Con Dao Islands, Vietnam

Welcome to beautiful Con Son island!!

Our flight here should have been quick, but we were delayed two and a half hours. Nothing better than getting up at 4am, because the airline switched your flight to 6:30am..only to have your flight delayed until 9am!! We were miserable and bitter, but we survived. We had to spend one night in Ho Chi Minh city before flying to the island the next day. To be honest, we didn't get out much. Just for some Banh Mi at lunch and diner at an NGO run restaurant that supports youth in Vietnam in many ways.

We boarded our glorified golf cart and made our way slowly to out homestay. It was actually a perfect car to introduce us to the beautiful sights of this island!! Our homestay is in the perfect location, walking distance to the market and downtown beaches. Vinh, our hostess is amazing and so lovely. They own the store below us, which is super convenient. They also pump our children full of suckers...

We made our way to some pho, which was delicious, then crashed for the rest of that afternoon. Thanks 4am wake up for no reason.

Yes this is a beer....with ice :(

In the evening we walked down to the night market area and feasted on meat skewers and sweet potato fries, although different than ours. They were white colored and they dust them in a sugar mix. We made our way up to Bar 200 afterwards to arrange some diving. There is only one operator on the island and the weather has been a bit of a bust lately. Looks like we'll only get a 2 tank dive each while here.

The next morning, Luke and I took the boys down to the beach for a walk. The downtown beach is clean and calm. The kids opted more for playing in the sand than in the water.

For lunch we found some delicious crackling pork belly banh mi and a proper cup of Vietnamese coffee. The banh mi was a little scarce on filling, so we walked down to look for the handmade noodle restaurant Vinh had told us about. They were closed...but we got some delicious bun bo hue and pho nextdoor.

After some aircon time in the room we headed out to our usual grill cart in the market for dinner. The market itself is fairly traditional, so there are a lot of veggies and cuts of meat we weren't entirely famailiar with. We mixed it up a bit trying some chicken feet. They weren;t as off putting as we thought they'd be. More like a grissle type texture, but the amount of food you're getting for your effort doesn't make them worth it in my opinion.

The next day, Luke and I rented some scooters and booted out to the west side of the island for some practice before taking on passengers. Traffic on the island is nothing like in the cities and towns on the mainland, plus it afforded us much more to explore on the island and stunning views like Bai Nahat.

I took Isa around for a ride after we got back. We went in search of a café I was sure served up coconut coffee, then we looked for lunch. We found it in the form of fried dough. This lady had what we have dubbed Thanksgiving balls (dough stuffed with chicken and herbs that taste like a Sunday chicken roast. She also had fried bean paste, sesame doughnuts and these start like fried cookies. The fried banana lady was out nextdoor, so we hit her up too. All in all, a very successful run.

After naps, we decided to load the boys up and head out to Dam Trau Beach, near the airport. Yes, we travelled with toddlers on a scooter. We all survived without incident. When in Rome. The beach is set up with vendors and a few restaurants. The water was incredibly warm and clean. The boys came in with us for a while and we even managed to get Isa into the water for nearly and hour!

Thursday afternoon was dive day for Luke and I. We started the day with some pho, then Isa and I took Archie out for an adventure while Luek and Mack had V. We booted back to the west side of the island so that I could show Isa the view. Then we stopped at our cafe for some coconut coffee. Arch had his favorite, passion juice and chatted up a young Vietnamese girl.

 Luke and I dove in the afternoon. The diving was great in our opinion. Lots of micro and hard coral. We saw a huge queenfish (we think it was), some scorpion fish, bat fish and even an eagle ray.

 The visibility did start to worsen on the second dive, but it was still much better than a lot of places we've been. Gordon, the owner, is South African and his daughter lives in Ontaio. We had lots to talk about.

We stopped and grabbed fries (because we hadn't seen the fry lady since that first night) and doughnuts for the kids while scarfing down some mandarin juice, meat scures and fries as a "snack" before heading home. Everyone was super excited to see us, because of the fries. Otherwise it was all movie business...

The death of Mufasa 

Friday morning it was Mack and Isa's turn to dive. Luke and I were craving bacon. Lucky for us, there is a "western food" joint a few doors down, so our wish came true.

We took the boys out for one final boot around the island. We ended up stopping off at the Con Dao museum downtown. The Con Dao Islands were primarily used as a prison site during the war. The museum depicts the conditions of these prisons, which help many "political prisoners" ie. people who did not support the war. Many of the prisons built held people in tiger cages where they were shackled at the ankles to as many as 60 other prisoners. They were subjected to torture and starvation during the Vietnam war. 

For lunch, we stopped in at Gia Minh, the handmade noodle joint. It had finally re-opened and it is definitely worth visiting. I had a kimchi soup and Luke opted for a chicken dish. The boys were reeking havoc on the patio, but the owner was on top of it and brought them out some small toys to play with.

Once the kids were back and had recuperated from diving, we headed up to Van Son Pagoda in search of monkeys. While lacking in monkeys, it did offer stunning views out to the sea and countryside.

We continued on out to Bai Nhat to watch the sunset. The view was spectacular and it was the perfect way to end our time here on the island.

Dinner was at Bar 200 (Gordon's restaurant). We chowed down on pizza (well done actually) and settled up with Gordon. The kids had a great dive and saw a bit more than we did. The reviews for diving on the island are not very encouraging. Apparently an ex-dive shop owner was asked to leave the island by officials and has been smearing the island ever since. If you find yourself in Ho Chi Minh City, the hour flight is well worth the trip.

The next day we were all set to leave the island. We got a final dose of Pho and squished everything into our bags. We came up with the genious idea that we can buy a second bag and purge our backpacks of souvenirs and stuff we don't need anymore and send it home with Mack :)

By the afternoon it was time to cart back to the airport. Vinh was a gracious hostess and took care of us until the end, arranging our transfer and letting us stay in a room until we left. The boys will miss her (and her treats).

To Ho Chi Minh....for real this time!