The Central Highland

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17/01/07

Train in Vietnam actually quite similar to China, soft and hard sleeper and seater, with and without A/C, same 4 beds compartment for soft sleeper, and 6 beds for hard sleeper, but they was inside a compartment too, it gave some privacy but seem just too tight inside the box for 6 people though. And there wasn't any seat in the corridor. I paid 364000d for the top bench bed, and it was already for A/C car, the price actually including breakfast (instant noodle) and lunch(the cheaper kind of inflight meal), But I wasn't sure about the lunch as we were delayed for almost 3 hours, we supposed to arrived DaNang at 11am, so there shouldn't be any lunch. Anyway...services in Vietnamese train was good and with politeness, you could feel that they were happy with their job, the smile were genuine, while in China I always felt most of them hate their job, there was no courtesy toward the passenger, but I hadn't been on any train in China for a long time, perhaps thing had change now. After more than 700km journey I was almost in the middle of Vietnam, the weather was sadly overcast in the morning, small rain and cloudy, travellers on this train had only few destinations, some got of at DongHa, either for the DMZ of heading to Lao, the next stop would be Hue, where most travellers departed the train, and then was DaNang, few stay in town, almost everyone switched transportation to HoiAn, as there was many taxi waiting outside the train station. Me??? I gotto stay here at least tonight, but first I need to check out the bus schedule for KonTum. People just pointing me further down the street when I asked about bus station, finally find out it was bus stop they mean, right...local city bus to the bus station, no problem, only 3000d like in Hanoi, finally figured out the direction thank to my compass from my watch, the bus station was more than 3km at the far end of DienBienPhu road, still got bus to KonTum at 5pm, bit too late, there was 3 buses a day, 7am, 8am and 5pm, they said the journey too about 5 hours. Saw a hotel inside the station, 100000d the receptionist said, but when I asked them about hot water for shower, they said no, then I started complained and said they should deducted the room fare to 80000d, strange...the man said 70000d for the room perhaps he hadn't hear what I just said. Great...good bargain and I paid him right away just in case he changed his mind or forgot about it tomorrow. Quite convenient to got into town from here as the city bus end here as well, but...the service ended at 6pm. Couldn't hanged out late unless took motorbike or taxi. DaNang gave me a good first impression, perhaps because of the Hanoi exprience, town was small, people actually friendly and so hospitality, I felt that while searching for the bus station once off the train, they were all trying to help me, it was a warm feeling when you felt someone care about you. Didn't had much time to see the town before it got dark, did when to the CaoDai temple, this was an unique religion only existed in Vietnam, found in 1926, CaoDaism was kind of a fusion with many religious philosophies of the esat and west, a bit of everything, they got Jesus, they got Buddha, they got Mohammad, Confucius, Victor Hugo.... Anyway the main goal is to escape the cycle of reincarnation. The symbol of CaoDaism was the Divine Eye, which someone commented it just look like the eye on the back of a US$1 bill. I had visited the headquarters, the Holy See down in TayNinh in the Mekong Delta years ago, a huge temple complex compared with the tiny temple here, and I caught the 5:30 prayer there, not many participant thoug. They all dressed in white costume and head bend, women prayed on the left side while men on the right. DaNang got 2 market place, the Con market was huge and stayed open until after dark. DaNang offered many choice for food, I could see a lot of Chinses influence, there also Japanese, I saw vegetarian restaurant too, but street snacks always got my attention, just so many variety, be it stir-fry corn(first time I saw it on the street), also dry beef, tiny pete bread sandwiched with piece of ham, all outside a school, and there was more, grilled squid, crystal clear dumping, tiny submarine shape sandwich, chicken sticky rice....I wished I'd got 2 stomachs! And again...people were so likeable and full of laughter. Surprised...DaNang reminded me of the Saigon I had seen many year ago(I was there 1991), espically by night fall when the street began to filled with made shift food store, busy but not business like, people wanted to made money but still very friendly. And today I saw the female student with their pure white traditional AoDai dress, riding on their bicycle in the most elegant way, was I already crossing into south Vietnam?

18/01/07

Yes you bet, I stay another day in DaNang. The main object was the Champ museum which had a fine collection of sandstone sculpture from around the country. Champ kingdom emerged from 2nd century in DaNang area, and finally absorbed by Vietnam at 17th century, nowadays the Champa Descendants are as much the same as Vietnamese. The rest of the day was spend in a relaxing pace, switching from cafe to cafe, strolled from lane to lane. Saw a sign "3 dollars room and up", woah...I checked the room, it was ok and just right next to the Han market, the owner was an immigrant to Canada, had been to HK and spoke good English. Might stay here if I ever came back.


