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| View from our bungalows |
Sadly we had to fly to the Con Dao. Going by boat simply wasn’t an option. The boat takes 14 hours (when it runs, which
it frequently doesn’t), conditions on board are apparently awful, and the
crossing at this time of year when there are high winds is supposed to be a bit
treacherous.
So after spending an uneventful 3 days in Saigon we headed to the airport where we boarded a twin propeller plane for the 45 minute
flight and I mused how travelling in this old plane could possibly be
any less treacherous than taking a leaky old boat!
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| Our little triangular bungalows |
It was weird surrendering our rucksacks for the first time
on our travels at the check-in counter.
It was even weirder having to worry about all the security measures you
have to go through because we are all assumed to have the knowledge and skill (not
to mention desire ) to concoct an explosive device from a half empty bottle of mineral
water and a chopstick. Trains are much
more straightforward and civilised. You
are even allowed to take proper cutlery on a train.
There were only about 20 people on the flight, the majority
of whom seemed destined for the Six Senses Resort that, at £600 plus a night,
was just a tad more expensive than our budget could stretch to. It was a source of amusement to us that these
people would ordinarily have splashed out on Business Class, had that option
being been available to them (it wasn’t).
Even funnier was the fact that once we were on all board they insisted
on moving from their designated seats to seats at the very front of the plane
so that presumably they could at least pretend they were in Business Class. It did make us giggle but it must be apparent
by now that we are easily amused.
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| The plane landing near the aptly named Airport Beach |
Despite my trepidations about the aircraft the flight was
uneventful although a bit scary for my liking.
As you’re not going far, you don’t get very high, and our pilot (a Peter
“Richard De Vere” Bowles lookalike) seemed to think that the airspace was his
alone to show off his piloting skills and complete fancy left hand and right
hand turns meaning that one minute you were looking straight out at the sky,
the next all you could see was sea. I’m
sure he was just doing this for the fun of it and it’s just not the sort of
larking about that I particularly like in a plane. You wouldn’t get that on a train!
And as for the landing, well one minute we’re over the sea
and the next minute we look like we’re about to land on a sandy beach, albeit a very beautiful stretch of sandy beach,
but a surface unsuitable for landing a plane nevertheless. Just as the end of the runway came into sight
below us the plane landed with a violent thud and the pilot slammed on the
anchors giving everyone a touch of whiplash which was slightly preferably to
careering off the other end of the runway over another beautiful sandy beach
and landing in the sea beyond.
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| One of our garden lizards |
All credit to Peter Bowles we arrived shaken but a little
stirred.
Our bags were first on the carousel within minutes which
must have annoyed the posh lot even more.
It is one thing expecting them to share an aircraft with the lower
classes (i.e. us), but it’s another thing entirely to stand back and watch as
the lower classes (again, us) seemed to get preferential treatment and retrieve
our bags as soon as we walked in off the tarmac. Within 5 minutes we were out of the airport,
and in our taxi on our way to our resort before any other luggage had hit the
carousel.
We had booked Con Dao Camping for the duration of our
stay. They provide cute little
triangular bungalows on the main An Hai Beach just on the western edge of the
main town on Con Son Island. The café attached
to the little resort was a bit basic so we usually went to a local café but our
little house was lovely, air conditioned and set right on the beach in lovely
gardens and, so for our purposes, just perfect.
Con Son Island is only one of the islands in the Con Dao
archipelago but the only one open for tourism.
Tourists began visiting regularly just 3 years ago when regular flights
started leaving from Saigon and therefore all the resorts and hotels are very
new, and at the moment there are not many of them but evidence of huge Russian
built resorts are evident.
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| One of the beautiful sunsets |
Otherwise, at
the moment, the islands are quite untouched and we felt lucky we were able to
visit this stunningly beautiful place before it becomes too commercial which it
undoubtedly will.
Life passes at a very slow pace in the Con Dao. English is not widely spoken, and in order to
deal with the searing midday heat a very long nap is the order of the day at lunchtime. The whole island promptly falls asleep at
noon for at least 3 hours and during this time local people can be seen all
over the place snoozing away in their hammocks.
Even the dogs have a kip.
Being an island, it is quite expensive for Vietnam. And, of course, being relatively undeveloped
the downside to this is that there are limited options for eating and
activities are also limited.
