoy gong and T'rung music by the fire. The rustic, familiar dishes of the villagers include sticky rice, bitter eggplant with cassava leaves, grilled stream fish, and grilled chicken.

Stay overnight at the 3-star Tre Xanh hotel in the city center, for 650,000 VND per night. In Pleiku, there is the 4-star Hoang Anh Gia Lai hotel with room rates ranging from over 1 million VND per night and many motels and homestays with affordable prices.

Day 2

Morning and noon

For breakfast on the second day, visitors can choose dishes such as beef noodle soup and crab noodle soup. Stinky crab noodle soup (crab noodle soup) is another Gia Lai specialty besides pho hai to. As the name suggests, the main ingredient of the dish is crab. The reason why crab noodle soup smells is due to the process of fermenting crab water. The bowl of noodles is rich and of high quality, and when eaten, there is no longer a strong smell like when diners enter the restaurant.

Gia Lai stinky crab vermicelli. Photo: Anh Minh

Beautiful and famous destinations in the city such as Bien Ho tourist area (To Nung lake), hundred-year-old pine trees, tea hills (Bien Ho Che), Buu Minh pagoda will be the next itinerary of the second day in Pleiku. These destinations are relatively close to each other so visitors can go there in the morning.

"Tea Lake" is over 1,000 hectares wide. The tea hills here date back to the 1920s when the French began to reclaim the highlands to grow tea because of the cool climate. This is also the first tea hill in the Central Highlands.

The hundred-year-old pine trees next to the tea hill are about 1 km long, planted in 1917 with 101 trees. This is a place that is always crowded with tourists and young people coming to take pictures. "Be careful not to come here late at noon, because at that time the light is overhead, not beautiful, your photos will be less sparkling, without the slanting rays of sunlight", Mr. Minh, a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, shared his experience.

Along the pine trees are a few mobile cafes in old cars that have been redecorated, creating a quite relaxing scene for tourists to rest.

Hundred-year-old pine trees. Photo: Tran Hoa

Another option for those who like to exercise is to climb the Chu Dang Ya crater in Chu Dang Ya commune, Chu Pah district, about 30km from Pleiku city center. From Bien Ho, go about 20km more to get there. If you go in the season from October to November, you will see bright yellow wild sunflowers blooming along the way up the mountain. Remember to prepare drinking water and wear flat shoes because it is quite hot and there is no shade. There are many motorbike taxis below, so visitors only have to walk a short distance to the top.

Lunch at Plei Teng Grilled Chicken, Tan Son area. Visitors sit and eat in cool stilt houses, with Central Highlands music, with hot, crispy, golden grilled chicken, firm meat, and bamboo rice, dipped in sesame salt. A full meal costs less than 200,000 VND per person.

Evening

Returning to Pleiku City, visit Dai Doan Ket Square, also known as the large square, with an area of ​​12 hectares. In the center of the square is a statue of President Ho Chi Minh made of bronze. The statue is 10.8 m high, weighs 16 tons, and stands on a 4.5 m high blue stone-covered concrete pedestal. This is a place where many locals and tourists come to check-in when coming to Pleiku mountain town. The square is spacious and airy, but due to lack of shade, it is only suitable if you come after 5:00 p.m.

In the evening, visitors can enjoy local cuisine or regional delicacies at restaurants such as Hoang Gia Garden, Huu Sao culinary village, Ngoc Lam restaurant, Pho Bien restaurant, Nha Toi restaurant. In addition, there are some snacks such as grilled pork vermicelli, shrimp pancakes, water fern cakes, fried sticky rice, grilled banana sweet soup, purple sticky rice yogurt with prices of only a few tens of thousands.

Vnexpress

source