19/01/07

When it came down to actually buying the bus ticket, it was another story. The girl behind the counter just wouldn't sell me the ticket, when I demanded the reason why,"can you speak English"she asked me, yes I told her then she just looking at me and"you, you, you... "no other words would came out, ironically that was the only English sentence she could managed I guess, and she fished out a phrase book but still couldn't located any useful phrases, then a man appeared next to me and asked me where I came from, then he told me the office couldn't sell me any ticket as we foreigner need insurance, said I should brought my ticket on the bus, he showed me to the bus and bargained with the conductor, he seem really trying to help me, if not...they must practised it for long time, no...they insisted on 150000d as my guy asking for 100000d.still got an hour for departure, I could wait a bit and see. And finally I agreed on 130000d but still hate myself for being ripped off like this and so useless, 45000d on top of the normally fare 85000d. What kind of insurance was that? No ticket no paper, and what kind of insurance would cost that much? In China you paid 1 yuan more on top of the bus fare and you also got the insurance statement ticket! Here...the insurance made sure you got solid rip-off I would say! This pissing mood got me most of my trip, as I still had to facing that conductor, and he actually trying to be friend with me...after cheating me!? Like I always said, you gotto smile and say thank after you got slapped on the face. The whole trip took more than 5hrs in a good road, once we entered KonTum district over the 1000m high pass, the weather suddenly turned in to sunny and blue sky. It was a hilly area but the valley were wide and more flatten. There wasn't any surprised as travel in the north where you would spotted costumes hilltribes once in a while, here...just modern dress. The area was rather clean and so green untill we came to about 30km from KonTum, where you could see garbage being left on both sides of the highway, around here they growth a lot of gums tree and cassava. The LP said the bus station was 13km out of town, which made me nervous as then I was again on the mercy of the motorbike drivers, but just wonder what kind of small town would made the station that far from center? not even a capital city would. And when the bus drove pass the 10km milestone I thought there might be a new station then. And we stop 3km before the center, so...it should be just the guidebook misread the info from the sender. After a bit looked around I checked in the Viet Tram hotel, probably the cheaper in town for 100000d/night, another Hotel Family got more travellers charge USD$8/night. After refreshing shower my mood got better.surprised to see quite a few westerners, and most people in hotel could speak English, met a traveller came here yesterday from DaNang, "no, I just gave them 85000d" she said, well...someone always got away with it. Now I more believed the guy who was trying to help me was part of the scams. Because it made me believed everything under 150000d was a good deal. Took a walk around town, most of the thing happened around the market place, the town was spreading along the river for more than 2km, surprised to see so many karaoke cafe in town, a factory for beer Saigon and there was a store sell a liter of draft beer for 5000d, almost got me drunk tonight!

20/01/07

A beautiful hot day, the sky covered with many small pieces of white clouds. Went explored the sights around town, there was a catholic seminary held a small museum about the work of the French missionaries since the beginning of the church, also some collection of items from the hilltribes, not much was written in English. Also a lovely wooden church nearby gave out European atmosphere. Anyway...people came to KonTum to see the hilltribe, and the main tribe was Bana, and there were many villages around in walking distant, every village had it own Rong, a thatched roof stilt house which was mostly for gathering, meeting or celebration within the community, what made it special was the roof they built was tall, some could reach over 20m high, and the stair was chiselled out from a tree trunk, which gave the whole structure a tribal look. Walking around here really reminded me of Laos, kids waving and hello(or bye-bye) in smiling faces. But the thing that missing was costumes, it was totally different from the north which blasting you with many sharp colour dresses. For food here beside the standard com and pho, there was tasty spring roll which came with soft roll or deep fried. And there was crispy pancake stuffed with bean sprout, and they eat a lot of breads too. You could followed the guidebook for restaurants, but my vote go to Quan 07 on D Nguyen Hue, a plate of rice covered with different choice of foods cost only 8000d, or simply ordered their speciality...fried chicken on fried rice which cost 22000d, but it sure did look attractive though, and washed down with ice cold sugar cane juice or soya milk for another 2000d.