We ate out twice at two local restaurants (both had English
menus). Thu Ba is a seafood restaurant
near the market in the centre of town.
It was relatively expensive (for Vietnam) but the food was absolutely
delicious and they had a very cute pet kitten.
The other place was across the road from the resort, slightly cheaper
and the dishes here were pretty good too.
Snorkel Trip
Most of the Con Dao Islands and the seas surrounding the
archipelago are national park and we had read the diving and snorkeling were
supposed to be fantastic so we bit the bullet and booked up an expensive day’s
snorkeling with the dive shop (with the catchy name of Dive Dive Dive).
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| Paul's windswept look |
As the dive shop is a western run outfit it was very well
organised and all equipment, including mask, snorkel, wetsuit and flippers, was
provided as well as coffee, tea, water and the boat was equipped with life
jackets and a first aid kit that wouldn’t have been out of place in a war zone. It was worth paying a little extra for a
decent day out, safe in the knowledge that this Vietnamese boat (unlike all
other Vietnamese boats we have had the misfortune to board) was unlikely to
sink.
We set off at 9 o’clock in the morning and sailed for about
an hour until we stopped at some coral reef around the south western side of
the island where it was more sheltered from the wind and therefore visibility would
be much better. We all donned our gear (apparently
I looked like an eel) and plopped into the water for a spot of
snorkeling. Two of our party of 9 were
scuba divers and they returned to regale us with stories of 4’ fish which
started Paul thinking that he might like to have a go.
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| Paul's Jacques Cousteau look |
In the meantime us snorkelers headed off from where the boat
was anchored towards the beach and the coral reef. I had never been snorkeling before (well,
not as an adult), and never worn a wetsuit or flippers. I am usually a strong and confident swimmer
but swimming with flippers in coral reef, where the tide is quite strong, and
the depth of the water is deceiving was a little disconcerting for me to begin
with. I managed to bob around for about
20 minutes before heading back to the boat, the theme tune to “Jaws” echoing in
my head (that film has a lot to answer for!).
But what I saw had been amazing and I was looking forward to the next
stop, when I was determined to put sharks out of my head.
Paul on the other hand stayed out for over an hour exploring
along the reef and reported seeing schools of brightly coloured fish, big and
small, and lots of amazing coral.
Once we were all back on board again, the boat headed off to
another site where the boat anchored again and we all jumped in for a second
time. I was able to stay in a little
longer this time and was rewarded by seeing lots of amazing, colourful fish,
all different shapes and sizes, some fluorescent, some stripy, some thin, and some
so flat they disappeared when they changed direction. My personal favourite were the brilliant
turquoise coloured fish about 2 inches long which formed a massive school over
a wide area. You couldn’t miss
them. There were hundreds of them and
their colour was just electric.
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| Stunning scenery from the boat |
The coral seemed more colourful in this area too. The sun was shining through the water highlighting
green, pink, and purple coral, as well as the dozens of coral clams varying in
colour from deep purple to navy blue.
It really was like swimming through a huge aquarium, floating
about above the reef, watching the fish darting about everywhere. Rather childishly I was a bit disappointed I
didn’t see a clown fish (aka Nemo) but I’m convinced I saw a good few of his
friends from the film.
It was a fantastic day in perfect weather. The visibility was great and it certainly
gave me a taste for further underwater exploration and Paul now has a desire to
go one step further and try scuba diving.
Fishing Trip
We had another day trip, this time arranged by the
resort. Paul desperately wanted to do
some fishing so they arranged a boat trip for us. The language barrier meant that we weren’t
sure what we were getting but we decided to go anyway.
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| A coracle not dissimilar to the one we squeezed into |
Our boat arrived early in the morning and we headed over to
the harbour to board. We did stepping
stones with boats clambering from one to the other, until we reached the end of
the line and realised we were expected to climb into a tiny coracle (one of the
little round boats) to reach our boat.
The boat’s skipper beckoned to us to climb aboard. I
should point out that these things are no more than about 4’ across and about
18” off the ground and they are definitely not built for a 6’6” 20 stone Wooky
and his not quite so tall and not quite so heavy missus. But get in we did. And despite our doubts we made it to the main
boat without sinking but it was more than a little unstable.
