The Central Highlands: Cheese Spread and Monkey Bum

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We are now in the Central Highlands and have made our way from Saigon to Da Lat to Kon Tum.

The bus journey from Saigon to Da Lat took us through some wonderful scenery which gradually changed from jungle covered mountains to coffee and tea plantations. Not even these winding mountain roads with their sheer drops and blind bends can stop Vietnamese bus drivers from overtaking with a honk of the horn so we were pretty pleased to arrive in one piece. The first thing we noticed about Da Lat was the change in climate. As we are now in the mountains it is much cooler, especially at night, while there is a constant threat of rain in the air. It's quite pleasant and gives our skin a rest from the factor 40.
Da Lat has a group of motorbike riding tour guides called the Easy Riders and we hired two for the day to take us around the local area. They were very knowledgable and funny and we stopped at many different places including (deep breath), a temple, the ruins of a building hit by an American bomb as Vietcong hid there, a coffee plantation, a flower garden, rice wine makers, silk factories and farms. At one point we were riding through a village when a group of Hmong women were walking through in traditional dress. The Easy Riders acted as interpreters and the women were really friendly. For some reason I expected the hill-tribe people to be very serious but this wasn't the case at all. One of the women had what looked like a sack of vegetables on her back until she opened it to reveal her two month old baby snuggled inside.
One thing that became apparent on the trip is that, in the Central Highlands, nothing goes to waste. Even the husks from the coffee beans are used for fires instead of wood. These fires are used for many things including the making of rice wine which we tried, still hot.
All along the Easy Riders were very informative and kept us laughing. They gave us ponchos in case of rain, telling us they were actually 'elephant condoms' and my driver followed up his cries of, 'Lets hit the road,' with a rendition of Hit the Road Jack. Each time we had to ride off-road he would also warn me that I was going to get monkey-bum.
One of the stops was at Elephant Falls which were very high and impressive even in the dry season. There was a slippery path to the bottom which went into a cave from where it was possible to get behind the waterfall. After this we had lunch at a farm with everything we ate being produced there. An enormous meal including full fish, vegetables, catfish, springrolls and about 10 other dishes came to a grand total of 25,000 Dong (about 80p) per person. One of the other things that were pointed out to us were the bare mountains. There are still areas where nothing will grow as the ground is still toxic from all the napalm and herbicides dumped on it during the war. Despite this there were still plenty of stops to admire the scenery where the different farms and plantations led onto a background of mountains covered in lush jungle.
One thing that is a constant suprise in Vietnam is the popularity of cheese-spread sandwiches. Even small villages have stands full of baguettes and triangles of laughing cow. They're very cheap and perfect for long bus journeys. Add a few Pringles and you have yourself a traditional Vietnamese picnic.
The following day we decided not to rely on motor power but on our own legs as we went out on a 5 hour bike ride up the mountains. The ride was really good as we bumped along over tree roots and potholes, usually on a single-track path. We managed to get up a few hills but on others it was impossible as the rain had made the muddy path so slippery. At one point I was determined to get up and was pedalling and pedalling but the wheels were just going around on the spot. I ended up falling off into the bush. In total Allee fell off three times and I fell off twice, with Allee getting the worst of the bump and bruises. By the end of the five hours we definitely had money-bum.

