Day 1: Jan 22ndWe had an early start this morning for our private tour of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Our group consisted of the two of us, a driver, and our guide, Vu. We actually travelled in a luxurious Daewoo sedan with airconditioning and seatbelts! (Kel's seatbelt was a bit dodgy, smooshing her and half strangling her for 4 days, but it still worked, and luckily we didn't need to find out how well they worked).
Our first stop was at a brick-making village. It is a small village a few hours west of Nha Trang, where everyone makes bricks. They get local clay, form the bricks using a Play Dough type machine, dry them in the sun for a few days and then smoke them in a brick smoke house for about 2 days, turning them into a beautiful terracotta colour. Each different 'company' imprints their name on every brick. When we first arrived, a group of about 5 local kids ran up to the car and continuted to follow us while we walked around. One of them held Kel's hand the whole time. They all had beautiful big smiles. They didn't speak any English at all, but they did know how to point to their pockets and then hold out their hands (I guess we were meant to infer they wanted money, but we played dumb).
A little while later we pulled over on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere, at Eagle Pass. It is one of the areas in the Central Higlands that was completely destroyed by defoliants during the American War. To this day, nothing but grass and a few trees will grow here, and some areas are still completely bare. It is named Eagle Pass after the eagle patch on American GI uniforms.
We stopped for lunch in a small town and continued on through miles and miles of coffee plantations. We arrived in Yok Don National Park around 3:00, our stop for the night. It is the largest of Vietnam's national parks, and is home to 17 ethnic groups, including the M'nong people. Our home for the evening was in a tiny M'nong village which brought to mind images more associated with Africa than Vietnam, grass huts on stilts and all. The M'nong people are known for their abilities to catch wild elephants (still living in the park). They used to catch baby elephants and train them to become worker elephants. We saw some of the traditional gear they used to capture them and restrain them so they couldn't run away with the rest of the herd. We were treated to an elephant trek on one of the M'nong elephants, with a M'nong guide. We sat on a bench in a basket strapped to the elephant's back, and the driver sat on the elephant's head and steered by pushing his feet against the back of the elephant's ears. It was a fun, beautiful ride and we even went straight up hills, straight down hills, and straight through the river. Unfortunately, the only trumpeting we heard was from the wrong end. We saw tons of dragonflies and butterflies, but not much else as it was really hot and dry.
We then had a trek through an area of the park inhabited by the M'nong people. Their homes are completely basic, really just a wooden platform raised on some stilts, coverd with a grass roof. Nothing else. They live off the land, mainly fishing and growing different types of things, including cashews, coffee, pomelos, bananas, corn, manioc/cassava/tapioca,and other fruits. We hiked through the jungle and were surprised to discover that the 'dry season' really is DRY. We always thought it would still be green and lush, but without rain. But this area of the jungle was really dry, dead leaves covering the floor, and not a lot of green at all. But it was still cool to be guided around by 2 local M'nong people. We had a girl translate from M'nong into Vietnamese, and then our guide Vu would translate from Vietnamese into English. After a short hike, we boarded two dugout canoes, made from a single log. We balanced somewhat precariously as we slowly edged our way to the centre of the boat, trying not to capsize the whole thing. The rower sat on the stern edge and slowly rowed us down the Serepok River. We saw a few local minority boys in their dugout, gathering water grass for their buffalo to eat. It was incredibly peaceful floating down the river, and very quiet except for the evening birds coming out to eat. We hit some 'rapids' where we had to get out of the boats and onto some rocks while the rowers braved the white water themselves, picking us up once safely past the rapids.
We had dinner in the eating hut and then headed to bed in our own little grass hut on stilts, complete with a fan, a mosquito net, and our own toilet (non-flushing, but very clean). We slept on the floor on some cushions and had to be careful not to drop anything between the large cracks in the floorboards down to the ground below. At bedtime, we were joined by plenty of flying beetles and geckos. I think it was the quietest night of sleep we have had since we left Australia.
Day 2: Jan 23rdHAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!We woke up early this morning to roosters crowing and a beautiful sunrise out of our hut door (and no mossie bites either...well, maybe only one or two for Kel, which is good). We had a quick breakfast in the eating hut and then were off, leaving the M'nong village behind. Our first stop was Dray Sap Falls, the highest waterfalls in Yok Don National Park. Being the dry season, the falls were not at their most spectacular, but still pretty to look at. 'Dray Sap' means 'Big Smoke' in the local language because when the falls are at their heaviest, the huge amounts of mist produced by the water looks like smoke in the air.
