Lovin' the Highlands

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Dak Lak - May 5 - 6

Will add more pics later.

Oh man the minivan ride to Dak Lak was nauseating. Normally I don't get car sick but this driver was brutal. Mind you we were driving through twisting and winding mountains but there is no reason to speed up on turns and continuously use the brake. There were a couple of people that puked in bags which were kindly provided. I was lucky to get a window seat and just opened 'er up and took deep refreshing breaths. Interesting how the buses/minivans operate here cause they just seem to stop at random places on the side of the road where people are standing, either waiting for this van or another. I was a little afraid that I was going to be dropped off at one of these random "bus stops". I was the only whitey in the van and no one spoke english but Mr. Tin made sure the driver knew to drop me off in Dak Lak since this van was "direct" to Boun Ma Thuot. I showed the driver the name of the hotel I was planning on staying hoping he would drop me there but to no avail, I was dropped at the side of the road. Could've been Hoi An for all I knew. So with my bags thrown onto the side, I spotted a vietnamese women crazily waving me over probably cause she wanted to sell me something. There was another foreinger with her so I thought I would mossey on by to see where the hell I was. The foreinger was cool. She has been living in Vietnam for the past 15 years, teaching photography in Saigon so she was just scoping out some new areas to take her students. So I was in the right town....that's good. She spoke really good vietnamese and was translating what the vietnamese woman was trying to say to me, which basically was "do I want a moto". I asked how far the guesthouse was and of course she said very far but in the end I walked it and it wasn't far at all. Checked into Moi Trung guesthouse and chatted with the owner and his wife. Mr. Tin said they spoke good english and could help me with visiting the minority group, M'Lieng village and as well as getting to Kon Tum the next day. Well their english wasn't that great. I happened to teach them their menu over lunch. Hehehehe it was pretty cute actually. It rained super hard for 30 mins then I headed for a boat to take me across to the minority village. Mr. Tin recommended I go with this one dude and not pay more than 50.000d for a little tour around the lake and drop off/pick up at village. I felt kinda weird walking through this village.....felt like I was intruding.....here's the big whitey with her camera. I was pretty surprised to see elephants in the field!!! That was super cool. I mean I've seen them up close in zoos and behind the scenes but to actually see them in the wild, was surreal. I was pretty far though and didn't get a good picture but I didn't want to get any closer to them. Later that night I found out that the villagers use elephants for hulling wood and other heavy items as well as playing football! Ha funny. The homes were different from the ones I've seen in other places. Some were brick and long, while others were the typical thatched roofed, wood homes. They must have just harvested rice and wheat (I think) because they were putting them into huge ass bags for selling, I assume. I always ask if I can take their pictures and many are receptive while others are either too shy or just don't want it. I was taking this family's pic when it started raining again and I just stayed with them for a bit. The kids were cute asking "how are u?" but when I respond and ask them the same thing they just giggle and run away. The mothers were great too. We were trying to communicate and I even busted my Vietnamese language book out but it really didn't help. All I could understand was that one of the women was 50 years old. They were great fun when the rain left to continue my little tour but heading back to where the boat driver was to meet me. I ran into more kids. Two girls were wackin' the shit out of wheat I think. Trying to get the good stuff off the stems. Once I started taking pictures more kids showed up. They absolutely love when you show them the picture of themselves. I had to boot it to make back to the boat. The village was pretty cool. Seeing the people working away in the fields, kids herding cows down the road, guys playing pool in the local bar, teenagers hangin' out on the side of the dirt road. It seemed like a close-nit community. I got a tour around the lake which was dominated by fishing traps. I walked back to the guesthouse but on the way I ran into 2 teenage girls. We chatted for a bit....well as much as we could. I took pictures of them but then one of the girls wanted to take a picture too so I let her....whatever. They wanted me to give them something Canadian though and that's when I wished I had my Canadian souvenirs with me. I really need to put them in my day pack. So they got a little bar of soap from Vinh Long that was in my bag and a BMO little pen light. They were happy. Continuing on my way I ran into more kids, but these guys were younger and so happy. They were awesome and loved the camera.

