I took 10 days off of work end of May and headed down to
South-Central Vietnam.I started off at a city called Dalat, which had the
most amazing fruits and vegetables,a vegetarian's dream. It's known for
it's dried fruit products, strawberry jam and motor bike trips.I of course
tried all three. At the suggestion of many friends, I hired a motorbike
guide who belongs to a group named "Easy Riders" that specialize in taking
tourists around the highlands on road trips. They are usually quite fluent in
English, rather old/experienced and are quite the characters.
My guides name was Mr. Young.. he wouldn't tell me how old he was..
"I'm young. I'm young" But he is old enough to remember Moshe Dayan's visit
to Dalat which was around '66 (he was a pupil and they had to greet him at the
airport). He told me some stories about the American soldiers and how he used
to hang out with them, he mentioned having to hide his uniform after the war
because he was in the south Vietnamese army.. so I am guessing he did participate
in the war. I hired Mr. Young for 5 days. Our route was Dalat-Lac Lake-Plieku-
Quy Nhun -Jungle Beach.
The first couple of days I spent learning about the agriculture of the area,
I've seen how most things are grown, especially coffee which seems to be the
main source of income in the Highlands. The coolest thing was seeing how
Cashew nuts are grown.. Did you know that the cashew is grown outisde of a fruit?
it's the wieirst looking thing ever.. and such a waste of fruit.. and.. just seems like a
long process to go through to get a single nut. I was taken to a silk factory to see
how silk was made.. which was horrific because there were so many worm corpses everywhere..
One keeps forgetting that in the process of making silk, an animal's life is taken.
People were drying rice on the road everywhere.. (which is also an amazing process..
rice is not easy to grow! and yet we eat so much of it here). I saw how rice noodles
are made, rice wine etc...There was also an indigenous tribe that lives in that area..
totally forgot the name.. but in any case they were so cool looking.. they were really
dark and had big eyes.. almost like Indians. I'll have some photos posted soon
I also went to a few waterfalls that werent impressing enough for me to write about,
but I did like going through the jungle to see them, even though I was walking on
a path made for tourists.
On the third day I stayed in this bungalo near a river which was really beautiful but
I couldnt sleep at night because I kept staring (through a mosquito net) at a Praying
mantis that was hanging out on my ceiling.
On the fourth day we headed to the coast which was the hardest part of the trip,
this day was travel only.. I kept nodding off on the back of the bike and Mr. Young
kept making me walk around to wake up. The best part was stopping on the road to
drink Sugar Cane juice while laying on hammocks. By this day I was so irritated, just
had enough of being on the bike, I wasn't very friendly to people that kept saying h
i to me or stared at me (I was the only foreigner around for days which frustrated me)
The last day, we drove down the coast to this place 50 miles north of Nha Trang called
Jungle Beach Resort. It was a beautiful ride (as rides on coasts are).
Mr. Young, the bike and our luggage
I was left off at a remote backpacker's style beach resort, which was a bit shocking at
first because I wasn't prepared to stay in a small bamboo hut with no doors and
completely open. I can only describe this place as being pretty close to what the Sinai
used to be. You deposit all your valuables in a locker, then get a hut that only has a
little light, a mosquito net and a fan (yeah there was electricity) a few meters from
the beach. The beach was completely empty aside from those who were staying at
the resort (about 7 people at the time). this was my itinerary for the three days I was there:
wake up-> eat breakfast (this was the only meal you ate alone but usually there were others)
->go for a swim->sit on the beach and read a book- >go to lunch at 12 (a feast!!) ->
walk around a bit then head back to my beach blanket -> go to the hammock outside my
room and read/nap-> 6pm dinner (another feast) and a beer-> bonfire and stare at the
stars-> around 8:30pm.. read in bed/sleep....
I never thought some one as restless as me could enjoy such a place.. but I did..
luckily there were some cool people staying there as well.. and quite a few adventures..
like mistaking a live frog for a lightswitch in the bathroom!- someone discovering
a snake in their room and then watching a vietnamese staff grab the snake with a
stick, kill it then throw it in the fire. (it seemed really harmless!).
My last day was spent in Nha Trang which reminded me a lot of EILAT, but about
4-5 times bigger and just as beautiful but in a different way. It was nice, I was expecting
a real tourist trap but had a good time, I found clothes my size and ate a fantastic Italian
dinner and even found a book in Hebrew ! (which I read within two hours).
My home for three days at Jungle beach
The interior
