Bach Ma National Park Day 3

The next trail, the rhododendron trail, began 12km uphill from the visitors centre. This would talk me a while to walk to, then hike the trail there and then hike down. Fortunately Joe had a motorbike and was allowed to officially ferry his parents there one by one. He was not supposed to give anyone else a ride. It took Joe 30 minutes each way to drive to the trail. He took his mother first while his dad and I starting walking to lessen the distance between pickups. His dad was next and I just kept walking. I had passed the entrance to the pheasant trail from yesterday and kept going. As I walked I glanced to the side of the road along a concrete barrier. I thought I was looking at a stick but as I followed the black stick, I came to it's head! It was a 1.5m snake! Often when I'm hiking in the forest, sticks can appear to be snakes at a quick glance, so I was really surprised when this stick turned out be to a huge snake! I was nearly beside the snake when I finally saw it. I think it was staying still and hoping I would just walk by. When I stopped to get out my camera the snake knew that he had been seen. He paused for a second and then made a fast retreat over the concrete and into the forest. I never did get a photo but I was happy to see a large snake. After walking over 8km all uphill, it was finally my turn for Joe to pick me up. The road was pretty hairy and bumpy in spots. The weather at the base of the mountain was gloomy and overcast but as we got higher we climbed above the clouds. At the start of the trial, the sun was shining, it was warm and breezy. There were great views too above the clouds.
The trail needed some maintaince. There was a lot of pieces of dead bamboo and branches. The trail led to the top of the rhododendron falls. We stopped here. Joe's mom stayed at the top while Joe, his dad and I descended the 689 steps to the base of the 300m high waterfall. I must admit it only took me about 5 minutes to go down quickly. It felt like much less than 689 steps but I wasn't counting. Now when I hear about a 300m high waterfall, I picture a 300m uninterrupted drop of water. This falls wasn't that at all. It was more like just steep rocks with the water hardly plunging away from them at all. There was single 300m drop. It was still impressive though and we hung out at the bottom for a while. Going up was a bit tougher. The steps are very high and space far apart, not good for climbing up. I was feeling it in my upper thighs, especially since I had walked almost 9km before even attempting them.
Joe had to ferry us all back down to the visitors centre and I knew I would be last. It was the middle of the afternoon and it would take hours for us all to get down. I started walking ahead of everyone. As I got closer to the road, an orange,black and white animal fleed from my presence in the trees. I didn't see it really clearly but I saw the colors. It was a buff cheeked gibbon, a rare primate living in the park. Minutes later I saw another smaller snake. This snake stayed still for a while and I was able to get some decent photos of it. It had been a great day, 2 snakes and a gibbon. I walked a few km down the hill and moved aside for a huge dumptruck to pass me. He stopped and gave me a free ride down to the base. This was great, this would save Joe a lot of time having to come back up to get me. I arrived at the canteen the same time Joe arrived with his dad.

The next day Joe and his family and I walked to a nearby river. We spent most of the day swimming and walking around. It was a beautifully warm and sunny day. It was a relaxing last day in the park. The next day I caught a bus to Hue.

Bach Ma National Park Day 2

Bach Ma was a French era hill station built to escape the heat of the lowlands in comfort. The peak of Bach Ma reaches a height of 1450m, just 18km from the coast. The French started building villas here in 1930. The area saw heavy fighting though in the 1950's and later in the Vietnam war. It's important to stick to the trails here as there could still be some UXO (unexploded ordinance) lying about. The forest here is very important as it protects a large area of the Annamite mountains stretching from the coast all the way to Laos. This forest was the home of newly discovered large mammals in the 1990's. The Annamite mountains were the place I wanted to visit the most in Vietnam, unfortunately access and the terrain are very difficult. If I had a lot more money, I would love to launch an expedition deep into the forest here.
A typhoon hit the park hard last november, destroying the road to the summit. They are rebuilding it but won't (officially) let anyone up to the summit. Really, the summit is the park. From the entrance, it was 16km to the summit where most of the trails are. The first trail starts 5km from the entrance. I visited this, the pheasant trail, my second day in the park. The day was very cloudly and overcast but very warm and very humid. As I walked to the trail I was drenched in sweat. I think humidity hovered around 90%. At night in my tent, condensation gathered under the fly. It was 22C with 96% humidity! It was much warmer than I thought it was going to be. I slept well here.
I took a few photos on the way to the trail and it took me an hour to reach it. The forest is very dense here. There are plenty of spiders and webs and it seemed like every minute I was brushing a web away from my face. I'm not sure where the spiders went when I crashed through one of their webs. The trail led to a rocky river. I hung out here for a while before going back down. As I walked back down, thick fog was covering the mountain. It had a very strange and eerie feel. It felt like it was hard to focus my eyes. Everything seemed blurry. I really liked the atmosphere it created though. I ended up being on the mountain for almost 6 hours before I got back to the visitors centre. Joe and his family had just got back visiting a lake. I joined them for a late lunch. After Joe's parents went to bed we would watch movies on his laptop. It was great, hiking in the forest in the day and watching movies at night.

