Vietnam Central Highland

The Central Highlands cover the southern part of the Truong Son Mountain Range (Anna mite Cordillera) and include the provinces of Lam Dong, Dac Lac (Dak Lak), Gia Lai and Kon Tum. The region, which is home to many highland minority groups or Montagnards, is renowned for its cool climate, mountain scenery, innumerable streams, lakes and waterfalls.

Although the population of the Central Highlands is only 3.5 million, the area has always been considered strategically important. During the American War considerable lighting took place around Buon Ma Thuot, Pleiku and Kon Tum.

The western region of the Central Highlands along the border with Cambodia and Laos is a vast, fertile plateau with red volcanic soil. The good soil and sparse population has not gone unnoticed the governments has targeted the men for a massive resettlement program. Most or the new settlers are farmers from the crowded Red River Delta area in the north of the country. The government-financed scheme is mostly successful, though the local hill tribes might he less than thrilled by the sudden influx of northern Vietnamese.

The western highlands area has lost much of its natural beauty. Some remnant forests remain, but most of the trees were either destroyed by Agent Orange during the American War or have been stripped to make way for agriculture. The only thing that really adds a bit of colour to this part of Vietnam is the Montagnards, particularly in the Kon Tum area.

With the exception of Lam Dong Province (where Dalat is), the Central Highlands was closed to foreigners, until 1992. Even Westerners with legitimate business in the area were arrested and sent back to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). This extreme sensitivity stemmed partly from the limited nature of central government control in remote areas, as well as a concern that secret’re-education camps' (rumoured to be hidden in the region) would be discovered and publicized.

The situation has changed. Almost all of the Central Highlands is open to foreigners now, however travel permits are still needed for certain areas.

Center highland of Vietnam (Tay Nguyen in central Vietnam) is a land populated with ethnic minorities who guard its secrets fast to their hearts like flickering gems just beyond reach…

It is a mysterious land. It is a culture of gongs (Cong chieng culture) and a civilization of milpa. There are long nights when old people lie stretched out side by side in the flickering firelight of the communal house, surrounded by silent shadows that incarnate national heroes. There is a basalt soil where Giang (a god in the heavens) receives offerings via the erect pole in the Buffalo-stabbing festival that is held to celebrate a good harvest. And there are exciting Grave leaving festivals when songs about everlasting life are loudly sung and a string made of buffalo leather is stretched over the roof of the charnel-house to make a road to give the dead strength to begin their new lives.

But in fact, hardly any tourists are able to participate in the whole of the popular festivals in the village under the imposing Chu Yang Sing Range or hidden behind the thick Truong Son Jungle of Central Vietnam. Even a cultural official only gets the chance to listen to a historic poem or join in the Cong chieng festival (festival of Gongs) if he has lived with the villagers for many years. Likewise, a visitor need to stay more than once if he wants to be offered ruou can (sweet wine drunk out of a jar through pipes) and invited to sit around the firelight beside bare-aimed girls. Nevertheless, the rising wind over the Bien Ho (Ocean Lake) and the mist all over the forest every sunset are enough to hurry tourists to Tay Nguyen. And the aromatic smell of coffee in the air is no less a source of inspiration.

In spring, when coffee flowers bloom out to invite honey-bees, when forests are completely green and red soil lanes haven't been destroyed by continuous rains, Don village and Jul village by Lak Lake in Dak lak become more crowd and bustling. Several elephants swing their trunks by the mahouts on normal days, as they are allowed to wander through the forests by the village, elephant calves trailing behind their mothers. For many tourists one of the most memorable adventures in Tay Nguyen is the chance to ride elephants by the lake, swinging by each step and looking down f high above, one can sense the legendary pride of mahouts in Tay Nguyen, when they rode the tamed elephants to the forest to tame wild elephants. It is just as interesting to deliberately ride an elephant on the asphalt road around the village, watching motorbikes below, trees laterally, and mighty Lak Lake from the distance. Though many images have been taken of elephants following one another by the lake with the sunlight flaring over the water, none of them quite reflects the genuine mystery of Tay Nguyen once one discovers it with one's own eyes.

By Lak Lake, a team of dug-out canoes is ready to serve tourists. There seem to be only 2 places where dug-out canoes can be found: Ba Be Lake in the Northeast and here, Tay Nguyen. It is not easy to run this strange means of transport because it is actually a long pared tree-trunk. If not rowed by the M' Nong living by Lak Lake, the canoe will only rotate around and stay at the same position. Following the itinerary, tourists depart from the guest house, make a trip around the lake, then come back to the village to taste ruou can. Jul village is no longer as wild as it was hundreds of years ago. An asphalted road has been built but long houses and old women with time-stamped skin enjoying pipes of tobacco pipe still remain.

Just like imposing communal houses that are ready to challenge the weather, the long houses of the Ede are a memory in the firelight on long nights. Though the figure of a woman's breast is now carved on the wood stairways of only a few houses, the houses connecting the mother's to the daughter's when the latter gets married are still lengthened, as tradition dictates. Beside the Lunar New Year pole (cay neu), ruou can and gongs are an integral part of life here. They all work as a means of bridging people with the gods, to which the people here can trust their desire and love.

When in Tay Nguyen, tourists will no doubt be surprised by the food served in restaurants in Ban Me Thuot, Pleiku, and Kontum, for example. They are not so very different from city food, except for their delicious specialties. Daring visitors may still find strange foodstuffs like wild boar mixed with leaves, porcupine, mountain mouse, and wild chicken, all made according to an old recipe. Yet even these dishes are mostly served on holidays and special occasions like the Grave leaving festival, or the New Harvest festival.

This is Tay Nguyen, a land of mystery with no small appeal to domestic and international travelers. In the dry season visitors may ride an elephant from the Don Village to the Yokdon forest; take a trip to the imposing Dreisap Falls, or make their own way to farther villages ... Everywhere can be found a different aspect of the life in the highlands, deserted but magnificent, hidden behind the forest but still full of ruou can, echoing gongs, and flaring firelight.

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