“This may be the first time you have participated in trekking or hill climbing experience with Bi, or you may have challenged yourself many times through similar trips before. However, whether you are an experienced cyclist or a first-time biker, here are important things to keep in mind when preparing for a safe, enjoyable and memorable journey”
Application routes: Bidoup
Subject Index:
- Principles and Checklist of items needed
- Guiding trekking principles
- Guiding the trekking tours
- Guiding the dry bath
- Some training exercises before the journey
1. Principles and Checklist of items needed
The most important thing before each journey is to be well-prepared. However, “well-prepared” does not mean carrying “everything” on your back. You only need to focus on the following 3 points:
- Enough: Bringing enough personal items according to the checklist below
- Lightweight: Minimizing the weight of the items in your backpack. You can choose lightweight materials, or objects that take up less space.
- Suitable: Each activity has requirements for compatible equipment, clothing, and accessories. You should equip yourself with the most suitable things which help you have a good journey.
1.1 Must-have items
Checklist
- Trekking clothes: good sweat absorbing clothes, clothes with elastic fabric which are flexible.
- Shoes: you better get specialized shoes for trekking, otherwise choose sport sneakers with deep grooves (spikes) to avoid slippery.
- Trekking Sandals: (in case your feet are in big size, not familiar with wearing shoes), best used in the rainy season and riverine terrain.
- Slippers: moving at the camping area comfortably
- A hat, a jacket, sun protection gloves, sunscreen
- An insect spray, a mosquito spray, soffell mosquito repellent
- Personal water bottle (minimum 1 liter)
- Raincoat: lightweight, convenient
- Other personal items: toothbrush, toothpaste, dry shower gel
1.2 Items can bring in
- Money
- Cell phone and handheld camera
- Chocolate
- Vitamin C effervescent tablet
- Trekking poles
1.3 Items should not bring in
- Laptop
- Items are bulky, fragile
- High value jewelry
- Cold foods, sour fruits
- Important documents: passport, Household Book…
1.4 Note
- Temporary residence has toilets and bathrooms.
- Bi provides bamboo trekking poles.
- Bringing a thick jacket (because of the cold weather, you can wear it in the early morning and at night)
- Bringing a nice outfit to walk down the street (you will have a free and easy night in Da Lat)
Guiding trekking principles
Nowadays, there is no standard rule for trekking tourists because this form of tourism in Vietnam is quite new.
The following sharing is originated from Bi’s trekking experience and professional tour guide organizations for thousands of young people over the years.
What matters is that after each trip, Bi’s crew members always discuss and learn together, we are always trained in new skills to give the best guide and support for our customers. If you are a trekker, you should grasp these rules in order to help yourself be proactive in all situations because tour guides can’t follow you every step along the way.
- Don’t go alone
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- Guaranteed not to go alone, you should go in a group of two or more people and remember keeping contacts. This is very important because in the forest, there is no phone signal, and your friends will support you in all situations (even when you get lost, two people are better than one)
- Don’t be ahead of the navigator and behind the tour guide.
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- Every trip, Bi always has one person who stays behind to make sure that no one gets lost or is left behind. When this tour guide goes to the rendezvous point, all members are fully present, so no matter how small or crowded the group is, it is easy to check and manage just thanks to this simple rule.
- Don’t voluntarily detach from the group
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- The most important thing is having a safe journey, so you are not allowed to detach from the group (Unless there are special circumstances with consent from the organizers)
- Handling at crossroads
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- When you reach the turning and do not know which direction to go, stop and wait for the person who stays behind. Do not follow other people in other groups because there are many different routes.
- Do not run, Do not be in a hurry
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- Trekking requires good endurance and a strong will because of the long walks. Therefore, do not be in a hurry because it will make you quickly lose your energy.
Environmental protection rules
- Nature is man’s home. Getting back to nature with Bi is to bring only beautiful memories and leave nothing but footprints. With Bitour Cares, each tourist will preserve his or her own personal trash throughout the journey.
- Besides, disposable plastic is convenient but causes heavy damage to the environment. You can limit the use of wet tissues. Or you can use water bottles, raincoats that are reusable and eco-friendly shower gel.
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3. Guiding the trekking tours
The characteristics of the mountain roads are the steep slopes, which will take you a lot of effort to climb, here are Bi’s trekking rules to help you balance your physical strength throughout the trekking journey:
- Walking uphill
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- Go slowly (small steps) and limit the rest onto the ramps.
- Having your heel and the ball of your foot touching the ground first and then, land gently with your whole foot (mid-foot technique)
- Using both legs to avoid overload, muscle tension, cramps.