Bach Ma National Park

I left Hoi An for Bach Ma national park. It took almost 4 hours to get there, which was a bit longer than I expected. We passed through a 6km long tunnel, opened in 2005. This shaved an hour off driving time between Danang and Hue. It bypassed the Hai Van pass, which I wanted to see because it was supposed to have great views but it would have been much more difficult to get transport to use the pass instead of the tunnel.
I arrived at the junction to the park at 5pm. It was a 3km walk from here to the park entrance. I would have taken a moto but no one was giving me a fair price, so I just walked it. At the park entrance I was expecting to find a campsite but the places I was shown to pitch my tent sucked. They were both along the road and beside a parking lot. No privacy or quiet at either one. I wanted to find a better site. I finally found a guy who spoke some english and he pointed me towards the guesthouse, back from the road. I set up my tent here. It was a much better spot, awaying from staring eyes. Staying at the guesthouse was Joe, a 19 year old volunteer from England. He said there was no real campsite here, my guidebook was wrong again. He helped me set up my tent and let me use his hot shower my entire stay here. He also let me use his washing machine. My clothes haven't seen a machine since I left Canada over 3 months ago. I'm a die hard hand washer and don't like to pay to have my clothes washed unless they're super filthy. I gave Joe all my clothes to wash.
Joe had been at Bach Ma for 3 months. His parents arrived to visit him just an hour after I did. They were really nice and all of us ended up spending a lot of time together. They bought my dinner the first night and beers every night. They also brought Joe a lot of high quality chocolate. It seemed like I arrived just in time!

My Son and silk

An interesting day trip fromHoi An is to the ruins of My Son (me son). I did this on my third day in Hoi An. I originally signed up for the sunrise tour, leaving at 5am because I wanted to avoid the crowds, unfortunately though, that tour was cancelled due to lack of people. I was told this might happen, so they put me in the regular tour that left at 8. We finally got to the ruins at 9.30 and it was packed with people, Vietnamese and foreigners. It was hard to get photos without anyone in them, this is just what I wanted to avoid.
My Son are the most significant and oldest of Vietnam's ruins. I figured I had seen Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Bagan in Myanmar and Wat Phu in Laos, so I should finish all the significant ruins in SE Asia and go to My Son. I guess the only one I'm missing is Ayuthaya in Thailand, but I will get there too one day. My Son was the religious centre of the Cham people. It was occupied from the 4th century to the 13th century. The Cham borrowed heavily from Indian influences and I could see the resemblanes in the temples. Unfortunately for My Son, the Viet Cong used it as a military base during the Vietnam war and as a result it was bombed heavily. This destroyed many of the buildings until a plea was made to stop the bombing and they did. It is being restored now as it is a Unesco World Heritage site but there is still a long way to go. I still enjoyed the place despite the crowds. Since I was on a tour I occasionally followed with our group and listened to our guide. I learned a lot about the history of My Son. On the way back we transfered from our bus to a boat back to Hoi An. We had lunch on the boat. The tour was worth the $7.
I spend one more day in Hoi An after My Son. It's been a mission of mine to have a good pair of silk boxer shorts. I sleep in a silk sleeping bag liner when I'm camping and I'm partially obsessed with having silk surrounding my body! I could live in a silk suit. I had a pair of silk boxers but they fell apart easily. I wasn't rough with them at all. I don't know what happened to them. I figured since I was in Hoi An where getting tailored made clothes is the thing to do, this would be a good place to try and satisfy some of my silk dreams. I brought a pair of my own cotton boxers to a place, found the softest silk they had and ordered an exact replica of my own for $8. They said more would be cheaper but I wasn't about to order 10 pairs of boxers! I went back later in the day and the boxers seemed perfect. I really like them. I won't wear them until I get home so time will tell if they hold up to daily life. I hope they do.

