Buon Ma Thout....

If ever there was a place in S.E.A. that would be useful to have a travel buddy...
The city is modern, despite how far from everything it is. there's plenty of things to do here but most if it and far away, and requires a guide. A very expensive guide, which would be nice to split with someone. There doesn't seem to be a lot of traveler's, especially solo ones here. My hotel and the two major travel companies don't seem too forthcoming with information. I've had to drag snippets out of them but they have no interest in helping me book anything. And like I said, it's very expensive to do these excursions and the cost doubles if you are doing it on your own. Considering I still have quite some time to go here, I wasn't prepared to pay the high prices. Not to mention the men here are no the most pleasant, polite, helpful kind I've gotten to used to and taken for granted. They are brash and rude. They shout out and not in just a, "hey, it's a foreigner" sort of way. They do it to local girls too. They're crude and the attention is unflattering. I've also opted out of being stuck solo with a guide who may end up with the same attitude.



Had I not been so turned off by the new attitude/culture of this city with their lack of helpfulness and rudeness of males I may have got a motorbike and rode all around on my own.

I did go for a very long walk on day---
I just looked for a way out of the city until it turned into dirt roads and forest. It was quite nice.
I passed a Christian semitary. There plenty of people visiting, taking such good care of the graves, even sweeping the ground around them.

If I ever come back to Vietnam-who are we kidding-when I come back this will be a place to come with someone.
Almost no one here speaks English, and those who do speak English don't speak it well, but that actually makes it kind of fun. I ended up getting this delicious meal from a little shop by drawing pictures and acting it out with a few, rare friendly people. They had just as much fun as I did, I think :).

I did however have someone refuse to sell me mangoes today. THAT was devastating! I really wanted those mangoes. Yay, for friendly people who don't hate foreigners and tasty, tasty, street food.


By the third day I was able to finally pry some information concerning a nearby trek the national park without a guide and how to get there but by then I was-to my own discredit-burnt out on this city-and ready to bolt. So I booked a flight of that afternoon. (If I had waited until the next day to leave I wouldn't be able to leave until 1630 and didn't want to spend another full day here.) So quite impatiently and stupidly of me I skipped the National Park in order skip town.


I flew from Buon Ma Thout to Danang and ended up getting one of my favorite shots from the entire trip.

side note:
While chatting with a friend they other night she said, "it's not like you'll be back any time soon..." I was confused, and my thought was, "of course I will". It was then I realized that many people see this as a once in a lifetime thing. And this particular trip certainly was, but it's just the beginning of my travel, which I intend to continue through out my life. Yep. This was the first step that began my journey of the rest of my life filled with adventure and travel.