From Da Lat we decided to go to Kon Tum. The first thing which brought our attention to this was when I noticed a sentence in the guide book which said that not many travellers make it this far into the highlands. As I read on it said this is probably the friendliest town in Vietnam. We were sold and jumped onto a bus at 05:00 the next morning. The reason few travellers make the effort to get here became apparent as the 8 hour bus journey dragged into an 11 hour slog. This was on a mini-bus on bumpy, winding mountain roads and it definitely didn't help our monkey-bums. At first the scenery was amazing as we climbed above the clouds to where the peaks of the mountains were poking out, but soon we just wanted to get there. The journey wasn't made any easier by the chain-smoking Vietnamese who shared the journey with us.
On arrival in Kon Tum it soon became apparent that this really is a friendly place. Even the motorbike taxis gave us a grin as they tried to overcharge us and, without and haggling, dropped to a third of the original price. People will shout hello as we walk along at we felt like the Pied Piper at one point with kids following trying to take our exact steps.
Yesterday the English Teacher from the local orphanage took us on a tour of the surrounding villages. We walked out past rice fields and locals washing their clothes in the stream (with the help of their little packets of Comfort) to the villages which surround Kon Tum. The first was a Bahnar village. We were very lucky as John (the teacher's English name) speaks the dialects of six different hill-tribes and so we were able to communicate with the locals. We saw people weaving bamboo baskets and stopped in the Rong House. This is a large room where village meetings are held. In traditional villages men must sleep there until they are married. The Rong house must always be the highest structure in the village to allow the Gods to live in the roof. The houses here are on stilts in order to keep animals underneath and the walls are made from clay and straw, although many of these are now being replaced with brick houses. As we were walking along we came upon a party to celebrate the destruction of one of these older houses and were invited to join in with the rice wine drinking. There were jugs of rice wine with a split piece of bamboo on top to indicate how much a measure is. Sucking away on a pipe from the jar we struggled to drink anywhere near a full measure so one of the women showed us how it's done. The locals would have been happy for us to sit there with them all day, getting drunk, but we had more things to see and had to say goodbye.
John told us how he was a Commander-in-Chief of the local area for the South Vietnamese Army, working alongside the Americans. When the Communists invaded the area the surviving members of the South Vietnamese Army fled, throwing away their weapons and uniforms on the way. Unfortunately for John he was caught and spent the next two years in a prison camp where he survived on a small bowl of corn a day and hard labour. He counts himself lucky to be alive at all after those years.
One of our stops was at the local nursery where it was nearly the end of the day. The children were shy a first but soon started smiling when the ice-cream man arrived on his bike and we went to get them all some ice-cream. At each of these places we would stop for a while, have a sit down and talk, through John, to the local people. It was really interesting and so much better for there just being the two of us with him rather than a big group. From there we walked to a nearby Rongao village to have a look around. All the children would shout hello and follow for a while as we looked around the village.
John works in the local orphanage five days a week teaching English and we asked him if we could see where he works. When we got there we were taken upstairs where the younger children were watching tv. As soon as we walked through the door they gathered around us, holding their arms out to be picked up or just hugging our legs. We stayed there quite a while, playing with them. They were fascinated by my watch, hanging from my arm pressing buttons so that it would make a noise or light up. The orphanage is run by the local catholic nuns and we met the head nun who was really friendly and brought us some Vietnamese tea. After seeing the younger children we went down to the gardens where children were playing but also being taught gardening skills so that in the future they will be able to grow crops and make a living. I played football with a couple of the boys and noticed how happy the children here seem, something which is very different from some of the other orphanages we have heard about.
By now we had been walking for around four hours and the fantastic tour was over. We got John's email address to give to anyone else thinking of visiting Kon Tum. He likes to show people around to help improve his conversational English. Today we were planning on doing a five hour trek but yesterday covered everything that we wanted to see and do and our legs are a bit stiff so we've decided not to bother. There should be plenty of chances to trek further on in the trip. Tomorrow we head for Hoi An, tailoring capital of Vietnam.

Allee has added some more pics onto her Facebook for anyone who would like to have a look at them.

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Photos

Flower Farm
The Farm is actually owned by a Dutch company and the produce are sold all over Vietnam.

Hmong Women
In traditional clothing, each with a gold tooth.

Silk Factory
After the silk has been extracted the worm is dried and eaten.

Monkey Bums
At the top of the mountain.

Rong House
A place for young men to stay out of mischief.

Allee Enjoying Rice Wine at the Party
Notice how she's using the tree to stop herself from falling into a drunken heap.

Wooden Church
Kon Tum

Comments

[remco & marinka]

English teacher
Hi Guys!! Nice pictures and stories on your blogs, the ones from sapa seem familiar:) we are trying to go to Kon Tum also and wondered if you could help us wit he the emailadres of the teacher Thanks in advance Remco an Marinka

[Ant and Allee]

The email address
Hello, Sent the address as an email but it must not have reached you. It is [e-mail] Have fun