Hoi An

Fortunately I was only 2 hours away from my next destination, Hoi An. Hoi An is a smaller place with lots of character and old buildings. History goes back over 400 years here with many of the buildings hundreds of years old. The town was spared bombing during the Vietnam war, which is known here as the American War. It's a quaint little town with many tailor shops, restaurants, travel agents and souvenir shops. I do a bit of shopping. I call my friends Dave and Adita. I met them in Cat Tien and again near Dalat. It's been 6 days since I've talked to them but I thought I'd call him to see where he's at. Oh yeah, I bought a cellphone here, it's useful to keep in touch with people here and much cheaper than at home. I got a hold of Dave and he was actually in a taxi going to Hoi An! What a coincidence. He stayed at another city for 5 days and then came to Hoi An. We met up for dinner.

I spent the next day walking around Hoi An. I will often buy 2 dragonfruits and 2 mangoes at the same time. I have a really good idea of what the price is for this, usually around $2. If it's a lot more than that, I know somethings up. So I go to buy fruit here and the women wants a lot more than it should be. I tell her the price and she says no, so I just bought the dragonfruit. As I walk away she's bargaining with me for the price and finally comes down to the normal price. I can't believe I even have to bargain hard for fruit here! This is the problem with Vietnam and why most of the people who I met who had come here didn't like it. I can totally understand. You shouldn't have to bargain hard for everything, but that's how it is ans as a foreigner, it's really frustrating and pisses you off. I have to bargain for fruit, hotel rooms, buses, motorcycles, even a newspaper! There are many disabled people selling newspapers here. They hassle you while you're eating breakfast. I overheard a transaction this morning. The seller wanted $4 for a tiny newspaper, that is more like a flyer! I never heard of anywhere, even in Canada, charging $4 for a newspaper. The Australian said it was too much and then the guy drops the price to $1, so he buys it. Then the seller says ' Ok, friend, thank you!' These people blatantly try to rip you off and then want to be your buddy!
I had the conductor on a bus overcharge me hugely ( but I bargained for a good price) and then he wanted to trade me sunglasses. Another guy offers me a cigarette after like we're buddies. You really have to see it as a game and have fun with it or else it will just get you upset and it's not worth it. I just stand my ground and end up usually walking away if I don't get the real price. They always chase me down and after time I get the real price, but it shouldn't be like this! It's tiring because you're always wondering where the next ripoff is going to be. Other than the people who are trying to get money from you, the regular folk of Vietnam are super friendly and they make up for the assholes!
Vietnam is a nation of smokers, well, at least the men are. Most of them smoke and will smoke anywhere, in restaurants, internet cafes, buses,etc. It's really annoying and can ruin a good place. One thing I do really like about Vietnam is that all businesses, hotels and restaurants are signposted with their address so you always know where you are and what street you're on. It makes navigating with a map easy. I haven't seen this yet but I have heard of copycat places here. A place that's not as good will take the exact name of another more popular place and try to pass itself off as this! So having the exact address of a place can be really important sometimes.

Up the coast

I spent the next 4 days slowly making my way up the coast. I stopped at a few obscure towns to sleep and visit people I had met earlier. Tet, the Vietnamese New Year was Feb.14 this year but the whole holiday lasts almost 10 days. The people I had met were home with their families for Tet and happened to be on the route I was taking north. I spent most of my time relaxing on the beach and visiting my friends, their friends and family. This trip has been probably the most social trip I've been on. But after a few days of visiting people and being in obscure towns, I was ready for a bit of tourist action. I left my really nice beach resort to go to Hoi An.

Tuy Hoa

I had a lazy day my second day in Tuy Hoa but it ended very unpredictably. I ate some fruit for breakfast and went online at the post office. Internet in Vietnam is very cheap, less than 50 cents for an hour or cheaper. I was near the beach so I thought I should spend some time on the beach. Locals are very friendly here and Tuy Hoa is not touristy at all. A lot of people say hi to me. I don't see any foreigners around. This is just what I wanted for a few days, to get off the beaten track but still be somewhere nice. I went to the beach to read for a while. It was warm but I didn't feel like swimming. I'm the type of guy who can live near a beach for days and not swim in the ocean. As I'm sitting there reading my book a few teenagers come by and plop themselves down beside me. They don't speak much english but that doesn't seem to matter. They get a table brought over and order a few beers. As with a lot of places in Vietnam, the beer is warm but they bring a big bucket of ice. The ice is safe here. I generally don't like to drink beer with ice, I'm not a big drinker and if the beer is not cold, I just won't drink it. Vietnam is the first country where I find myself drinking ice beer. It's ok, just watered down. After the beers I showered and we went to one of their houses. Then we took a few motos down to a carnival like thing. We went on a mini roller coaster, played foosball, paddled on giant swans and ate a huge feast. It was really fun, but a bit frustrating because we couldn't talk to each other much. They seemed really happy just to hang out with me though.

