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Just eight kilometres outside the town of Huong Thuy, by the Thuy Tien Lake in Vietnam, lies one of the country’s most popular waterparks in recent years – except this attraction has been abandoned for years.

Ho Thuy Tien is almost entirely concealed in the jungle and has become popular with travellers who love the idea of exploring somewhere off the main path.

The park’s original, ambitious plans were to offer something for the entire family, with amusement rides, water slides, pools, aquariums, performances, souvenir shops, and restaurants, all at a cost of $3 million (R56 million) to build. Despite not being finished, the park eventually opened to the public in 2004 but did not create the expected impact on the region.

The park is now exactly as it was left, almost as if abandoned in a hurry, and nature has taken ownership of it. It’s overgrown with weeds that are becoming wilder and more uncontrollable every day. There’s a creepy Jurassic Park vibe going on, except instead of dinosaurs, there are grazing cows.

Guarding the park is an intimidating three-storey, full-bodied dragon perched on a spaceship-type aquarium. Its body coils around the domed structure that is now covered in rust, peeling paint and graffiti. The dragon’s scaly body forms a staircase, and visitors can walk up to a spectacular viewing area and take in the stunning view of the Thuy Tien Lake from behind its teeth.

 

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This entry into the park sets the mood perfectly for the intrepid traveller who wanders this far. Below the dragon is the amphitheatre, with hundreds of seats where entertaining performances were supposed to be held.

What remains now resembles something straight out of a horror film, and as you walk around, you can imagine some sort of apocalyptic disaster striking while a show is being held and everyone running out in a panic, dropping their takeaway cups of soda and bags of popcorn.

The aquariums still have water in them, but the fishes are long gone and the murky water makes visitors wonder what strange creatures lurk in the depths. Until recently, Ho Thuy Tien was home to three crocodiles, who were fed by locals or the occasional visitor, but they have now been removed from the park and reinstated in a wildlife rescue park.

 

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It’s an eerie place, but according to those who visit, it’s more worth it than most of the touristy places. Visitors however advise travellers to rather take a taxi out to the abandoned waterpark, instead of crashing off into the jungle alone, Apparently the best option is to write down “Công viên nước Hồ Thuỷ Tiên” on a piece of paper, and then show it to a driver.

Hopefully for any daring tourist, the drive into the jungle to visit an apocalyptic waterpark will be uneventful…

[source:cutluretrip]