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Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, Vietnam |
Jungles of Vietnam. This statement conjures up an image of American soldiers on the war campaign, wading in knee deep water in heavy downpours and getting ambushed by Vietcong soldiers....
Thankfully we live in a different time and were on a different campaign.
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| Bar bellied pitta male |
The mission was to "shoot" some specialties like bar bellied pitta, black and red broadbill, Germaine’s peacock pheasant and Siamese fireback.
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| Siamese flameback |
We were on a specially curated birdwatching trip to Vietnam. No visit to Halong Bay or Phu Quoc Island. Just pure birding and hoping to catch many lifers and most of the nine endemic Vietnam species. We planned to land at Ho Chi Minh (HCM) which is the erstwhile Saigon, and proceed by road to four locations in South Vietnam. After seeing the map one realizes that we explored less than 1/100th of the banana shaped country!
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Within a few hours of landing at the international airport, which is bang in the middle of the city, many of the misconceptions that we had about the country vanished into the clear morning air of Saigon. Contrary to what the statistics say, Vietnam does not appear overpopulated at all. In fact, most roads and establishments seemed empty. Maybe the whole country is evenly populated with no large swathes of uninhabited desert / jungle.
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| Ho Chi Minh International Airport |
Downtown Saigon
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Dalat city centre |
Neither was it hot and humid, since it was February. The weather was very pleasant and the AQI an amazing 50! Traffic was orderly, with separate lanes (even signals) for 2 wheelers. Adherence to traffic rules, especially the helmet rule was absolute. There was no honking whatsoever. For 150 kms we couldn't find a single pothole or crack in the road. There was no military or police person seen even once in our trip. No cattle on the road. Every public bus or private truck or vehicle was gleaming and spotless. Everyone was wearing clean spotless clothes. There was no visible poverty. Public toilets were squeaky clean and plentiful. In fact, one would think that we were in a place in the “first world”.
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All vehicles shine...like the people |
The Government here is described as a single party authoritarian Communist system. What we saw was visible happiness all around and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves while going about their work diligently. Hammocks are provided in every roadside eatery and it is a norm to be lying in them sipping coffee and surfing on the phone at any part of the day.
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Hammocks at cafe |
Obviously whatever system is in place, has worked wonders in 50 short years since the war. The red National flags alternating with the communist one were, however, quite all pervasive and in your face!
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| Country and Party are two sides of the same flag! |
Above all, the reason why hordes of Indian tourists are making a bee line for this country is its affordability. In fact, the Phu Quoc island has been developed as a tourist island with facilities as good as anywhere at 1/4 the price of Goa!
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| The Bamboo Resort, Dalat |
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Lunch at the Bamboo resort |
It seems like a majorly agrarian economy in the countryside with miles and miles of neat plantations of various crops. The hilly areas of Dalat hosted massive coffee plantations and strawberry orchards. Most of the other plantations were in greenhouses. The garment and shoe factories are probably located elsewhere in the country.
Strawberries galore!
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| Greenhouses |
There is complete absence of pigeons and crows. The biggest gainer of this unexplained phenomenon is the public statues which don't get defaced!
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| Unnamed Buddha monument at Di Linh |
There were no flies anywhere, allowing outdoor and open-air street food stalls to flourish. Obviously, that was due to the excellent garbage discipline and processing. A curious sight was a garbage dump on top of a hill, by the side of the road. The entire garbage was in plastic bags and did not produce any nuisance whatsoever…. not even hovering kites or adjutant storks!
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| No nuisance garbage management |
Though statistics tell us otherwise, Buddhism seems all pervasive, though the visible symbology is more subtle compared to, say, Bhutan. Every restaurant has a small wooden mandir at the entrance. Women seem to be doing a lot of heavy lifting.
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Mandir for good luck |
Lottery seems very big business in Vietnam
Karaoke bars are an absolute rage
A typical farm house had standard picture postcard design with the huge farm/ plantation right behind.
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| Typical farmhouse with plantation behind |
Much of the birding happened from the meticulously constructed and maintained hides.