I walked to the top of the hill, past the guesthouse, cause the owner said that there was a beautiful view of the lake and rice fields. The sun already set but I could still take pics of the area however, I only got to take one photo when more locals this time boys, in their 20s. Of course they asked the usual, how old r u? r u married? do u have a boyfriend? One of them, I think was getting at the fact that I was old and should be married because soon I will be unmarriable. Ha that made me laugh. I had dinner at the Floating Restaurant and it was good and super cheap and they forgot to charge me for my drink. Hehehehe suckers. This is where my good luck started I think (more luck later in blog). Got back to the guesthouse and it was happening. Lots of people eating and drinking. The owners wife including one of her children (19 years old) wanted to go over what she had learned that afternoon. But soon I was pulled outside and invited to sit with the men. One of them was the security guy of hotel (later found out he was also a ranger, protecting the forests and animals). He was the one helping me get to Kon Tum the next morning. So I sat next to his brother, I think he said, but this dude was brutal, drunk I think but still brutal. I don't know what it is, well I guess I do, being a foreinger who happens to be female and white, they don't seem to have control of their hands. He put his hand on my back and then on my leg which I took kindly put back onto his own leg. But then I was swept off back into the restaurant to give me english lessons. I'm just so popular😉 Ha. Sat and chatted with the security guy, Taam and that's when I found out about his other job and also that Mr. Phuouc was his boss. Weird. So he patrols and make sure the villagers do not cut down the trees for farming. Cool guy who was very excited about becoming a dad in a couple of months. Since I was to catch a bus at 7am I decided to go to bed but I could not sleep well at all.

Next morning, Taam was telling me that I could take a bus all the way to Kon Tum for 200.000d but I wasn't sold on that idea. I was told by Mr. Tin and the foreign chick yesterday about taking a local bus to Boun Ma Thuot for 10.000d then taking another bus from there to Kon Tum. Well, I ended up taking the same company minivan for 20.000d which would drop me at a car station where I could take a car to Kon Tum. Again I wasn't sold on that idea either and regretted getting into the van as soon as I saw the local bus pull up right after we took off. Boh. This ride wasn't at all nauseating but maybe cause I was sitting in the front seat with another lady. Getting closer to Boun Ma Thuot, there was a bigger tour bus in front of us that said Kon Tum. They were beeping at it which I assumed I was going to get on and I was happy for cause it would be more comfortable than the van. Unfortunately that was not the case. We all pulled into a gas station and the people from the bus got into an already crowded minivan and more people from my van also piled into this other van which supposedly was heading to Kon Tum. The good thing was that I was quoted 50.000d and not 100.000d for the ride. This is where my luck continues to get good. I was ushered to the front seat again but for a brief moment I felt bad for one of the locals that got booted from the seat but like I said that was only brief. The helper guy, who gets people on and off the van asked for the money but I told him I wasn't paying til we got to Kon Tum. Surprisingly he didn't say anything. I was so glad to be in the front cause they kept piling more people into the van. For most of the trip people were sitting on each others laps. Not fun. The ride was okay, scenary okay. After Pleiku we were only 20-40 km from Kon Tum and the van was pretty empty by then. I was happy and thinking the remaining ride would be decent but that's when we stopped on the side of the road and they told me to get into this other packed van which was going to Kon Tum. Two other guys changed vans so I wasn't too worried. The helper guy from my van didn't ask me for the money neither did the helper chick from the new van. She got the cash from other people but didn't ask me! So this was a little more uncomfortable but no sitting on each others laps. A teenage boy was sitting directly across from me and asked my name and other things which I couldn't understand. He was another one, who likes to touch but this time in a non-obvious way. His fingertips were just resting on my knee. Ha whatever buddy. In Kon Tum they dropped me on the side of the road where a moto guy was ready to pounce. Again, I got my bags but no asking for money!! YAY! I didn't pay!! Wuuuu I saved like 3 bucks!! Hey man, every penny counts!!

