Con Island

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Con Dao is an archipeligo of 16 islands 230 km south of HCM. I had gone to Con Dao because it has reputedly the best diving in Vietnam. What I didn't know is that it also has a windy season. The windy season runs from October to January and the diving outfit closes down until mid-March. So no diving.

The main island is very beautiful though. The other islands look very beautiful as well, though trips to the other islands seemed to have been cancelled because of the wind or the low season. So no boat trips either.

One upside of the low season was that Saigon Con Dao Resort had with a sea-view ground floor rooms in a bungalow-like setting for $20 a night. More than I am used to paying, but nice none the less. Breakfast and airport transfers included.

The main town and resort area is a strange mix of regional French town, Vietnamese rural and abandonned prison complex. The Saigon Con Dao, the museum and surrounding buildings have the look and feel of provincial French town. The town that rubs up to the resort area has not adapted itself to the tourist build up and could be in the rural interior. Con Dao used to be a prison complex under the French and then under the Americans. The main function of the museum, which is the former governor's residence, is to conduct tours of the nearby abandonned prison complex.

The rest of the island has enjoyed National Park status since 1977. The island rises up to a number of peaks, two peaks are over 500m. The island is narrow enough so you can cycle/hike from one side to the other. An endemic species to the island is the Great Black Squirrel Ratufa bicolor, which I saw a couple of, but which were too quick for me to catch a photo of. The National Park office - closed lunch times - will issue you with a park permit for hikes up the peaks or down to the rocky bays on the far side of the island. Paradoxically, they will provide you with a map, but the map is of the main town, not the National Park which lies beyond it. The National Park Ranger did sketch outline maps and directions by hand though.

The infamous Con Dao prison complex was established by the French in the early nineteenth century. Throughout the colonial era the inhabitants of Con Dao consisted of prison inmates, guards, administrators and a small garrison of soldiers. The French sent political prisoners there. Incariration conditions varied. There were large rooms with prisoners manancled in rows along each walls, with one toilet bucket per row. There were solitary confinement cells. There were solariums - rooms with no roof where prisoners could find no shelter from the unforgiving Sun. Notoriously there were 'tiger cages'. Tiger cages were cells with bars in the ceiling arranged along corridors where guards walked a first floor corridor overlooking the cells. According to my guide everything would be tipped down on to the prisoners from above from food for nourisment to lime for punishment. Upto 7 prisoners would be held in a given cell.

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Photos

Pristine deserted beach
a short cycle from the resort

Butterflies are difficult to photograph
...unless a spider helps out

Banana plants
...against Con Dao's dramatic landscape

Bringer of Enlightenment
...pictured on the new arch in front of the former governor's mansion and museum

Prison entrance
There are a number of prisons, all in the same area of the island

French treatment at Con Dao prison
inmate picture

Saigon Con Dao Resort
Morning view from shared veranda

Comments

[Laurie/Mum]

Contrsts
What a 'blog' of contrasts, Dave. From flowers and butterflies to unthinkable prison cells. Your emotions must be torn apart?