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| Hide with fake human prop |
The CatTien National park which is located across the Dong Nai River and reachable by a three-minute boat ride, has a variety of jungle habitats including grasslands. A swathe of the grassland had been cleared at every 100 meters, so as to afford better visibility of the birds including the green peacock which is the star attraction.
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| The Green Peacock |
Dalat is located in the central highland region, and boasts of a very cool and crisp climate. It seems to be the main “hill station” in this part of the country. The hillsides were fully utilized for horticultural/fruiticultural activity except for the reserve forest areas. Even here, quite a lot of the natural forest had been planted with pine and teak.
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Pine plantations |
The birdwatching experience was stupendous, thanks in no small measure to our sincere, meticulous and nearly English-speaking guide Nhu Nguyen
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Collared Laughingthrush only 70 individuals in the world |
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Indochinese Green magpie |
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Silver breasted broadbill
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Black and Red Broadbill |
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Indochinese barbet |
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Necklaced barbet |
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Vietnamese finch |
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Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush |
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Germaines Peacock Phesant |
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Blue pitta |
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Blue rumped pitta |
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Banded kingfisher |
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Rufous throated partridge |
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Bar backed partridge |
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Hanian blue flycatcher |
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Large Niltava
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Black crested bulbul
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Streak eared bulbul
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Stripe throated bulbul |
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Mountain bulbul |
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Laced woodpecker |
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Snowy browed flycatcher male |
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Indochinese flycatcher |
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Asian brown flycatcher |
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White throated rockthrush |
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Red crossbeak |
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Vietnamese cutia |
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Crocia |
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Black headed sibia |
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Mrs Goulds sunbird |
Foggy morning at Dalat
Clear afternoon thereafter
Travel tips:
1. Only Vietnamese Dong is accepted everywhere. Few large shops accept card payments. Easiest way to understand the currency is to drop the last three zeroes and multiply by 3 to get INR value. e.g A jacket mentioned as 150.000 or 15K or simply as 150 is worth Rs 450.
2. English is not spoken or understood by anyone. The Vietnamese script uses Roman letters with a lot of accent marks, but is not helpful at all. English signboards are seen at very few places.
We didnt understand a word...but the smile says it all!
3. SIM is available in the Airport before and after immigration, but not so easy to get outside. All hotels have WiFi and most don’t even need password.
4. Though the loos at the HCM airport were decent western style, they provide only paper. However, the resorts and hotels all have the familiar "jet sprays". In the countryside highway dhabas, most had extremely clean Indian style loos. Paradoxically most Indians can’t use Indian style loos nowadays!
5. Food is the most discussed matter for any visitor to Vietnam. The local food is basically a noodle soup calle Pho, pronounced as फ़ or rice with a variety of vegetables/mushrooms/tofu in myriad forms /meats thrown in, which one can embellish with sauces on the table. The other thing is Bahn mi (a chewy baguette bread with some stuffing inside). Eateries and roadside cafes are numerous, ubiquitous and extremely hygienic and safe.
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View of the bowls after people had finished eating their फ़
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| Bahn Mi |
The only English fare at Cat Tien NP
Local wine on tap - for those who dare😇
6. There is no concept of cooked food/tadka/masala/roti. Sliced bread is nowhere to be seen. There is no concept of dessert but fruit after a meal is the norm. Potato is not seen anywhere in the local food preparations, neither is milk or milk products. Some restaurants keep “Yogurt” which is a locally prepared Mishti doi. Several of the eateries say Pho Chay (Pronounced फ़ चाय) on their boards. These are the Vegetarian restaurants. Obviously, they don’t survive due to the neofadist vegans. We learnt that on the first and fifteenth of every lunar month, everyone turns veg!!
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| Chayचाय |
Tender coconut is served in multiple interesting ways
6. We could hardly find any worthwhile souvenir. The much spoken about Vietnamese coffee was too bitter for my taste. A visit to the night market at Dalat could yield very decent jackets and ladies clothes.
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| Night Market at Dalat |
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Barbecue Nation at night market Dalat! |
7. Travel for nine of us by Ford Transit was very comfortable. Its sized between an Innova and Tempo traveler. A segment which will do very well in India
Motel Bay, Dong Nai
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