kon tum to hoi an

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After leaving Buon Ma Thout I was not alone. I was talked into doing a three day motorbike ride with my guide, Tam. We would spend the night in Kon Tum, then in Kham Duc before heading to Hoi An. The plan was to stop by local sites along the way.

On the first day we motor biked about 6 hours to Kon Tum. There was not really much to see along the way. The mountains were nice along the road, but there were not many minority villages en route or historical sites. When getting to Kon Tum my guide quickly passed out for the night. I went looking around and picked up 20 kites to stuff into my bag to pass out to kids along the road. In the bigger towns, the "rich" kids are often seen playing with their kites. They really love it and get big smiles from it. I figured that it would be something different to give than the usual gift of notebooks or candy, plus multiple kids can play with it too. Just remember that if you buy a kite to buy extra string too. The one that comes in the package is only two meters long. I also picked up little piggy change purses. The kids seemed to like them and they're cost the same as candy.

From Kon Tum we passed by some historical sites from the American-Vietnamese war. The memorial at Dak To, which was the site of a major US military base. The site now is in the center of growing town and little evidence remains of it's prior use. From there we passed by several hills that were US strong holds during the war. Most has grown over, but there's still some patchy growth because of the infamous use of the herbicide, Agent Orange to clear the area for better sight. No one really lives in these areas because the land is now nutrient poor for farming and many land mines are still in the area. This is one area that I wished I had picked out a better guide. I really like him as a person, but he really lacked the knowledge of the area. He pretty much only spit out information that was already in my guidebook and not much else. Not to be negative, but if you're coming to Kon Tum for the historical value, get a local guide there that has knows more about the area. It'll cost you less and you'll get more of it.

From there on the road to Hoi An, we stopped in the small town of Khom Duc. My guide went to bed quickly after arriving (again) and I went to check out the town. Not much to see, but I did meet up with a funny bunch of local school teachers over a big bowl of Pho Bo (rice noodle soup with beef).

From there it was not too long of a drive to Hoi An. When arriving we sent our separate ways and I had the city to myself.

Hoi An is famous for two major reason. One is it's beautiful old city and the other is it's tailors. Walking through the old town is very pleasing to the eye. It is rich with French architecture and is small enough for a good walking tour. Along the narrow streets were several tailor shops where you can get anything custom made for a small fraction of what you could back home. I was well stocked with travel clothes before coming and wasn't in the market for a suit, so I did little shopping. When there I did meet up with my friends from Saigon. They had done the coastal route there and we compared our experiences over dinner.

I didn't spend as much time in Hoi An as a wanted to. With my limited time to see such a large area in Vietnam I was forced to head north. It will be on my list for a repeat if I come back to this beautiful country.

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Comments

[anonymous]

the kids must of loved it, one of my favorite memories as a kid was flying kites. There is a huge area by El Morro in Old San Juan in Puerto Rico where on any nice days there are just gazillions of kites being flown. I miss it.

[Shantel]

Kites, how fun!!! What a great idea to give kites.