The day I hit the coast!

I left Dalat the next morning at 7.30am on a bus to Nha Trang. This city is the premier party/resort/beach destination. Although I wouldn't be staying. I had to come here to get another bus connection and continued north. The road was in mostly good shape except for a dusty 10km stretch. I must say our driver was the best I've seen. He drove slowly and cautiously and I never feared for my life. I did see 3 accidents along the way though. There was dried pools of blood on the road at the scene of a grisly crash involving 2 motorbikes. Next was a van that had turned over on its side and the other accident was a motorbike that hit a truck. I've more vehicle accidents here in Vietnam than any other country (I saw a few more days later).
From Nha Trang I got on another bus right away. I got off 2 hours later in Tuy Hoa. My guidebook described it as a friendly little place with a good beach and no tourists. This is what I wanted. The beach isn't really my thing but I thought I would take a few days exploring it and hanging out in a quiet place.
I stayed at Dong Coan hotel which was right across the street from the beach. I got a very nice room on the fourth floor with 2 balconies and a sea view. The hotel boasted 2 stars. I think its the first hotel I've ever stayed in that had stars! For $8, it was one of the nicest rooms I've ever had. I met some locals and they took me around that night. We went to the flower market. Chinese/Vietnamese New Year (known as Tet) is on Feb. 14 and everyone was out looking for flowers. Most of the flowers were tall chrysanthemums but there were a few lilies. For me the most impressive area was a small art gallery with a large bonsai display in the front. This collection of bonsai was the most impressive I've ever seen. Unlike most of the other bonsais I've seen which were very large, these bonsais were a more manageable size and could easily be brought into a house for display.

Dalat - Lang Bian Mountain

I rented a mountain bike to ride to Lang Bian mountain. It was a very old volcano and had great views from the top. I rode 13km to the base of the mountain. The road was in good shape and slightly hilly for the first bit. Then it went downhill for a while. I picked up a lot of speed and it was really fun though I knew it would hell coming back up! I reached the mountain and parked my bike.
Although they allowed locals to ride their motorbikes or drive to the top, foreigners could only walk or hire a vehicle to travel the 5km to the top. I ran into a couple I met in Cat Tien here. They were waiting for more people to split the cost of the jeep to the top. I had always planned on walking to the top and stuck to my plan. The road was pretty steep at times and the whole mountain was covered in pine trees. It reminded my a lot of Algonquin provincial park back home. My guidebook said it took 3-4 hours to reach the top. I made it in one hour! At the top there was a restaurant and some stalls selling stuff. It was wasn't busy and there was no hassle. The views were great though it was a little hazy. Lower down on one side of the mountain, the forest was burning. The smoke reached to the top and was annoying when I had to walk through it on the way down. I spent an hour on the top before walking back down.
Going up the long uphill wasn't as bad as I though going back. Once I got to more level ground, I was able to put the bike into the hardest gear. I was pedaling my heart out and going really fast. I was even passing motorcycles! Once I got closer to Dalat, the traffic got more hectic and I had to slow down.