We then headed to Lak Lake and stopped in another M'nong minority village along the lake called Jun Village. Here the people subsist mainly on fishing in the lake and farming rice. Nigel and I walked through the village of stilt homes, lots of pigs, chickens and dogs and dugout boats. We stopped for a cold drink at a 'pub' overlooking the lake. The 'pub' was just a dirt floor covered with a grass roof and the locals seemed surprised to see us there. It was nice to sit and watch the people go about their daily business, such as riding their tractors and motorbikes into the lake for a wash. For lunch, Kel went next door to a 'shop' (again, a dirt floor with a grass roof) and asked the woman (sign language only here) for some food. She cooked up a fresh meal of noodles with egg and veggies, which we ate at our lakeside cabana.
On the way to Dalat, we drove through beautiful mountainous scenery, covered in jungle and coffee & tea plantations. We stopped on the side of the road at a few local homes, where they raise silkworms. The worms start off tiny, and are fed strawberry leaves until they become really fat, about the size of a pinky finger. Then these very hungry caterpillars are stransferred from their leafy beds to bamboo racks where they stop eating and start spinning a silk cocoon. Once they turn into butterflies and fly away, the silk is collected and sold to a silk factory. This business provides a somewhat easy and rapid turnover for cash, which helps add to their profits from farming.
Just outside the city of Dalat, we stopped at a roadside village where they grow mushrooms (for eating, not smoking). They fill plastic bags with sawdust and hang these from the ceilings of grass hut type greenhouses. The mushroom spore is planted in tiny holes in the sides of the bags, and the mushrooms begin to grow on the outside of the bags. Some are the size of hockey puck, a beautiful brown velvet on top and lavendar underneath. The mushrooms are then picked and put in the sun to dry out to be sold.
Before heading into Dalat, we stopped in Chicken Village, another minority village. They have capitalized on the tourists coming into their town and sell beautiful hand-woven silk scarves, tablecloths and the like. It's called Chicken Village because some Queenslander went there and built them a giant concrete chicken on the roadside. Well, that's not the true story, but it could be added to the others as to how the town got its name (look it up if you're interested, we won't write it all up here). We arrived in Dalat in the early evening, checked into a hotel for the night and then headed out for a wander. The hotel had an old, bright red Vespa we were going to hire for the evening, but we weren't too confident on the whole gear change thing on the hills of Dalat, so we decided to walk instead. Dalat is sometimes called Le Petit Paris and is the number one honeymoon destination in Vietnam. We were not too sure how Dalat compares to Paris, or why anyone would want to go there on a honeymoon, but hey, to each his own. We went to the huge markets to get a few toiletry items, then walked around looking for a recommended Mexican restaurant. We finally found the place, and it was worth seeking out, as we had a great meal of fresh tortilla chips and awesome pico de gallo, and quesedillas with fresh tortillas. A nice treat. Again, we found it odd that we could add Mexican food to our list with 'Indian food' and 'Italian pasta' to our list of foods found in Vietnam that is actually better than most Vietnamese foods. We walked back to our hotel room a different way. Nigel thought we were lost, but Kel didn't. We did make it back to the hotel (it was right where Kel thought it would be), it just took a bit longer.
Day 3: January 24thWe spent the morning around Dalat, our first stop being a cheesy, lame tourist attraction called the Crazy House. Some weird freaky lady has built a Disney style hotel meant to look like a few huge trees but actually just look like huge brown pieces of crap rising into the sky (for those in Adelaide, think 'Magic Mountain'-for those in California, think 'way worse than 'Splash Mountain' at Disneyland). Each hotel room is in a 'hole' in one of the trees, and they all have a theme. There was a tiger room, bamboo room, ant room, pheasant room, and even a kangaroo room. The animals all had evil red glowing bulbs for eyes. We weren't too sure what type of person would actually PAY to stay in such a place, but we had somewhat of an idea given that every bed in every room had a mirror on the ceiling just above it. The owner actually has a neat history, as her father was president of Vietnam, succeeding Ho Chi Minh only a few years later. We couldn't really get out of there fast enough, and would have chosen to not stop at all had we known this was one of the 'attractions' on our tour. We then drove across town to the Dalat flower gardens, a cool, peaceful place where they grow lots of flowers, including tons of gorgeous orchids.