And so began another tour organised by the Vietnamese. This time, our two companions spoke no
English and we had no idea what this trip would entail. Communication was confined to pointing and
other useful hand gestures.
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| Turtle beach, as viewed from the boat |
First we headed out for about an hour. The wind was quite strong and the choppy
waves bounced us about and splashed us quite a bit before we stopped in between
2 islands for a spot of line fishing. The
water was quite deep and there were lots of fish about. I had a lot of nibbles which meant I was
pulling my hook up minus the bait but no fish, quite a lot. It really is a battle of wills and fish are
not as stupid as you are led to believe.
They know a hook when they see one even if it is disguised by a tasty
piece of squid and they will, more often than not, just nibble away at the
squid without getting hooked (most of the time in my case anyway) until you
have no bait left .
Paul did however catch 3 fish and I did eventually catch one. My first ever fish. I certainly enjoyed the experience although I
gather it is frowned upon to talk too much when you fish and that it is one of
those pastimes you undertake in companionable silence, if you’re a bloke anyway.
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| Just hanging |
We then headed off around one of the islands and headed
towards a beach. When we were about 30
yards from shore the coracle was once
again placed in the water and we were motioned to get in it. Again.
We managed to cram into the tiny boat and without capsizing and one of
the guys paddled us out to shore.
I managed to step out of the coracle rather elegantly (for
me) but Paul unfortunately timed his escape with the incoming surf and as he
stood up, the boat was swept forward from under him and he fell backwards out
of the boat and actually did a backwards somersault into the water. He was absolutely drenched from head to toe
(although he managed to save the cigarettes!).
Our man and myself found this whole spectacle rather hilarious once we
established there were no broken bones (just a bit of a bruised ego).
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| Our little scooters |
Once we were turfed out onto the beach (in Paul’s case,
quite literally) we followed our man from the boat as he headed down the beach
to a shack next door to which were a couple of turtles in an enclosure (which
we rightly assumed were rescue turtles).
We weren’t entirely sure what we were doing there. We watched the turtles for a while, or more
to the point, watched them watching us.
They were incredibly curious, following us wherever we went, climbing
over each other and generally being very nosy.
After a bit of turtle watching we then proceeded to stand
about like lemons. After a bit if this we decided to wander off on
our own and explore down the beach.
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| Stopping to admire the view on the coast road |
We had no idea what we were doing there. Our bag (with all our valuables, money and
ID) was on the boat with a Vietnamese fisherman we knew nothing about and we
really had no idea whether he would see this as an opportunity to supplement
his undoubtedly meagre income. Still, it
was a fantastic beach, with fine golden sand, and fringed with coconut palms
overlooking an azure sea. We agreed,
that at times like these, you just have to go with it and we put any idea of thieving
fishermen out of our minds.
As we wandered back down the beach (Paul was starting to dry
off by now) our man joined us and motioned us over to some tracks on the beach
which he explained, using sign language that a large turtle (about 3’ wide
going by the tracks) had come up from the sea to the beach, made its way to a
hollow near the edge of the beach and then returned to the sea using a slightly
different route. You could clearly see
the marks in the sand which looked like huge tractor tyre marks. Unfortunately we were 3 months too early for
the turtle egg laying season which starts around May but we got to see the
rescue turtles and evidence of this huge one which is better than nothing.
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| Trying not to get blown away in the gale |
We reached the conclusion that a trip to the beach is part
of the boat trip, due to its association with Con Dao’s famous turtles.
After another hair raising little jaunt in the coracle we
made it back to our fishing boat where we found all our valuables intact. We then sailed around the headland where we
anchored again and Paul went out for a spot of snorkeling, this time without
wetsuit and flippers. The sea was a bit
choppy for me so I just watched from the back of the boat but as the waters
were crystal clear I could see the coral reef easily from the boat.
Paul clambered back on board after a while, disappointed he
hadn’t seen as many fish as we had before but happy with the coral reef and the
excellent visibility (and even more of a desire to try scuba diving). We then headed back to the harbour, the
journey home not quite as choppy as the sail out.
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| One of the beautiful bays from the coast road |
All in all, we had a good day. There was only the two of us and it was
lovely being out on the open sea feeling miles away from anywhere and the boat didn't sink which was a serious concern at one point as bounced along the waves.