21/01/07

Another hot day for walk, not intended to went too far but the road lead me from the bridge near town, then made the loop crossing back from the hanging bridge on the other end of town, about 10km I guess, the walk was easy and flat, not much up down on a dirt track, I could see KonTum all the time without worried about being lost, there also many tee-off further up the mountain, but didn't feel like wandering too far off, just too hot. Although not too far from town but it was a world away, they grow cassava mostly, and seem like it was the season now, and all families were busy with their kids helping out. Saw some rice paddy and sugar cane as well. It was a Sunday and kids were everywhere, playing with whatever they got, touluo(a wooden conical piece spinned by string) seem the popular toy,or rolling down the main road on broad the tiny wooden F1 cart with 3 wheels like most kids in mountain area did, or simply play with mud, or throwing flipflog for picture cards which also reminded me of Loas, the most interesting I saw was they made the gambling game of "Fish, Shrimp, Crab" in their own version, thet drawn 6 items on a piece of cardboard paper from part of a carton box, and made 3 dices with paper which got the same 6 figures as on the cardboard, and started to gambling with picture cards, they must had learn it from the adult. And most of the time I saw childern was working, helping out with the buffalo, collecting woodlog, digging casava or weaving bamboo basket instead of playing around. The 4 hours walk although wasn't particularly scenic but was enjoyable, people were friendly and quite open, I even met a Bana man who said "I was working for the American company for 4 years during 1968", no wonder he could spoke some English, and I asked him what job he was doing back then, he started to talked about shooting, went with 3 Americans to Laos...he said he got shot few times and showed me the bullet marks on his body, then I realized the company he was talking about was the US Army. I was sad to heard him mention he and his family could still go to live in America if they got the money, probably he still believed the America will take them in after so many years. At first I thought he was trying to asked me for moneyand I feel ashame afterward, but then he just said he gonna go to work up hill for cassava and part with me, with 2 stray dogs trailing behind. just another forgotten soldier with an America dream.

22/01/07

If a country setup a rule that foreigner need to obtained permission to visit certain area and meet certain people, there must be a reason, no matter what it was, it sure mean they didn't want foreigner go there, then...why I still go there? so I decided to skip Pleiku although it was only 30km away. It happened again when I tried to buy the bus ticket this morning, the woman behind the counter said "no ticket", a stream of explanation which I couldn't understood. With the experience in DaNang still fresh, I just went outside looking for the bus, I would just got in the bus and pay the 50000d bus fare that was written inside the station and to hell with them. A mini bus I saw, no one on board yet and the conductor came forward asked if I was heading to DakLak, then I demanded was it 50000d, and guess what he said, "yes!" in a matter of fact way. What happened today? Was it another scams again? Soon people filled in and we took off at 7am, out of the corner I saw the real bus for DakLak was about to took off as well, and it was full. Did the woman in ticket counter told me no ticket because it was all sold out? How come I lost trust in people lately? If I did...it wasn't my fault I consoled myself. Handed in my 50000d as everybody did in the bus, and we speed down the highway. The road was well paved and straight, we did slow down for a while after we saw an accident, but then our driver just stepped on the gas paddle again. Soon we drove pass Pleiku and entered into another huge valley which was full of gum plantation, also there was pepper tree, cassava and corn, and once we were into DakLak area we could see coffee plantation. But the sad scene was the garbage on both side of the road all through the journey, I hope that wasn't the only thing modernization had brought into the area. After 5 hours we rolled into BuonMaThout bus station, 5km the milestone said! According to the guidebook there was a guesthouse in walking distant, so I ignored all the motorbike driver and set out on foot. There must be something wrong with the unit counter here or I must be improving my walking pace lately, as the milestone said 4km after awhile, I didn't think I got through a km when I saw the BanMa Hotel sign and the milestone miraculously said 3km, woah...! The hotel offered me USD$10 for the fan room, but it was over my budget already, so I thanked her and excused myself. Well...only 3km more, and could be still count in Vietnamese rate, why not! But on the next crossing I saw some signs for room and I did got one with big window for 85000d/night. It was right by a small market place, walking distant to bus station and also to town center. Think I would stay here, at least for tonight if I find something cheaper later... but I doubted.

Notes 1. From bus station to town center, walk a little further down the road, and there will be a bus stand, almost every bus going down through the center. Look for the bus had the price printed on the bus 3000d.

