We left Hoi An for the airport after our breakfast for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City and Con Dao. It’s a 45 min. drive to the airport. We left in time to be there two hours in advance, and lucky we did, because there was a huge queue at the Pacific Airlines check in. Although we had booked with Vietnam Airlines, the flight was by Pacific, and they had no drop your luggage counter. We had a 2 hour transit in Ho Chi Minh, where we had lunch, and we were so relaxed we almost missed our connecting flight to Con Dao.
The airplanes to Con Dao are two engine propeller airplanes, but the flight was smooth and eventless. At the airport the free hotel shuttle bus was waiting for us and another couple. The transfer to the hotel took about 20 min. We checked in at the Secret Co Dao resort and got an upgrade to a room with a balcony and city view. After being in our room for about 30 min. we noticed that there seemed to be very little insulation from the street noise. The street noise of passing cars and motorbikes came into the room as if there were no windows. We went down to ask if maybe we could have another room. The side wing which had windows away from the streetside was closed because it was low season. So we eventually decided to pay for an upgrade to a room with seaview. That meant we had to pay 30 euro extra per night, and our room would cost 115 euro per night. ( breakfast included) We received a plate of fresh fruit to soften the inconvenience…
The rooms are new and spacious, the bathroom is nicely done, you have everything you need, tv (which we don’t need), toiletries, hairdryer, safety box, fridge, coffee and tea making facilities, and complementary drinking water. The swimming pool is impressive, large and with a view of the sea. In the evening it was low tide, but in the morning when my husband planned to do a run along the sea it was high tide, so no beach to run on. We decided to rent a motorbike for our stay from the hotel. The cost was 150000 dong (5,70 euro) per day. We went out for dinner, and first passed the full moon festival where everyone displayed their handmade lanterns. We had dinner at Madame Ha, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant at the outer edge of town. The place is really nice and the food very very good. Ha is also the brainchild behind Netcycle, a project the makes bags out of discarded fishing nets that are sold in her restaurant.
The next morning it was raining heavily outside so we decided to first have a leisurely breakfast. After breakfast we went to visit the Con Dao prison. The tickets cost 50000 dong ( 1,90 euro) per person and give you entrance to the museum and to the prison site. The museum is open between 7 and 11:30 AM and 1:30 and 5 PM. It was already 10:45 so we decided to first visit he museum. Unfortunately they already start announcing 15 min. before closing time that you should leave the museum, and 10 min. before closing they simply turn of the lights in the museum. The museum teaches you that the Con Dao prison, also known as hell on earth, was built in the 19th century by the French during the colonial times to imprison political prisoners. After independence the South-Vietnamese government expanded the prison, almost doubling it in size and continued to imprison political dissidents and also used it as a re-education camp. During the Vietnam-American war the Americans imprisoned the Viet-Cong in the camp. This prison complex consists of 127 detention rooms, 42 cells, and 504 isolation cells called “tiger cages” in Con Dao. Many Vietnamese come to honor Vo Thi Sau, a young Vietnamese women who fought as a guerillafighter against the French occupiers and was executed here in the Con Dao prison when she was only eighteen. She was the first women to be executed on Con Dao and is today venerated as a nationalist martyr and a symbol of revolutionary spirit. She is venerated by the Vietnamese people as an ancestral spirit, and her grave is venerated by a cult-like following. For the Vietnamese Con Dao is a place of pilgrimage to honor the killed prisoners and Vo Thi Sau.
It rained again in the early afternoon, so we took time to swim and use the gym. It rained longer than we anticipated so we eventually asked an umbrella in the hotel and walked to the prison in the rain. We visited the French Tiger cages, where realistically looking puppets in the cells make everything look really horrible and let you imagine the hell this must have been. The ticket covers three more sites, but everything closes at 5 PM and so we lacked time to visit the other sights. We decided to visit the three other sites, The American tiger cages, the Phu Hai prison and the Palace of the island’s Governor with a new ticket on another day. The ticket is only valid for one day.
In the evening we went out for dinner to May Bistro, a very cosy place where the food was again really very good.