Cat Tien Day 2

I ate breakfast at the canteen beside the campsite. I packed up my tent and hired a bicycle to ride further into the park and then hike to Crocodile lake. I would be camping out at the lake. It was a 10km ride along a terribly bumpy road to the start of the trail. I walked my bike 100m down the trail and parked it with some other bikes. The trail was fairly flat and easy walking. It felt great to be back in the forest again. There was no one else around. The sounds of the forest were shattered temporarily when a motorbike passed me on the trail carrying supplies to the lake. I knew then, the trail couldn't be that hard if a motorbike can do it. I saw mostly birds along the way but did spook a few animals that I couldn't see deeper in the bush. This area was volcanic a long time ago and there are many rocks all over the forest.
About one km before the lake the trail branches to the left to a huge mega tree. This tree is easily the biggest I've seen the whole trip. It has massive buttress roots and is about 3m in diameter, 3m above the ground! It was awesome! I took many photos and walked slowly around the monster. As I did I noticed a lizard on a tree. I wasn't sure but I thought it was a flying lizard. I took some photos and spooked it further up the tree and then it jumped! It glided gracefully to the base of another tree nearby. I was right, it was a flying lizard. Well, they don't actually fly but they glide with flaps of skin, like elongated ribs. I have seen 2 of these before in Borneo but both of these times, the guide pointed it out to me. This is the first time I spotted one on my own.
Out at the lake was a lazy scene. There were 2 shirtless rangers reading, so I took off my shirt. There were only men around and I didn't have to wear a shirt at all. The whole headquarters here is on stilts, though the water in the lake was very low. I walked down a raised walkway to the 2 nice bungalows. It was $40 to stay in one of these but they were both unoccupied so I set up my tent on the spacious veranda. I hoped no one would show up and make me move. I relaxed around camp for most of the afternoon. Later 2 young Germans arrived. We toured around the lake in a canoe at sunset. Even though the lake is called crocodile lake, I didn't see any crocodiles! Unlike most places, the crocodiles were always in the water here. They didn't come ashore to sun themselves as the do everywhere else. Was there even crocodiles here, I wondered? I saw a lot of ripples on the water, but that could have been fish making them.

After dinner I wanted to go for a night walk. The forest trail leading out to the lake I thought would be a good place to look for animals. I left at 7.30. Within 5 minutes I was seeing eyeshine in the forest. It was a small animal and I crept closer as quietly as I could to get a better look. I was able to see it and get a few photos. It was a mouse deer, one of the smallest deer in the world. Further down the trail I saw more eyeshine but very far from the trail. I tried walking deeper into the forest but it was too thick and I didn't want to scare whatever away. I think buy the way the animal reacted to me and when I heard it run away, it was a large deer. The eyes were spread very far apart, so I knew it was something big. There are supposed to be leopards and tigers here but they are rarely seen.
Just before I camp back to the lake after an hour walking, I scared a civet right behind the guards quarters. It ran up the tree and stayed there looking at me. I took some photos, it was a common palm civet. I wasn't surprised to see it near human habitation. Civets are a bit of a scavenger and it was probably attracted to the smell of cooking food. I've civets around other camps in the rainforest.

The sounds of the lake were really loud that night. Birds and other animals were calling loudly to each other. I heard something large walk right under me. I took out my camera and my light but by the time I looked it was already gone. I think it was a sambar deer.

The next morning I walked and and then cycled back to the main camp. I could have stayed longer but wanted to get moving north. I took a bus back to Dalat. I got my same room at Phoung Hanh.

Cat Tien National Park

Dalat would be my base city for visiting Cat Tien National park. The park is 175km from Dalat on the road to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC/Saigon). There was nothing I wanted to see in HCMC and I figured why go there. Cat Tien would be as far south as I would go because I still had to go far north to fly home from Hanoi. I had a super nice deluxe bus to the park. The nicest bus by far that I had been on for this trip, hell, almost anywhere for that matter. It took 4 hours to reach the road to the park. From here I had to bargain hard with a moto driver to take me the remaining 25km to the park. I walked away from there ridiculous prices. They followed me and eventually went for my price, which was even a little more, I later learned than it should have been. I then had to cross a river to get to the actual park. The headquarters were right on the other side. I set up my tent in a large, flat field with unfortunately no privacy but still I was happy to be camping.

Cat Tien is an important park in Vietnam, harbouring many rare and endangered animals and forest. The park is under heavy pressure though from hunting and habitat loss. I met some other travellers here. After dinner a couple joined me for a night walk. I had thought about doing the night drive but they let you walk the same road for free, so I thought why not try that first. We saw eyeshine from at least 3 animals. My headlamp has a wide range which is good for spotting animals, even at a distance, but it's not good for zooming in on the animal to actually see what it is!
I only deteremined what one animal was. That was because it was a bird and pratically flew out in front of us. We walked for 2 hours. I had low expectations so I was pleasantly surprised that we did see at least 3 animals, even if we couldn't tell what they were.

