My flight landed Con Dao Island in the windy and sunny midday. It’s was first time I set foot in this island where is known in the past as the prison called “the hell on earth” under French colonial time and American War. Nowadays, Con Dao is among the top 20 islands containing the most mysteries of the world, according to the world-renowned tourism magazine Travel & Leisure. Especially, the Con Dao National Park is one of Vietnam’s few natural preserves for the species facing the high risk of extinction such as dugongs, dolphins and sea turtles.
My first feeling about this place was tranquillity and freshness in green space of forest and ocean stretching endlessly. The road from the airport to the centre of Con Dao curved along the mountain slope covering beautifully colourful carpet of fauna and wild flowers. Opening widely the bus’s window to enjoy cool wind, I and my colleague were eager to discover this island.
After a very delicious lunch with banh xeo hai san (seafood fried rice cake) and goi cuon (spring roll) at Six Senses Con Đao Resort where we stayed, we joined in a half-day tour to visit historical relics in the island. Our guide was a young girl who has just moved to Con Dao for 6 months for working. She told that any Vietnamese who arrived in Con Dao to live and working, the first thing they had to do were to go to Hang Duong cemetery and Vo Thi Sau Temple (Vo Thi Sau is a female hero imprisoned and killed in American War) to pray as well as introduce their presence here which was considered as the respectability for the dead. “On this island, it is said that number of the dead are even much more the living”, she said, “According to statistical figure, there were about 20,000 prisoners died when this island is used as a prison while now there are only about 7,000 inhabitants staying and working.”
We visited Con Dao Museum located in the old French colonial house where I learnt partly the history of this island more than 100 years as well as experienced different feelings when visiting the relics of prisons where I could understand the words “the hell on earth”. I consoled myself that anyway the darkest part in the island’s history closed and this beautiful island is living its new life as “paradise on earth”.
We have memorable late afternoon to wander on tranquil streets in Con Dao town with lines of impressive huge trees, seeing charming French architect houses aged hundred years old, enjoying mức hạt bàng (a speciality made from seed of Malabar almond trees) in the market and seeing sunset at the café by the sea.
According our guide, Vietnamese tourists usually visit Hang Duong cemetery in midnight. I was really unexpected when my colleague suggested going there at night. Although I had a little fear but then I also agreed to join with her. At 9pm, we rented two xe om (motorbike drivers) in front of our resort and asked them to take us to the cemetery. They seemed not to be any surprise by our suggestion. Mr Sau, one of two drivers, said that he came from Kien Giang, a province in Mekong Delta, and worked as a xe om driver for 6 years. He also took many tourists visiting the cemetery at night. It took about 20 minutes to go from the resort to there. That maybe was my singular visit in my life until now. There were also many people there when we came to. My driver knew some of them who were local people and who went for a walk and did exercise while other people were also tourists like us. We gathered into a group and went inside the cemetery to burn incense for tombs.
Perhaps the most interesting experience in my trip for most of time was to discover marvellous beauty of nature and sea. The resort I stayed featured a wonderful panorama view of green mountain, blue sea and pristine beaches. I had a pleasant time kayaking under the sunshine, swimming in pure blue water, riding bicycle on trails to watch rich flora and birds. For me, diving is a great opportunity to explore the fascinating beauty of the deep and mysterious ocean with diversity of coral reefs and colourful creature. George, a diving expert told me that he had seen dugong while diving in Con Dao and that was one of his wonderful experiences. He seemed to fall in love with this island where its environment was pure, and its sea and forest have been carefully preserved.
The last night in Con Dao, we went fishing on the boat of local fishermen. It’s very wonderful moment when I sat on the windy deck seeing the moon and stars on the sky among the vast sea, hearing a young fisherman talking about his life with boats and trips on the sea.