The next morning the weather looked rather OK so we decided to do a motorbike tour of the South and the West of the island. We took the seaside road, it passes by the pier that was constructed by prisoners, the former Governor’s palace and the harbor. Just outside town you have the Van Son Tu temple (Cloud mountain temple), for which you have to climb some stairs, after which you get a good view out to sea. We continued on the road towards the Western side of the island. You can stop and walk down small roads to different inlets and beaches. We went down to Ong Cau beach, and my husband took a dip in the sea. At the end the road turns inland, past the headquarters of the national park from where you can do some hikes. Since it had been raining a lot we did not undertake a hike, since it quickly becomes very slippery when wet. The road then comes back down into Con Son town.
In the afternoon we visited the other three sites of the Con Dao prison, the American tiger cages, the Phu Hai camp and the Governor’s palace. There are more prison sites around Con Son which are not accessible. We also visited the cemetery where the Vo Thu Sau grave attracts a lot of attention and a lot of offerings. She not only gets flowers, but shoes, hats, clothes and paper money. Some also give whole cooked chickens. I guess that these offerings are just taken away every evening to make place for new offerings the next day and I wondered if the offerings were just resold the next day. On the cemetery you find many more graves of named and unnamed prisoners and a monument to honor the many dead. Just in front of the entrance of the cemetery a temple is built in honor of the dead prisoners who are revered as heroes that died for their country.
That evening we had dinner at An Oi cafe and restaurant. A very cosy place that serves very good food. Highly recommended.
The next morning the rain subsided just after breakfast, so we took the motorbike to discover the east coast of the island. We made a stop at the cape and visited the beach near the Paulo Condor resort. It is a long stretch of beach which unfortunately also has a lot of garbage on it that is left there by the sea. We continued to the other side to Dam Trau beach, which is not too attractive with the decoration and shacks selling food and drinks. They ask an entrance fee of 3000 dong per person. We did not pay because we just wanted to take a quick look and go.
Just before reaching the beach there is a shrine dedicated to Prince Cai who was thrown into the sea by his father and drowned because his mother Phi Yen did not want him to be sent to France to stay at the French royal court. Phi Yen has a temple at the other end of Con Son.
It started to rain again around midday so we returned to our hotel. We stayed at the hotel in the afternoon and enjoyed the pool and the gym.
In the evening we went for dinner at Yin Yang, run by a German – Vietnamese couple, the food was again really delicious but we got bitten by sandflies that are common on this side of Con Son, so we did not stay after finishing our dinner. Be aware because the bites stay itchy for days!! We went to eat a coconut ice cream served in half a coconut in one of the local stalls. Coconut ice-cream is a specialty here on the island.
It was full moon, but there was no lantern parade on the island.
Our last full day on Con Dao was unfortunately a very rainy day again. After breakfast we made a walk along Lo Voi beach. The green area just behind it has a gloomy history, here is where they dumped and buried prisoners who had died in the prison.
In the afternoon we used the pool and the gym. We had planned to go the sunset point at the West side of the island around 5 PM, but the weather did not really clear up, so we went to look at the bats that fly around the Secret restaurant every evening. We then drove to Madame Ha for our last dinner on the island. The food here is really excellent. You should try the vegan cashew coconut pudding with ginger syrup as a dessert, it is heavenly.
Because of the weather no boats went out during our stay on Con Dao. If the weather allows ( the best season to visit Con Dao is from March to August) you can go snorkeling or diving of the island, the marine area around Con Dao is considered one of the best diving spots in Vietnam. You can take a boat tour to some of the smaller islands. Con Dao is also famous for its turtles, who use the uninhabited islands to lay their eggs. During the nesting season which runs from May to October you can take an early boat to spot the turtles laying eggs or experience baby turtles being released to sea. You can do some nice hikes since the centre of the island is really green and a protected national park. Unfortunately we were experiencing the aftermath of a super typhoon that had hit Vietnam just a week before and still brought a lot of rain and winds to this area which made it impossible to undertake a boat trip or go on a hike. But we did enjoy our stay on the island nonetheless.
chefmaison 