Village life
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2009
1
50
65
Trip End
Jun 2009
Buon Ma Thuot,
Vietnam
Friday, May 22, 2009
Anyway, I decided to give it a miss and stick to the route in-land, for more of the Lancastrian welcomes and in the hope of spotting a whippet to go with my flat cap. I've just discovered that the Lonely Planet tells you the population of each town which it mentions, something I've always ignored as I don't understand big numbers but I realised that they meant something in relation to each other. Therefore, when I realised that Buon Ma Thout, the next town along the road was 10 times the size of Dalat, I started looking for an alternative.
I found it in Lak Lake, other than the natural beauty, accommodation options and photo opportunities, the name also appealed to me so I decided to make it my home for the night. As I came within 30km of the lake, the sky which had been threatening all morning and opened on top of the bus. By the time we reached my stop, it had cleared up but was still looking pretty threatening so I asked some people where I needed to go in my best Viatnamese (note, this is largely possible in combination with international sign language - I had to do train today, very funny apparently!). They looked at me fairly blankly and pointed so I went in that direction & sure enough after a km or so, Lak Lake resort appeared in front of me (I think it was there all along rather than appearing but artistic license, ok!). Unfortunately, they wanted $10 for a bed in a shared longhouse so they pointed me in the direction of the village where I could arrange a homestay. Off I trudged up a deserted track laden with my bags and already pretty knackered after the bus ride, the only people I passed were too women who appeared to be simultaneously herding cows, pigs, water buffalo and chickens. (I guess the cats had proved too hard after all!) Just after I passed this impressive feat, the sky opened. Without so much as a clap of thunder or a darkening of the sky, it was like some poured a bucket of water over me. Stupidly my raincoat was at the bottom of my bag so I just stood sheltering my back pack when suddenly the rain stopped. One of the ladies (I think the one in charge of poultry) stuck an umbrella over my head, I could have hugged her. Seconds later, a third woman turns up on the back of a motorbike and tells me to get on. It turned out that the receptionist at Lak Lake Resort had taken pity on me and phoned the restaurant owner in the village & asked her to come and pick me up.
I arrived soaked through and Mama made me a cup of tea and told me what I was doing for the next 24 hours. I would have dinner there, sleep in a longhouse and then after breakfast would ride an elephant for an hour before she took me back to the bus stop. Ok, I swapped the elephant for a boat ride (much cheaper) and just said ok and let her take care of me.
The village is on the tourist trail in that minivans arrive (3 while I was there), take a picture of the lake, hop on an elephant for 20 minutes and then off again. Nobody stays overnight. It's a lovely place, Mnong people living as they have for centuries but clearly with the addition of satellite dishes and rap (I know it's probably hip-hop of break beat or something else which I just don't understand, I'm really beginning to show my age). Also lovely for the baby boom which seems to be going on here, kittens, puppies, piglets, chicks, calfs, ducklings and baby buffalo - which are pink and hairy and gorgeous). There's also the scenery, rice paddies, stretch into the water which is ringed by more loomers. It's gorgeous. The sunset has gone firmly into my list of top five sunsets of SE Asia, it was really pretty. All dark blue clouds, with gold sky in between, women picking rice and men in boats silhouetted against the lake which reflected everything. Check out FB, very impressive!
Dinner was a surprise & after some futile explanations of the idea of vegetarianism I ended up with chicken anyway. And soup. And rice. And green vegetables in garlic. And some more of the chicken with some mushrooms. Just for me, it seemed a bit weird so I invited Mama and her family to join me which she just laughed at. I don't know what really was going on but luckily I'd only eaten a little roll in the morning and not had lunch so I made a good impression in all the food.
The accommodation was in a longhouse which would sleep one Mnong family, which with grandparents, nieces, nephews etc could be about 25 people. I had one to myself, business is a bit slow at the moment. It was a bit spooky, as there were a row of mattresses on the floor, each covered by a mosquito net and about 4 old wardrobes at the end of the room, all with the doors slightly ajar. The mosquito nets were also almost but not completely transparent so that there's probably but not definitely nothing underneath. I had to have a thorough check & padlock the door from the inside.
Despite the nightmares, I slept quite well and woke up with the cockerels. Anyone who thinks you can use a cockerel as an alarm clock must want to get up at 3am, they're really a bit rubbish at working out the time. Not surprising really, given their brain power and everything else they need to think about. I wandered around the village a bit until it was time for my dawn boatride - which was nice, if a bit early. The sun seems to make it's own mind up over when it feels like getting up. It's supposed to be 6am but it seems to have decided it hasn't got enough time to get through everything so will get up about 5 just to be sure.
The lake was lovely and after some fried egg in super noodle soup breakfast, I 'talked' to people harvesting the rice & discovered the answer to the question 'what does a rice look like?'. If this has never plagued you, then you're lucky but if like me, you've always wondered then check out Facebook. The bits of the plant which are not needed are disposed of in quite a novel way, two elephants were on hand to ensure that nothing went to waste. Clever.