Leaving Dalat, we headed straight to Cat Tien National Park and arrived about 2:30. We left our car behind and boarded a 'ferry' across a river to get inside the park. The ferry was just an old wooden fishing boat. There are people in the park who live there, as they are mostly conservationists, biologists, and maintenance workers. There are also a few thousand minority people living throughout the park. The government tried to relocate them when it was declared a National Park, but they said 'This is our forest, we're not going anywhere' so they stayed. We dropped our bags in our room and jumped on some mountain bikes for a ride around. Vu came along to help spot some wildlife. The bikes were surprisingly good, even given the fact that Nigel's was a 'Panasonic Shimano.' On our ride through the jungle, we saw some birds, a few squirrels, a monkey, and a HUGE hornbill, which we heard before we saw. It sounded like a pterydactyl. The locals call them helicopter birds. We dropped Vu off at the headquarters and Nigel and I continued biking the other way on our own. We saw 2 civet cats on the trail, a small animal that looks like a cross between a mongoose and an opossom.
We headed back to our room for a quick cold shower, had some dinner at the park restaurant, and went out for a nocturnal jeep ride to see if we could spot some more animals. We rode in the back of a Toyota truck, bouncing along the trail in the open dust. Again, we felt more in Africa than Vietnam, but it was really fun. It was a full moon night, so there were not too many animals out, but we did see another civet (this one up close on the side of the road), a mongoose, and some deer. There are also tigers, elephants, wild pigs and cows, and about 8 rare Javan rhinos in the park, the rarest of all the rhinos and extremely endangered. We went to bed when we got back, all the geckos keeping watch.
Day 4: Jan 25thToday we had an early breakfast and set out on a 10km hike through the park. Nigel and I were joined by our guide Henry. He lives in the park and knows so much about the flora and fauna there. He has a family in Ho Chi Minh city, whom he sees on his days off. But he loves being out in the jungle amongst nature and meeting all the tourists and scientists he guides around the park. Needless to say, he was an excellent person to have along, keeping us entertained with his vast knowledge, great sense of humour, and general insights on Vietnamese life. Our hike destination was Crocodile Lake. Along the way, we saw some lizards, birds, and squirrels, a monkey, spiders and fortunately, NO snakes. And a huge tree, which they call 'Sadam Hussein' tree because it is standing all alone with no other 'friends' around (it's a 700 year old tree surrounded by all smaller trees). Most of the area where we were hiking is secondary forest because the original was destroyed during the American War. The Viet Cong used the forest and Crocodile Lake as a major base. At the lake, we sat for around 40 minutes at the ranger hut, watching the birdlife on the water through binoculars. It is such a beautiful, tranquil spot. We didn't see any crocodiles, but saw herons, ducks, a purple swamp hen (gorgeous bird) and an osprey. We walked back following the same path, the highlight being a rare lizard with a bright sky blue head and a greyish/peachish body. It looked like a small bearded dragon, for all you lizard buffs. It was a great hike, and so fantastic to be the only ones in the huge forest. Well, not the ONLY ones. We did pass a few rangers on motorbikes. They were on duty out looking for poachers.
We had a quick lunch back at the headquarters, took the ferry back across the river, and said goodbye to Cat Tien National Park. It was about 3 hours to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), where we said goodbye to our driver and Vu and found ourselves a nice hotel. We had a long shower, vigorously scrubbing away the layers of dirt and then had a fantastic meal of Vietnamese Indian, one of our favourites. We made sure our hotel had satellite TV and spent the evening watching the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, and Animal Plant--a real treat (and cheap too).
The private tour of the Central Highlands was definitely the way to go. We felt like royalty driving around in an air-conditioned car, and even felt a bit awkward and embarrassed at times driving through such poor villages. Doing all of this by bus probably would have taken more like 7 days, not to mention the misery Kel would have been in from motion sickness, riding in a huge bus through the twisty windy roads. It was great to be on our own for a few days, without the crowds of tourists. In fact, we only saw about 5 other westerners in the entire 4 days (except for Dalat).
