Weighty fish swim freely in the moat around beautifully constructed buildings. The sun shines brightly over impeccable gardens. The mountain awaits.
After much deliberation over the cost and authenticity of the Ba Na Hills Sunworld resort I was already glad I came. But less so the instant the cable car left the station.
“So this is what it feels like to be on the wrong side of the oven door!” I thought as we began our silent ascent to the mysterious mountain fun world.
With 1500 metres at its peak the oven dial inevitably turned slowly down and gasping for air gave way to gasping at the views instead.
The Mist
The throbbing in my head subsided leaving naught but the occasional rumble from the cable car as it crossed each stanchion, and a Jurassic-sounding jungle below. Behind us the vast panorama, before us a eerie wall of mist into which we would soon be enveloped.
It was hard not to be disappointed that we had already had our only glimpse of that sunlit vista. On the Golden Bridge especially, where great stone hands of might and magic support you, the view would be undoubtedly breathtaking.
But for everything the mist took away it also brought it’s own character. Like a soft focus lens blurring the hard edges of reality, the mist added something that may have been otherwise lacking in such a man-made place.
Though at times we could see no more than 30 or 40 metres in front of us, there was another kind of depth to this place.
The mountain’s breath
Getting lost in the monuments and temples, their shrouded architecture intermingled with the mountain’s past structures. There was a feeling of mystery to the place. As if we weren’t in the centre of five Mercure hotels, brimming with tourists.
A glimpse of a 30 foot Buddha we’d never even known was there. Imagining the unreal, lurking behind every corner, just behind that milky wall of mist. It was a pulse of nature still beating behind the fibreglass facades. A sign the mountain still drew a deep misty breath every now and then.