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.