- Stabilize breathing rate.
- Psychology: Don’t keep looking at a wild slope if it discourages you. Focus on your every step and think of the magnificent scenery you will see.
- Walking downhill
- The trekking speed and the slope’s inclination will increase inertia and easily cause you to fall forward. Go slowly and pay attention to all your steps.
- When trekking, the very first part of your foot you should land on is the outside edge of the foot. Instead of moving forward, you should move horizontally, it will reduce pressure on your toes and limit slipperiness.
- Be sure in every step: Usually, wet grass and gravel soil will easily cause you to slip. Therefore, be careful!
- Stopping for a rest
Because each member’s physical strength is different, so there will be rest stops. Or there will be breaks, depending on each person’s physical strength. However, you should note the following points:
- When stopping for a rest, don’t immediately sit down. First, you should stand and breathe. Then, you can sit down, stretch and relax your legs. You can also lie down, close your eyes, and calm your mind for a bit to recharge your body.
- When needing rest on demand: If you are really tired and need a short time to rest, you must notify the tour guide.
- You should not stop for a rest too much because you will feel more tired. Try to limit the number of break times!
Drinking water rules
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- Do not drink water too much on one sip. You should drink water in many small sips (the best way is using a water bag)
- Do not drink water many times, only drink when you feel thirsty.
- Drinking water too much to eliminate thirst is very dangerous. Firstly, you have to carry more water than usual, causing heavy backpacks. Secondly, it makes you excrete too much. Thirdly, the belly is bigger, causing fatigue and exhaustion.
- Usually, for a distance of 10-15km, 1L of water (rainy season) or 1.5L of water (dry season) is enough for an average person.
- Do not drink raw or untreated springwater.
4. Guiding the dry bath
After a long day of trekking, it’s time to go camping. The first thing you think is taking a shower, right? Here is the state of your body at that moment:
- Be tired: When you are tired, blood circulation greatly reduces, cold water can make you more tired and more susceptible to colds, dizziness, and even death.
- Too hungry: When you are hungry, the level of blood sugar is lowest, causing you easily dizzy, or even fainting. You should take a shower two hours after eating or one hour before eating.
- Be sweating a lot: After a long day trekking, taking a shower while the body is sweaty is very dangerous. The pores are still expanding, the steam will be absorbed through these pores into your body. As a result, you will be very susceptible to colds, coughs, fever, pneumonia …
Taking a cold bathing is potentially dangerous when your body is in a vulnerable state. It’s Bi’s pleasure to introduce you to the ‘dry bath’ solution with an eco-friendly dry shower gel so that we can be both clean, healthy and eco-friendly.
Guiding the dry bath
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- Dry bathing is not too new in the trekking world, it is used a lot on the “back to nature” journey because of its convenience, safety for health and environmental protection. Bi had prepared an eco-friendly dry shower gel for you, here are specific instructions. To dry bath, you only need 1 container of water, 1 small towel and 1 little eco-friendly dry shower gel.
First Way:
- Put a few drops of dry shower gel into water (about 1l)
- Dip a towel and wipe your body
Second Way:
- Soak through your towel
- Put a few drops of dry shower gel into your towel
- Use a towel to wipe your body
- Wipe your body with clean water.
Fast – Neat – Clean. Now you can confidently continue your journey and make new friends!
5. Some training exercises before the journey
To ensure the best experience for trekking / hiking for consecutive days, your muscles need to be prepared and used to the high-intensity movements.
You don’t have to be a professional athlete, with the best physical background. You only need a basic physical strength and some daily training exercises.
And to have enough time to develop a good habit and adapt your body to exercise, you can start practicing the following exercises at least 3 times a week, 30 minutes each session, during 21 days before the trip.
- Jogging: Prepare trekking shoes, warm up for 5 minutes before jogging. You don’t have to force yourself to run fast from the beginning. It is important for your body to slowly get used to being active and maintain regular exercises.
- Squat: Squat is a standing up, sitting down exercise with dumbbells or barehanded. Squat affects many muscle groups, especially the hips, buttocks, thighs and supports the whole body. The exercise consists of 5 steps:
- Straighten up. Putting your feet hip-width apart.
- The feet pointed about 15 degrees outwards to form a V-shape.
- Hands straightened in front of chest or bent elbows.
- Breathe deeply into your stomach, break at your hip and push your butt back.
- Squat down until your hip joint is lower than your knees. Keep 2s and repeat.
- Stair climbing: This can be practice near your home or your office. Instead of taking the elevator, you can try stair climbing every day. This will help you get used to climbing steep hills.
See you on your upcoming journey! We will have a great trip together!