We hired motorbikes for the last couple of days. You have to remember that both us hold
motorbike licences. Paul started riding
30 years ago and I passed my direct access on a 500cc bike 7 years ago. Paul loves getting back on a bike and it was
like he was never off one. Me, on the
other hand, I spent the whole time wondering how on earth I had managed to
pass my motorbike test in the first place and that it was a terrifying prospect
that I am actually legally allowed to ride any motorbike whatsoever.
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| A monitor lizard |
We rode all around Con Son Island on our little 110cc bikes,
as far as we could anyway. The west
coast road travels south from the main town and takes you around the south side
of the island but the headwinds along this road are fiercely strong. The views along this road, and the road which
travels north towards the airport, are spectacular. You pass
by bay after bay or sparkling blue seas, the ocean just stretching ahead as far
as the eye can see. The air is so clear,
the views seem so much more sharply defined.
Riding along these roads at our leisure was breathtaking albeit a touch
invigorating in the wind.
We went north to the airport beach where we sat and ate salt
and chili fried squid and prawns on the beach – you haven’t seen so much
seafood on a plate and it was delicious.
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| The tiger cages at the prison |
We also rode through a couple of smaller villages where we
saw various dogs, cats, cows, goats, chickens, pigs and a monitor lizard. The lizard was quite a distance ahead of us
when we stopped to watch it cross the road.
It was over a foot long and it moved like a proper dinosaur, it was
amazing to see but as we got closer it disappeared up a coconut palm. Damn wildlife just doesn’t wait for you to
get your camera out (although I got a long distance shot).
Finally, before we left the Con Dao we had to visit the
museum and one of the prisons on the island.
We went on our last day and wandered around the museum first. There was limited information in English but
enough for us to get an idea of the history of the islands and their primary
function for over a century as a brutal place of incarceration.
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| Inside the museum |
It was first built by the French and mainly housed political
prisoners. By far the most notorious part
of its history was the practice of keeping prisoners locked up in the infamous
tiger cages. These were 5’ x 9’ windowless
cells open at the top with bars along the top.
Prison guards would walk around walkways along the top, dropping caustic
lime onto the prisoners as punishment. Up
to 8 prisoners were kept here in one cell and the conditions were simply appalling
and inhumane. 20,000 prisoners died and
were buried (mostly in unmarked graves) behind the prison building which houses
the tiger cages.
The prison was built in the late 1890s but the tiger cages
were not built until 1940. They were built
for purpose just over 70 years ago.
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| One more lizard |
Many people were incarcerated for their political beliefs
during both the time of French rule and then during the Vietnam War. Some people who went on to become leaders and
people of influence spent many years in Con Son Prison. Many were communists but there were also many
who were Buddhists, student protesters or writers. Many women were incarcerated here and it was
reported that twice as many women were incarcerated in the tiger cages than
men.
They were kept in appalling conditions where disease was
rife, they were barely fed and routinely cruelly punished arbitrarily.
The prison was closed in 1975 at the end of the war although
according to Wikipedia it was used to house boat people in the 1980s for a
brief period but this is not referred to in the museum.
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| Paul, contemplating the view |
Today, it is recognised that the Con Dao Islands are home to
many rare flora and fauna both on land and at sea and much of it is national
park. We felt truly fortunate to visit
before it is really discovered as a tourist destination. We spent a lot of time watching the little
lizards in the resort garden, the sand crabs darting about on the beach, and
Paul saw a few coconut squirrels (I’ve yet to see one which is irking me
somewhat!).
The only downside was the sand fleas. There are mainly to be found on the beach
where we were staying and they are vicious little buggers. One of the other guests at the resort had
dozens of bites which became infected and Paul was also rather
unfortunate. They favoured the right leg
which prompted a French lady to label them fascist insects.
Other than that our visit to the Con Dao felt like a holiday
from travelling. At the end of our 8
days we packed up again and headed to the airport where we were transported
back by magic flying train to Saigon. The return flight was a similar experience to the flight out with the
added excitement of skidding on the tarmac and fish tailing as we landed as the
pilot seemed to brake rather sharply as an afterthought. Not something I’d experienced before and you
certainly wouldn’t get that on a train!
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