Dalat

Dalat is the first city I've been in that is touristy. There were many foreigners around and many travel agencies and restaurants/cafes catering to tourists. I could actually have an enlish menu! I ate a big breakfast of an omelette, baguette and coffee at Chocolate cafe for $2. I rented a mountain bike to explore the sights around the city. Dalat is spread out and is very hilly. The bike I rented was decent and had many gears which made riding up and down the hills no problem for me.

Crazy House
My first stop was Crazy House. This place was truly awesome! The 'house' was designed by an ex-president of Vietnam's daughter who was educated in Russia. It began in 1990 and is still a work in progress. The house is supposed to have elements to bring it back to nature. There are no round or square windows. Many things resembling roots or the inside of a cave are all over. There are many small walkways, ladders and cubbyholes. Wandering around and getting lost is part of the experience. Crazy House is hard to describe with words. It's like nothing I've ever seen before and I had so much fun checking it out. It is a hotel as well. There are 10 rooms priced from $25-60. I could afford a $25 a night room but the room I really wanted to stay in was $50! I decided not to stay at all in the end. I'll just stay at my $5 cheapie!

Bao Dai's Summer Palace
I rode for 1km from Crazy House to Bao Dai's summer palace. This extravagant home was built in 1930 and has furniture and decor are almost that old. It was an interesting place to wander around. Where Crazy House was busy with tourists, there was almost no one at Bao Dai's. There was one room decked out with a few thrones. I paid the 80 cents to dress up in a royal costume and have a bunch of photos taken. It was fun. The outside of the house was lushly landscaped with strict manicure gardens and had many large bonsai's, mostly fig and bouganvillia.

Flower Gardens
I rode across town beside the lake to the Flower gardens. The lake is emptied and cleaned every 2 years. Unfortunately this happened to be when I was in town. So there is this big lake, dry to the bone. The gardens were right beside the lake and virtually empty. Most of the plants were in containers, plastic and clay. It was a pleasant place to wander around. They also had a huge greenhouse selling every kind of plant. Lots of orchids and bonsai. In general I find that there are a lot of bonsai trees around Vietnam, lining the sidewalks and in front of businesses. I've never seen so many in a country before and I really like it. Some of them are so huge. It would take a forklift to move them. I've never been to China or Japan but for some reason I think this is what they would look like, with many bonsai's everywhere. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know.

Train Station
From the gardens I rode for 10 minutes to the old train station. It's mostly for display. There is only one line and it only runs 8km! There is a sign saying that they must have at least 2 passengers for the train to run. I read in the guidebook that there were some old locomotives here. My dad really likes trains so I came to take a few photos for him. There was only one old locomotive, steam powered. I could step inside it and still see the coal ready to be shoveled into the engine. I had never seen an old steamer like this up close.

From the train station I rode back into town and returned the bike. Vietnam has a lot more variety of fruit than Myanmar and Laos. I've been eating heaps of dragonfruit and mangoes since I arrived. I've been having mostly a fruit lunch. I bought 2 sandwiches for dinner and fruit for dessert. My hotel is a little bit out of town up a large hill and I didn't feel like walking into the center of town for a meal.

Buon Ma Thount to Dalat

I took another 15 seater large van from Buon Ma Thount to Dalat. The road was in pretty bad shape and really, really twisty. The driver drove like a maniac which I think was the main reason for a lot of people getting sick. The passengers looked tired and terrible after they got off the van. Dalat is at 1425m, 700m higher than Boun Ma Thount. It was after dark when we arrived after a 4 hour trip. From the transport companys office I was able to figure out where I was with my guidebook map. I wasn't too far from my chosen hotel, so I started to walk.
I walked right near where the hotel should have been but couldn't find it. It was just off the map and I knew I was close. I stopped again to check the guidebook when a woman on a scooter stopped. She asked me in very good english if she could help me. I told her the hotel I was looking for. She knew it and took me there. Another friendly Vietnamese! It was down a dark lane which is why I couldn't find it. I wanted to stay at Pink House hotel but it was full. I ended up staying at Phoung Hanh hotel which was right beside it. My room was large with 2 beds, hot shower and TV all for $5. My cheapest room in Nam so far. I was tired from the journey and felt like watching movies, which I've learned always start at 6pm,8 and 10. I ate 2 sandwiches from a stall just down the street and chilled inside. Since Dalat is higher up, the air is crisp and clean, around 15C at night.

