Suoi Mo and Suoi Hoa

On the hottest days of a Da Nang summer, a thermometer hung in the street can reach 36 or even 37 degrees Celsius. The asphalt goes soft. The air feels pressed against the chest. And this is when people in Da Nang get in the car and drive west.

It takes only 30 minutes. The road leaves the city center, passes through open fields, then climbs small mountain passes that wind into the hills of Hòa Vang. The temperature drops by five to seven degrees. Birdsong takes the place of car horns. The cool, damp air carries the smell of forest trees. And then comes the sound of water.

Hòa Vang is the only part of the old Da Nang with mountain terrain. The city itself is streets, sea and bridges. Hòa Vang is old forest, waterfalls and rolling hills. This is exactly where the city's best known nature places are found. Bà Nà Hills is here. So is Núi Thần Tài. And so are the two streams of this story.

Suối Mơ and Suối Hoa are two entirely different tourist areas, and it matters to keep them apart. They lie in different parts of Hòa Vang, quite far from each other, and each has a character of its own.

Suối Mơ lies in Hòa Bắc, in the northwest of Hòa Vang. This is the most remote mountain area of Hòa Vang, close to the border with Hue. The stream runs through old tropical forest and down many levels of waterfall, some high and some low. The place is wilder and less planned. Those who come here are usually looking for the feeling of real nature, not much changed by people. The water is cold and clear, the stones are mossy, and the roar of falling water echoes under the canopy.

Suối Hoa is something else again. It lies in the hamlet of Phú Túc, in Hòa Phú, southwest of Hòa Vang. The road up to Bà Nà Hills is close by. It has had more investment and more planning, and it suits families with children and company groups. Its two main waterfalls are Thác Hạ and Thác Rù Rì. Besides the falls, there is a zipline, a slide down the water, and duck boats on the lake. There is also a charcoal cooking area and barbecue huts, where a group can camp and eat together.

The dry season, from March to August, is the ideal time. The streams are clear and safe. September to November is the stormy, rainy season of central Vietnam. Then floodwater from upstream can pour down into the streams so suddenly that it is very dangerous. Coming to either stream in the stormy season is a real risk.

There is plenty to do at both. Early in the morning, the air is at its coolest and purest. The water is ice cold, and a person who steps into the stream comes fully awake. At midday there is a rest in the huts, with grilled pork, grilled chicken and grilled fish, cooked in the style of the central region. In the afternoon come the water games. At Suối Hoa there is the zipline. At Suối Mơ there are water slides, water cars and water bubbles.

Most of all, there is the air. Da Nang is a seaside city of the central coast, where summer is hot and dry. Up here, sitting in old forest, listening to the stream run and the birds sing, feels truly different. Many people from Da Nang come every weekend, just for a few hours away from the heat of the city.

In the dry season, the water is as clear as a mirror. Look down from the bank, and every pebble on the bottom can be seen.