Dont just dream, live your dream and wander !

Con Dao the last untouched Island Vietnam's This Island is something else. It is the most remote Island in Vietnam and is located 180 kilometers of the shore heading east. The only wait to get their most times is by plane from Ho Chi Minh City which takes about 45 minutes and cost about 180 $ return ticket via Vietnam Airlines. In April there is supposed to be also a boat going from ???? to Con Dao which takes about 12 hours and cost from what I heard 10 $ I saw a pictures of the Boat, ohh that would be an adventure for it self to take that one. When you arrive on Con Dao you can take a Mnibus to town, there is just one and there are many small Hotels and the prices range from 18 - 60 $ for a double room. Food is also quite cheap depends what you after I ate most times just seafood like snails, squid, clams, shrimp and what ever I could find. In the center of town is also a nice little market were you can buy fresh fruits, veggies, fish or seafood. Right in front of the market are always some ladys cooking street food and starting around 2pm, there stuff is amazing from little sausages, chicken, summerrolls, shrimp pancakes (that's how it looked) and all sorts of other stuff and its really really cheap. Definitely check that out. If you like some western food you have to go to Bar 200 the owner Cordon from South Africa and Rhys from Wales they have the best Pizza in Asia !!! Everything is so fresh and homemade its just amazing food and also both guys are amazing people and have some great storys to tell. They also run a divecenter so if you planning to dive that's your guys !! While I was on the Island I was quite unlucky, cause the weather was to rough to head out so that beside snorkeling I couldn't explore more of this beautiful underwater world. But just while snorkeling seeing how rich the area is on its corals I can image diving would be absolutely awesome. While I'm just talking about diving, you here about Dugongs on Con Dao forget about it, in the past for years nobody has seen a Dugong it's just a little scam of the tourist company to attract people to the island.

If you plan on visiting the Island I recommend to stay at least 4-7 days and rent a motorbike for 5 $ a day to explore everything and there is quite a lot to explore. This Islands overs something of all from beaches, mountains, a couple lakes, small streams, rocky cliffs or jungle. If you love nature there is everything you looking for.

Con Dao converted from a Island of pain, sadness and death to a paradise which everyone who loves islands, beaches, diving and nature should visit.

The island used to be one of many torture and prison Islands in Vietnam, were prisoners (men and woman) got tortured to death in such brutal ways that you could start shaking while visiting the prison. People were beaten, there legs and arms broken and left in a solarium cell a cell with high walls and no roof so that everybody in there got literally baked. There also had Tiger cages small little cells the size was about 3 square meters with 4 or more prisoners tight up on there legs and a huge asshole staying on top of the cell poking everyone with a huge stick !! In most cells or cages are rebuilt people out of stone showing how bad it was. So that was the background of this Island, but know 60 years later everything changed from HELL into HEAVEN !!!!!

It is truly a still untouched island with barely tourists and breathtaking scenery like you can find rarely this days.

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)Well like everybody who knows me and follows my travel blog would know Im not the biggest fan of big citys Im more a Country boy and love my outdoor adventures and nature. Saigon which is quite an interesting City to visit but its nuts, if you think Bangkok is busy forget about it. This City has 3 times as much Motorbikes and cars and if there is no space on the road they just keep driving on the boardwalk so you need to be really careful while crossing a road which can take sometimes 5 minutes.Ho Chi Minh also as a bunch of nice green parks, markets, old colonial and modern high rise buildings. The food is absolutely great from fish, seafood, soups, noddles everything is just jummy. While Saigon is located right on the Saigon river it is really interesting to go for a walk a long the river and watch the local fishermen catching some catfish, small whitefish and turtles. Turtles yes they caught quite a few of them which they keep for soup. Well I wouldnt agree with that one, but different Country, different culture. If you travel on a low budget I recommend the Wanderlust Hostel in district one. Dorm beds starting from 3 $ a night and the Hostel is clean, and stuff is friendly and speaks english and it has a rooftop were backpackers from all over the world love to hang out at night and have a few beer, playing guitar and other instruments. Its just a great place to meet people and even to stay. Keep up the good work Wanderlust !!!Ok guys enough with talking from the big city . Next Stop Con Dao the last untouched Island Vietnams !!

