From my hometown Đà Nẵng, we set out to explore to Kon Tum, Pleiku, and Đắk Lắk.
Boarding a Mai Linh bus from Đà Nẵng intercity bus station at 10am, we embarked a five-hour journey to Kon Tum. The bus tickets were booked in advance at VND 170,000 per pax, and each corresponded to a seat number, but apparently, two unlucky folks who booked the tickets from two different cities, were allocated the same seat! Worse, the tiny 15-seater bus was fully booked that day. A solution was found: add a stool near the bus sliding door to make room for the extra passenger. Fortunately for us, our seats were not mixed up with other people's.
One hour into the trip, we were passing along some of the most remote mountainous areas bordering Laos. Hardly a house or farmland was in our sight. Suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, our driver started cursing when he realized none of his crews back at the bus station bothered loading a spare tire before the bus departure. I'm not sure if he realized how unwitting that was as two of his passengers obviously became a bit nervous after that ;-).
Much to our glee, our only tires endured the whole journey without going burst. We arrived in Kon Tum around 2pm, safe and sound.
Check out the route our bus took.
View Da Nang-Kon Tum in a larger map
Highlights of Kon Tum
Historically, the habitants of Kon Tum are comprised chiefly of Bana and Gia Rai (sometimes spelled J'rai) ethnic groups. In Bana language, Kon means village and Tum lake. Since Vietnam's modernisation in the early 90s, more Kinh people which make up over 85% of the country's population have arrived to settle in this quiet little town, and become the second most populous ethnic in Kon Tum.
1. Catholic seminary
Constructed by French missionaries in 1934 and served to house the first French Catholic bishop in the hill-tribe area, this lovely complex is graced by a beautiful frangipane-lined entrance and spacious garden with various displays of hill-tribe artifacts.
In present days, it houses a Vietnamese bishop, priests and priests-to-be. There is also a Hill-tribe Museum upstairs but it was locked when we went there. It is not clear when the museum is open to visitors. We tried to ask a senior resident to unlock the room who then expressed his annoyance at random tourists like us without giving us a glimpse of what could be inside.
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| From Tranquil Kon Tum |
2. Magnificient Wooden Church
Standing on a stilt platform, the made-of-wood church was built to incorporate many hill-tribe features to appeal to its main audience, the hill-tribe villagers. Hence it is also known as Montagnard church.
From the outside, a distinct feature of the church is its rose window which depicts a "rong" house or tribal communal house and a blue elephant. Once inside, you may notice that the beautiful stained glass arts are in fact, carefully assembled decal.
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| From Tranquil Kon Tum |
3. Kon Harachot Village
Located within walking distance from the wooden church, Kon Harachot Village offers a glimpse into the life of tribal communes in the face of urbanisation. Fortunately, it still maintains a rong house and some traditional stilted houses. Keep an open ear and you can find that the villagers still speak their own language although I'm not sure whether it is Bana or other dialects.
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| From Tranquil Kon Tum |
We stayed in this sleepy town for two days. My childhood memories of my own hometown came back, and I started to recall how quiet things used to be in Da Nang less than fifteen years ago. Streets with hardly any motorbikes in sight were common back then and those who are Christians never failed to put on their best clothes to go to Sunday mass. I can't help wondering what Kon Tum will be like in fifteen year's time.
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