Why and when to visit Suoi Tranh Waterfall, Phu Quoc

Why and when to visit Suoi Tranh Waterfall, Phu Quoc

Our visit to Suoi Tranh Waterfall

End of march, beginning of april, we decided to pay a visit to Suoi Tranh Waterfall on the island of Phu Quoc in Vietnam.

(There are a couple of waterfalls on Phu Quoc, read more here)

It was a super hot day! We were driving around the island on a rented scooter and man, did we get sunburned! Auch….

The entrance to the ‘park’ in which the waterfall is, is not very obvious. But thanks to Google maps we knew it had to be there.

Near the gate is the ticket booth. Tickets are cheap.

There were other tourists roaming about, but not that many, actually. And even less of them were caucasians; we saw maybe 5 other westerners.

Weird amusement park

The site is turned into a sort of amusement park. A strange one.

Scattered around the grounds are more-than-life-sized sculptures.

Are the ones below from past times and different cultures? I have no clue.

Who are these people??? If you look at me in the left picture, you get an idea of the size of the statues.

Animals.

Chinese deities and Chinese folklore characters.

I recognise some of these deities from Haw Par Villa in Singapore.

A propaganda-esque sculpture.

All in all a weird theme park. No explanations anywhere and no one to explain it. Honestly speaking I like sites like this. Because there seems to be rhyme nor reason, you fall from one incomprehensible surprise into the next. Koalas, huh???? Why? Ethnic tribe? How come?

The gaudy, kitschy, outdated way in which it’s done, is funny and endearing to me.

Making your way through the park towards the hill (that leads up to the waterfall) you pass by several ponds and pavilions.

Pond with fountain.

Karaoke in the woods

As if the whole place was not weird enough already, deeper in the park we suddenly heard music and singing -extremely bad and false- in the distance. Imagine you are walking through an almost deserted forest hearing that. We were puzzled and intrigued. We kept following the rocky trail that lead to the waterfall and at one point we saw where the singing came from. A group of friends, locals, were sitting on some rocks in the forest, with drinks and snacks. And with a boom-box and a mic. They were doing karaoke and they sounded horrible. Hilarious!

Suoi Tranh Waterfall during dry season

We kept making our way to the top, passing by some pretty rock pools.

On our right hand was sort of a river bed…which was …. kinda… empty. Hm, not having a good feeling about this waterfall.

The walk was long and tiresome, due to two reasons: it was bl**dy hot, as I said earlier. And the ‘path’ consisted of rounded rocks. Meaning that you had to look down how and where to place your feet all the time. Preventing slipping and tripping.

Me in da woods. Do you see the ‘path’ left of me?

At one point we were caught up by a local young guy. We asked him if it was worth our while to go up. No idea if he understood us, since he did not speak english. With gestures he was pointing further up. Yes! Yes! So we decided to take our chances and continue.

Frits follows the guy, while I’m falling behind a bit.

Visiting a waterfall during dry season is never a good idea

But true enough, once we arrived, the ‘waterfall’ turned out to contain less water than the shower back home. Drip, drip….

Frits and the guy went to the other side, since the guy gestured that there was something in the trees. They did not get to see it though and we are not sure what it was. Monkeys?

Yep, that’s what you get when you visit a waterfall during dry season…

How to make the most of your visit to Suoi Tranh Waterfall

Would I still recommend this place?

Actually I would.

Just make sure to go in the right season and make it part of a day on the bike. Don’t go there ‘just’ for the waterfall, but as part of an itinerary it’s fun to check out.

Providing you go in the right season I think you can happily spend two to four hours in this park depending on what you do there.

1. First of all walk through the quirky theme-park at the bottom of the hill. Take silly selfies and welfies.
   

   Deer dear…. I wuv you.

   

   Where’s Kirk Douglas (Spartacus) when you need him?!

2. Have a picnic with food and beverages that you brought yourself. You can also buy food and drinks in the park.
3. Bring your bathing suit. I can totally imagine how lovely it must be to have a swim in one of the rock pools or in the pool at the foot of the waterfall. There are restrooms in the park, so you can change your clothes in there.
4. Wear good shoes, since the path is rough and the rocks are round and slippery.
5. Wear and bring lots of mosquito repellent and slap on some sunscreen!!!

Happy Hippo Pond

Would you visit this place? Are you into hiking? Or are you more of a weird theme park kinda person?