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)Well like everybody who knows me and follows my travel blog would know Im not the biggest fan of big citys Im more a Country boy and love my outdoor adventures and nature. Saigon which is quite an interesting City to visit but its nuts, if you think Bangkok is busy forget about it. This City has 3 times as much Motorbikes and cars and if there is no space on the road they just keep driving on the boardwalk so you need to be really careful while crossing a road which can take sometimes 5 minutes.Ho Chi Minh also as a bunch of nice green parks, markets, old colonial and modern high rise buildings. The food is absolutely great from fish, seafood, soups, noddles everything is just jummy. While Saigon is located right on the Saigon river it is really interesting to go for a walk a long the river and watch the local fishermen catching some catfish, small whitefish and turtles. Turtles yes they caught quite a few of them which they keep for soup. Well I wouldnt agree with that one, but different Country, different culture. If you travel on a low budget I recommend the Wanderlust Hostel in district one. Dorm beds starting from 3 $ a night and the Hostel is clean, and stuff is friendly and speaks english and it has a rooftop were backpackers from all over the world love to hang out at night and have a few beer, playing guitar and other instruments. Its just a great place to meet people and even to stay. Keep up the good work Wanderlust !!!Ok guys enough with talking from the big city . Next Stop Con Dao the last untouched Island Vietnams !!

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)Well like everybody who knows me and follows my travel blog would know Im not the biggest fan of big citys Im more a Country boy and love my outdoor adventures and nature. Saigon which is quite an interesting City to visit but its nuts, if you think Bangkok is busy forget about it. This City has 3 times as much Motorbikes and cars and if there is no space on the road they just keep driving on the boardwalk so you need to be really careful while crossing a road which can take sometimes 5 minutes.Ho Chi Minh also as a bunch of nice green parks, markets, old colonial and modern high rise buildings. The food is absolutely great from fish, seafood, soups, noddles everything is just jummy. While Saigon is located right on the Saigon river it is really interesting to go for a walk a long the river and watch the local fishermen catching some catfish, small whitefish and turtles. Turtles yes they caught quite a few of them which they keep for soup. Well I wouldnt agree with that one, but different Country, different culture. If you travel on a low budget I recommend the Wanderlust Hostel in district one. Dorm beds starting from 3 $ a night and the Hostel is clean, and stuff is friendly and speaks english and it has a rooftop were backpackers from all over the world love to hang out at night and have a few beer, playing guitar and other instruments. Its just a great place to meet people and even to stay. Keep up the good work Wanderlust !!!Ok guys enough with talking from the big city . Next Stop Con Dao the last untouched Island Vietnams !!

How to get from Mondulkiri (Cambodia) to Vietnam

The fastest and best way is to take a bus from Mondulkiri to Snoul which takes about 90-120 minutes.

From there you have to take a motorbike taxi for 20 kilometers to the Cambodia/ Vietnam border. Get your Cambodian exit stamp walk 100 meters to the Vietnam border, expect to be the only one, there is almost nobody taking this border crossing but its a really easy one. Many countrys get a 15 day Visa free of any charge. Get your stamp and thats it. Wait till a Bus drives by, stop him and jump on to the bus to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) or where ever you wanne go. Really easy !!!

How to get from Mondulkiri (Cambodia) to Vietnam

The fastest and best way is to take a bus from Mondulkiri to Snoul which takes about 90-120 minutes.

From there you have to take a motorbike taxi for 20 kilometers to the Cambodia/ Vietnam border. Get your Cambodian exit stamp walk 100 meters to the Vietnam border, expect to be the only one, there is almost nobody taking this border crossing but its a really easy one. Many countrys get a 15 day Visa free of any charge. Get your stamp and thats it. Wait till a Bus drives by, stop him and jump on to the bus to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) or where ever you wanne go. Really easy !!!

How to get from Mondulkiri (Cambodia) to Vietnam

The fastest and best way is to take a bus from Mondulkiri to Snoul which takes about 90-120 minutes.

From there you have to take a motorbike taxi for 20 kilometers to the Cambodia/ Vietnam border. Get your Cambodian exit stamp walk 100 meters to the Vietnam border, expect to be the only one, there is almost nobody taking this border crossing but its a really easy one. Many countrys get a 15 day Visa free of any charge. Get your stamp and thats it. Wait till a Bus drives by, stop him and jump on to the bus to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) or where ever you wanne go. Really easy !!!

With the Mondulkiri Wildlife Sanctuary`s people are trying to protect some of the last surviving forest and all the animals with in. Through a huge deforestation lots of the giant forest got lost and many animals lost their home.