Kon Tum - May 6 - 7

I didn't give that moto guy a job since I was going to walk it. He was pretty pissed at that cause he was cursing (I believe) and muttering as he finally drove off when he realized that I wasn't going to go with him. I checked out one guesthouse which was too expensive. Right next door though was a tour office to book tours, treks, overnights in minority village. So I talked with the tour operator who seemed like a cool guy but he was the one who the foreign chick from Dak Lak warned me about, him liking whiteys and blondes. I wasn't too sure about the overnight, even though I kinda wanted to do it, but it was a little pricey for my liking. He told me though that I could just show up in the morning before he was to head out, no problem. That was cool so I could think about it. I found the guesthouse, Mr. Tin recommended and got them to give me the room for $7 instead of $8. Ya I'm good😊 Ha. I was planning on going to the orphange and the wooden church in town but it started pissing down rain, real hard so I figured since there was internet in the guesthouse I would take the opportunity to catch up on my blogs. Well holy crapper, I looked outside the front door of the place and it reminded me of Edmonton when the streets floaded during the hail storm, what like 3 years ago. Motos were stalling out going through these deep ass puddles. Well even after the rain stopped, I was still on the internet updating my damn blog including uploading pics. So I never made it outside my guesthouse until dinner time and by that time it was too late to do or see anything. I had met another 2 Canadians, Tian and Jody while on the computer and they mentioned about their overnight in a minority village in Dak Lac and how it wasn't very good. They said they didn't even stay in the village which is the whole purpose of an overnight. So I was a little concerned about the tour I was thinking about doing the next day. They were heading to Hoi An the next morning and invited me to come along with them since they had their own van. They hired a driver and tour guide to take them from Nha Trang through Central Highlands. I asked how much did they want me to pay but they wouldn't hear of it. They said the trip was already paid for so no worries. I was like sweet deal. How the hell could I pass that opportunity up. So we all went for some dins at this vegetarian restaurant. We all got soup since that was the only thing they made. I wasn't feeling to good afterwards though. I wanted to go back to the guesthouse but really wanted to check out another of Mr. Tin's recommendations, this Eva cafe. Man it took freggin' forever to get there, well not really but felt like it probably cause my stomach. It was a pretty cool place with tree trunks as tables and with fish pond. It was pretty expensive though. Walking back I was doing some controlled breathing. I thought the tea would have helped settled my stomach but not so much. We said our goodnights and if I was to go with them to meet them at 8am. I burned it to the toilet and didn't know what to do, my ass on the toilet and the garbage can in my hands. I didn't end up puking but lots of saliva. Fuck I hate that. My ass exploded once again but my stomach felt a lot better afterwards. I had an okay sleep surprisingly. Next morning, got ripped off at the restaurant for 1 damn mango. Went to the market which I should have done in the first place. Bought some fruit and snacks for the road. We didn't leave til 8:30-9am since supposedly their driver was feeling ill. They warned me about their tour guide, Hung who was an absolute ass. He wasn't a very good tour guide, was rude, not accomodating with food options (Jody's a veggie), and a perv. He did bust out a guitar while still at the guesthouse and played some horribly out of tune songs. They told me later too that he entertained them with his skills on the harmonica. Glad I wasn't here for that! We first went to this bridge, which I don't even know why actually, for some pictures I guess. Meh. On the way back to the van there was this dude lying in front of it but with his insides coming out. Hung said he had an accident, couldn't get proper medical treatment and now, what I think looked like part of his intestine was outside his body with skin closed around it. That was brutal. He took us to the Banan minority village which has some really poor people but living amongst them are these super nice houses, Hung said it's the Vietnamese. Don't get it but whatever. There wasn't much of a tour guide service from Hung. He stopped at some pretty shitty waterfalls along the side of the hwy but probably just for a smoke break. He took photos and video with his phone of us, without our permission. That was disturbing. Jody told him to delete them but he probably didn't. I listened to my music, which I haven't done in a long time and enjoyed the last remaining hours I had in the Central Highlands. The landscape was absolutely stunning. Same same but different from the bike tour views. It was still mountainous but it was more jungle then just forest or shrubs. And there were more villages scattered throughout the jungle. There were several times that I would have liked to have stopped but didn't want to ask Hung. We got into Hoi An around 4pm and we were all pretty tired and frazzled. Of course, he did not ask where Jody and Tian wanted to stay but just stopped at this one guesthouse, which he probably gets commission from. Anyway, we told him we didn't want to there and wanted to be dropped elsewhere. He made a little fuss, and we got "lost" and taken to the wrong area. Finally, we got dropped where we wanted to and there weren't any long goodbyes between Hung and the gals. So on the streets of Hoi An at 4pm, tired and pissed off, we decided to regroup at a cafe.

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Photos

Tyin' up the wheat bags
I think it's wheat....doesn't look like rice.

Wackin' the shit out of the wheat
wheat...don't know actually

Dak Lak
Farmer cleaning his gear

Bahnar Village - Kon Tum
Another scared kid that started to cry as I approached.