Yok Don National Park

I came to Buon Ma Thount to use it as a base to visit Yok Don National Park. Luckily for me the bus station to the park was just down the street from my hotel. It was a local bus and packed with people the whole hour ride. I was the only foreigner on board and got some looks! I got off the bus at the park entrance. I talked with a ranger about my options in the park. He basically told me the park was crap right now. He said there was no shade because the deciduous trees have lost their leaves, so it's really hot and we probably won't see any animals. I could trek deeper into the park but still probably wouldn't see anything, he said. Doing that would cost me $50 a day, not including food. This wasn't sounding good at all.
He told me to go to another place, 5km away, were I could get a guide and trek in the forest just outside the park. He wrote down the name for me. I started walking and got a ride on a moto for 2km and then continued walking. I asked along the way to make sure I was going the right way. I finally reached the large red pavilion the ranger told me about. This was the entrance to Ban Don Eco Tourist Resort, but unfortunately, the resort was another 2km down the road! It was really hot and sunny and I had already walked a lot carrying all my gear, so I sat down in some shade just past the security booth to rest before I tackled the last stretch. The security guard noticed me sitting and came over on his moto and gave me a ride to the resort.
I went to reception and asked them about trekking. No, there's no trekking, and no, they don't have a guide! What!? A large sign behind reception advertised trekking but it wasn't available at the time. This really sucked! I came all this way so I might as well get a room. I got a nice bungalow to myself. The one great thing about this place was that it was very quiet, there was nothing else around. I ate lunch and walked around a bit. This place was set up for a lot of visitors with even a childrens amusement park and elephant rides. On the weekends it gets busy.
At dinner there was a local couple under one pavilion and I decide to give them privacy and went to eat alone at another pavilion. I had just sat down and was deciphering the Vietnamese menu with my guidebook when the female half of the couple approached me. Her boyfriend wanted to invite me over to eat with them. I gladly accepted the offer. They shared all their food with me and their beer. They spoke great english and were super friendly. They didn't want me to pay for anything. They were celebrating. I drank a bit more than I wanted to but felt ok. I watched Forest Gump on TV before crashing.

The next day, Thu and Den, the Vietnamese couple, were going to take me to the bus stop and send me on my way back to Buon Ma Thount. Den (the guy) worked in the area and had some stuff to take care of so Thu and I hung out for a while in the morning while he finished his business. They then took me to the bus stop but told the driver to let me off in the centre of a town about 18km from here. We were 40km from Boun Ma Thount. I wondered why they just didn't send me into the city and say bye but I did what they wanted and got off the bus there. I waited 10 minutes for them and drank a tiny coffee. We all had an ice coffee, which is really popular here and then went for lunch. They wanted to treat me to lunch before I left. We ate rice, meat and veggies, just down the road. Not really my thing for breakfast, but hey, I wasn't complaining, they were so nice. I finally left them, they had things to do and I got on the bus.
I got my same room at Thanh binh hotel and relaxed in Buon Ma Thount.

Pleiku to Buon Ma Thount

My first morning in Vietnam I walked the streets looking for food. I found a street stall selling sandwiches and coffee. Both were good and very cheap. Vietnamese coffee is even stronger, thicker and more chocolatey tasting than the coffe in Laos. The only problem is that they serve it in tiny glasses. I need about 5 of these to equal one decent cup of coffee in a mug. I checked out of my hotel and went to get transport to Buon Ma Thount, 4 hours south.
Now the hassles of Vietnam begin. I had to bargain to get a fair price to the bus and then bargain really hard for the bus. I was brought to a van parked on the side of the road, not the bus station like I asked for so I had to really bargain hard to get the real price. The trip was ok though the driver speed and drove like a maniac.

Boun Ma Thount is another untouristy highlands city. It's even larger than Pleiku with about 230 000 people. I got another nice hotel room at Thanh Binh. In Vietnam the same rooms in a hotel often get cheaper the higher up you go. I walked to the highest floor, only the third, but I saved a dollar just by doing that. I prefer to be up higher anyway and that it's cheaper is just a bonus. I ate a tasty and cheap dinner at a noodle stall. Internet at the post office was free. People again were really friendly here and I only saw about 3 other travellers.

Vietnam!