The l.e.a.f. (local einvironmental awareness foundation) Sanctuary is located 20 minutes outside the town of Sen Monorom. Her purpose is to protect the local forest, the Asian Elephant and to help the local Bunong people. It is also planned to reforest the area with native trees and plants to create the perfect home to some of the last Asian Elephants.

Most Asian Elephants are domesticated as work Elephants to transport the harvest from farms into town, carrying heavy trees through the jungle which is probably one of the worst jobs an Elephant can imagine.

Elephants also get trained to carry tourist through the jungle, which maybe sounds cool to ride on an Elephant but there is always a line. If a single person is riding on a one of this giants it is no problem for the thick skinned guy, but if 3 people with backpacks riding on an Elephant is different, such a weight can cause a life long damage. So be aware on that one if you consider to ride on one of this giants.

The Sanctuary gave the Elephant their earned retirement, so that now many Elephants are living in their natural habitat and can move free through the forest. Elephants are a big part of the daily and spiritual life of the local Bunong people. Each Elephant is co owned by many families who are taking care of the Elephant, those people are called Mahouts (Elephant caretaker). During the Khmer rouge period and the big starvation many Mahouts were forced to move with their Elephants into the jungle were they spent up to 5 and more years hiding from the regime to protect their Elephants from slaughter. It's a pretty cool thought to live with an Elephant in the jungle I need to say. The Bunong people also believe that breeding Elephants would upset the spirits and bring misfortune to their community, cause it wouldn't be a natural way.

All the money coming from charity and from tourists visiting the l.e.a.f. Sanctuary is going right back into the sanctuary, the Elephants, reforestation and to the local Bunong people.

The wild east of Cambodia

After a great time on the Mekong in Stung Trang we head to Mondulkiri far in the east of Cambodia. We took the local Bus which cost 12 $ and took 8 hours, usually you can make it in 4 hours with a tourist Bus, but that wouldnt be as much fun. We were the only foreigners on the Bus with another 10 locals which stopped every 20 minutes to get some food like snails, frogs, worms or some grasshopper which they liked to share with us. Mhhh Jummy !!

When we arrived in Mondulkiri we did not know to much about the just that there is a lot of wildlife sanctuarys which sounded already interesting for me as nature boy. We stayed in the Nature Lodge just a couple of kilometers out of town it was an amazing place and is visited by many nature and wildlife backpackers around the globe who likes it a bit quite and wants to connect to nature. The Lodge has many bungalows all wide spread out over the area, so everybody can enjoy some privacy which was great. There is also a fire place were you can spend your nights (which can get quite cold all the way up here, not to bad but you would need a light jacket or pullover) thats also the best spot to hang out with other backpackers and have a few drinks and listen to some great storys. It's for me the best place to stay in Mondulkiri and they also try to safe and reforest the area and also help and support the locals and there elephants. Way to go guys! There is so much to explore around Mondulkiri and the best way to do so is if you just rent a Motorbike and go for it. The main roads are pathed but as soon as you head further out there was just gravel and red dirt roads, which I personally love to drive on. There are so many waterfalls and landscapes to explore that you should plan to stay there for at least 3-4 days. Below you will see the waterfalls in my pictures and a map of the area which the owner of Nature Lodge allowed me to use on my website.

If you are a fishermen you can spent some afternoons fishing the local lake in town behind the airstrip. The most caught fish here is Tilapia but their is also a Chinese fish in there which I dont know what the locals mean with that, my thought would be maybe carp, but I ve never seen any catching one. The locals fish really easy for Tilapia using a drinking straw as a float and a little hook, as bait they use sticky rice which they pressed in a plastic bag to a little ball on their hook so you got some weight on it and cast a little further. Expect the rice not to stay to long on your hook, so keep checking every 5 minutes. Tilapia are mostly feed on the ground so if you use a float you need to fish about 3 meters deep, and dont cast further than 5 meters out. If you do so you will for sure catch something.

For all the Elephant lovers, who love to see these giant animals in their natural habitat Mondulkiri is the best place to do so. I recommend the L.E.A.F. Sanctuary which is a non profit organisation run by the Nature Lodge. All the money made here goes to the Elephants, reforest the area, protecting more forest and to help the locals. So nobody is filling his pockets with the money you pay for the day trip with this gentle giants. More to the Sanctuary and the Elephants in my next post. Personlly if you travel to Cambodia and love nature, waterfalls, wildlife and adventures this is a must go !!!