23/01/07

BuonMaThuot was huge! All streets seem like no ending. Went over to the Ethnographic museum, a small showroom displayed some costumes and tools of certain ethnic group. If you had visited the Ethnographic museum in Hanoi, it would be no surprised here. But the surrounding outside the museum was pleasant resting place. I like the area around the market and the stadium, very lively. The air always seem filled with the fragrant of baked coffee, was it my imagination or from psychlogical effect? Food section inside the market reminded me of Thailand, row of gold jewellery shop glistering under spotlight, while eater savouring their dishes in food stand seat with feet on the bench. street food offering here was standard as in DaNang and KonTum, but they did the fresh stream rice roll here, it should be the northern favour. DakLak area was home to Ede people, which was about 13.5% of the whole population in the area, and they used to live in a kind of long-house like those in Malaysia. Around town there was couple of Ede communities where I could walk to, but only the Ako Dhong village still got some long-house in one street, no more than 20 families, but they all had a new concrete building stood next to the long-house, the sight was like a big caravan parked in the courtyard of the house. There was also one long-house had turned into a souvenir shop for hand made gifts as well, and the rest of the village was all in modern houses. But the area was very tidy and clean, and seem like every family grew coffee in their land, at the moment they all drying coffee beans in their courtyard. Thing was different here than KonTum, no one came forward to say hello or bye-bye to me(oh, how I miss it!), they only staring at you, but they are friendly enough once you started your XinChao courtesy.

Notes:
1. Went into the YokDon hotel for information,thought they might be connect with the national park. And the lady behind the counter was so friendly and helpful even I wasn't staying there, she spoke ok English, and took her time to showed me what I could do in the area from the map, wrote out useful phrase for me to show to bus driver, they rent out motorbike as well.located half way from the bus station to center, room rate USD$8/10.
2. across the road from the Ethnographic museum was a new hotel call DakLak guesthouse, room for USD$15 with breakfast. Seem like a nice place to stay.
3. The going rate for the local coffee pack of 500g is from 25000d/30000d.the good quality ground coffee will be 121000d/pack.

24/01/07

YokDon national part is one of the reason tourist came to BMT, and there is bus go all the way to the park and finally stop at the tourist village BanDon, it took a little more than an hour and cost only 10000d. The trip was a plain and easy ride, once outside BMT and you could see many long-houses along the road. Gonna thanked the lady in YokDon hotel for her written all the phrases I need for the bus, I just showed that to the conductor, its read"I want to stop at the gate of the national park", and the most important one was"when will be the last bus come back to town? ", the conductor smile and gave me an acknowning nod, then she wrote on the paper... 5:30. The entrance of the national park was right by the highway, the guy in the office gave me a short introduction of what I could do there. "you need to hire a guide if you want to do trekking." he told me. But all I want was a short walk in the area, and he said "no, and there wasn't much to walk just around the headquarters", at first I didn't know why he said that, and later find out right...the national park actually was across the river, you want to walk, hire a guide then they will take you to the other side. So I just wandered a bit along this side of the river and I saw some white stork stand on buffalo head indeed. The guy told me most people came here for elephant ride, also they operated 2 days 1 nights trip into the jungle too. Sound great but it was a bit expensive to done it on my own. Left the park and I walk over to BanDon which wasn't more than 3km away. Well...nothing special here, souvenirs shops lined the single street village, mostly I saw are domestic tourist, a travel operator there could arranged ethnic dance show, drinking ruon can, elephant ride, and there were some bungalows offered basic accommodation too. I paid 6000d crossing a bamboo hanging bridge to the sand island in the river, actually it produced a rather good atmosphere with couples of bridges through tree trunks, it gave a jungle walk feel in a way, there was some platforms for resting, cafe and canteen also, even a small tree house, there also act as a mini zoo, I saw monkeys and deer in cage, I saw 2 ostrichs being kept inside fence, at least they got an open sky above, there even 2 crocodiles kept in a tiny pond, but the sand island was too small for exploring, otherwise it would be a nice place to hang around for a while. I got some planning for exploring BMT as the city offered good inter-city bus service, unlike KonTum there only got private mini bus shuttle between townships in the area with no schedule, and it stopped me from doing anything as I wasn't fancy about hassling with bus fare. but here they had regular schedule although I didn't know where to find it, a conductor sell you ticket in fix price, so I thought I would just got in any bus heading to the destination wherever they go, perhaps there would-be surprise, but then the lady fron YokDon hotel said "no chance you will see any costume dressed hilltribes in anywhere in DakLak." so sure so direct, think that should be about right, I hadn't seen a single tribe people in 3 days, I mean tribal that I could identified from one another. That was why I like it more up north and even into South-west Yunnan in China. There was just wonderful.

Notes: 1. Info for YokDon national park. Double room USD$10/night Guiding fee/day (about 6 hours) is 250000d for no more than 10 people. Elephant ride for 2 people is 200000d/hr and 600000/day. 2 days 1 night trip is 2200000d including a guide, elephant, boat to cross river, tent, food and water. 2. Bus for YokDon are started from main bus station, in town you can just walk further down a little along PhanBoiChau road, look out for the pink/green bus sign, also the bus was in pink/green colour, it bus stand was opposite from a local temple. Frequency bus almost run every hour.

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