Tourist free zone

Trip Start Apr 09, 2008

115

Trip End Apr 19, 2009

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Flag of Vietnam Kontum, Vietnam
Monday, October 13, 2008

So I didnt have a map of Kon Tum when I arrived so looking outside the bus station I appeared to be in the middle of nowhere so I took a Xe Om to a hotel. A Xe Om is a moto taxi like a small notor bike. These are typical in Vietnam and in fact cars are very rare here. The drivers will shout at you constantly "Where you go now?" If you tell them they will claim it is too far to walk or it doesnt exist or they know a better place, anything to get you on the back of their bike. For me it is funny to see them smile at you and then pat the seat next to them. And when I first arrived in Hanoi I thought they were saying "Hello. Goodbye." I would say goodbye back and keep on walking. It turned out they were trying for 'good bike' but it always makes me laugh now. I have taken a Xe Om several times but I try to avoid it with my back pack on because it makes balance harder. Anyway I took one this time to the hotel. It turned out not to be so far but walking would have tiring with the bag and besides it was late. I got another plush room with TV, air con, double bed, etc. It seems to me that there are no bad rooms in Vietnam, the only diference between good and bad is the diference between dirty and clean. So I wandered around the area until I found a place with noodle soup and then watched movies in the hotel until I feel asleep.

The next day I went out in search of a tourist gency hoping to find a map and some advice about where to go. Although I am now just another lonely planet tourist (the lonely planet is the travellers bible, it seems that every backpacker has one and up to Japan I managed without but I was given one so now I just go wherever it tells me) the lonely planet I have doesnt have much info about Kon Tum. Anyway found the Kon Tum Tourist office and asked in there. The guy there (Mr Whin) amazed me with his generosity both in time and money. He bought me a coffee and drew me a map not only showing places I could go in town but also a short walk that would take me around a few nearby villages and didnt ask for anything in return. I decided already that I wanted to take a tour with this guy so I arranged to come back the next day in the morning. That afternoon I added to my blog a lot. (Thanks to that it is almost up to date!) Looked around the market, I have now seen quite a few markets but they still always overwhelm me with all the smells and colours and interesting things that do not exist in england. And ate more noodle soup.

The next day I checked out of my hotel and got back to the tourist office to start my tour. I had another coffee that he payed for (coffee in the vietnamese highlands is delicious, granted I dont have much experience with coffee but it just tastes great. I think because it is so fresh, the highland towns are surrounded by coffee plantations. They serve the coffee in a metal filter that sits on top of the glass and the water slowly drips through into the glass underneath giving you pure coffee. They serve it if you like with ice and/or condenced milk which makes the coffee both milky and sweet in one go. I am not a fan of hot drinks as you may know so I normally go for the iced milk coffee. The guide told me (over the coffee) that he would be at a wedding from 11 to 1.30 but that we had plenty of time to see everything either side of that. While we were talking it started to rain.

We set out anyway hoping the rain would stop but it got worse just as we arrived at the first village. There is actually no divide between the town and the village, Mr Whin told me this is becasue Kon Tum is only 80 years old built along the new road there and the villages were much older. He took me to the home of a friend, a house that he had built and we sat under the eaves of the house and sheltered from the down pour. When the rain stopped we had time to walk around the village and see how the people live there. Mr Whin told me that he was going to the wedding party now but that I was welcome to join him. I said that I had no smart clothes with me and it said it would be fine. After stopping at Mr Whins house we went to the party and it was fine. After a delicious 10 course meal I found myself drinking with the father of the bride, the owner of the restaurant, a local police captain, the owner of the bus company and someone Mr Whin described as mafia. The beers here so down easy and I impressed everyone with my drinking skills, they play a game where they shout something meaning bottoms up and you have to finish your drink. I was good at that game. The brides brother invited me to his house but in the end I got back on the moto with Mr Whin to see a few more villages before we went to karaoke with some of Mr. Whin's friends. I sang a couple of songs, Vietnamese love singing and were all quite good but I held my own.

After, drunk, I went back to the hotel to pick up my bag and staggered towards the bus station. I stopped half way to get some food. Rice and beef, 'Cam (and) thit bo' in Vietnamese. Great. At the bus station everything was closed so I fell asleep on a bench and the an hour later got up and checked into a hotel nearby. From Mr Whin I already knew the time, price and the name of the owner of the bus. So I got up really early the next day and jumped on the bus. I didnt know that the journey would take 11 hours and involve 5 stops including one to buy bags of potatoes. Evetually, at 4 that evening I arrived in Da Lat.