I showed my passport twice and then went to another desk to get my entry stamp. I already had my visa and expected no problems. The guy at the desk with the temperature reading computer picked up some money as I walked by. He waved it around at me. I assume he wanted some money, I couldn't think of what for, so I said' What for?' He didn't like this and annoyingly brushed me off. I wasn't going to pay some bogus entry fee. No reciept, no pay! I had to show my passport one last time and we were finally on the road.
The road was sealed but very, very bumpy. The driver continued to speed and we were bounced out of our seats regularly. After two and a half hours we arrived in Pleiku, my first stop. It was only a stopover for the night for me. I took a motobike taxi to my hotel, which had changed it's name, this caused some confusion when I got dropped off but I took my bearings and I was in the right place. I got a decent room with satellite TV for $7. Good value for the room.
I showered and washed the clothes I was wearing and was ready to go out to eat. As I walked by the lobby, the young hotel employees were eating dinner. The guy offered me his whole sandwich. I didn't want to be rude, so I sat down and ate and drank tea with them. This was really nice of them. I was still very hungry though and had to go out to eat more. I ended up at a restaurant that did mainly one meal. I just sat down and waited for whatever. I got a big bowl of soup with chicken and a side dish of sprouts. It was all good. This and a beer was super cheap. Pleiku is a big city, almost bigger than any city in Laos. It is very bustling with motorbikes and shops. After being in 2 countries were there wasn't much available in most cities, this was like being back home again with everything I could want. First off I wanted some quality chocolate. They had this and it was cheap! Next I needed a bit of internet. I asked in a cell phone shop if they knew were a cafe was. They told me I could use their only computer for free! A lot of people said 'Hello' to me, kids, teenagers and older women. Maybe it's because Pleiku isn't a tourist town but I wasn't experiencing any of the hassle I had heard about from other travellers. I thought the people were great and really friendly. They might have even been more surprised at my huge chops. I was sporting some massive porkchops, freshly shaved in. This year is a special year in that I'm not growing my normally huge beard. I decided to mix it up a little. I brought with me a trimmer/razor and have been changing facial hair when I feel like it. These porkchops mark the seventh style I've sported so far. I dont' think they see too many people with chops like mine! Maybe for good reason too but I didn't care. I like them and have no one to impress.
My room was even kind of quiet from street noise. My first impressions of Vietnam were very good, not really what I was expecting. It was probably my best first day in any country.

Last Days of Laos

I didn't do too much with my last few days in Laos. I went to the Attapeu, from where I would take a bus to Vietnam, a day early from Pakse. For the first 2 hours, the bus went excrutiatingly slow, never more than 40km, but more like 20km. Then we picked up a bit of speed and felt like we were on our way. Then all of a sudden, a shotgun blast rang out. At least that's what it sounded like. The front tire exploded, the bus slowed and everybody embraced themselves but we weren't going that fast and the driver slowed down and pulled over. The guy beside me was still in his ready-to-crash pose, bracing himself after we stopped. I told him I think we're fine now. The tire and tube were shredded. Pieces of the tire were scattered all over the road. I kicked the bigger pieces off the road, no one else was going to do this. It took about an hour to fix the tire.
We arrived in Attapeu after over 7 hours. It should have taken about 4 hours or so. I took a room at Phoutavong guesthouse. It was a great and large room with satellite TV and almost the best value I've had in Laos since Luang Nam Tha, the first town I slept in. Attapeu is off most travellers radars and I could tell. There were no restaurant with english menus and almost nothing set up for the foreigner. I ended up eating noodles under the front of someone's house. I watched movies for hours that night. It had been over a month, since I left Vientiane, that I had seen a flick and I was jonesing!

I didn't do too much the next day. I ate spring rolls and pepsi in the market for breakfast. There's no American breakfast here! I checked around for prices for the bus to Vietnam too. I found a place selling the same ticket for $6 less than my guesthouse. That night I looked around for a few restaurants in the guidebook but they weren't there or the map was wrong. I didn't like Attapeu very much.

Feb. 1
I left Attapeu at noon. I was in a large van with 14 other Vietnamese men. It was comfortable and air conditioned. The 120km road to the border was smooth and freshly carved out of the jungle. There was hardly anything but forest the whole way. The road was really, really winding. The driver drove really fast too, making it quite a ride. We arrived at the border 2 hours later. The border was dead. Hardly any people or traffic. I had not met one sinle person who had crossed this border or was going to. I got my 'used' stamp on my passport and was officially out of Laos. I really enjoyed Laos, even though the wildlife situation is a little disappointing. I had been from one mellow country to the next but I think Vietnam will be different.....