Monday 13th January

More yoga to stretch out whilst J pops out for breakfast and then we sort out travel plans as things seem to be getting very booked up for Tet, we then head out in search of a pharmacy as one of J’s ears is blocked (I’m relieved it’s not mine as I’m diving in Thailand again next week!). Finish packing and then we’re in a Grab to Can Tho airport for a short flight to Con Dao archipelago of islands, we’re staying on the largest island called Con Son / Con Lon at a very lovely hotel for a few days, so looking forward to that after being back in the cities for a while. We’ve both really enjoyed staying in Can Tho for a few days (probably only needed two days here but we ended up staying four as we just liked the vibe of the place). I think in future I’d recommend missing Ben Tre and going straight to Can Tho although the trip on the MKD out of Ben Tre was really memorable.

Flight was ok although the landing was a bit scary, thought we were going to crash into the sea at one point. We made it down and then straight off the plane, bags picked up in minutes and then we were whisked away to Poulo Condor. They couldn’t be more lovely when we arrived, iced ginger tea and a neck and shoulder massage! How civilised… suite is gorgeous, we unpack and then we’re off to explore… Reception give us tonnes of vouchers for things as we’ve booked as part of the Tet package, but it almost feels like they’ve given us too much! We have spa treatments, dinners and drinks with canapés. Dinner was fab, nice to have a treat in a normal a la carte restaurant rather than eating at a street food cafe.

Tuesday 14th

At Poulo Comdor, weather a bit iffy today, kick off with some yoga followed by breakfast. We have a spa treatment booked at 11am which is absolutely fantastic, we both float out of there. We spend the afternoon just off the beach, gazing out to sea, reading and listening to music. There’s no way we can swim or kayak as the waves are huge, I stupidly walk up the beach, completely forgetting about the oil slick warning. Soles of my feet are covered so they give me some WD40 to scrub it off. We head to the pool terrace late afternoon for a game of chess and I’m savaged by mosquitoes, just didn’t quite cover up or put stuff on in time!

Wednesday 15th

Kick off the day at 7.30 with a lovely yoga session on the beach with Thein, the Spa Manager, he’s really good and there only four of us so a nice small group. J meets me afterwards for breakfast. We then grab one of the small rowing boats so we can go for a tow on the lake that wraps around part of the resort, afterwards we grab some bikes and cycle to take a look at the beach on the opposite side of the island, Dam Trau beach, it’s gorgeous and doesn’t have much rubbish or people on it. We find a small pack of dogs and take them for a walk. Cycle back to Poulo and I have a back massage and facial booked at 4.30, the therapist, Tam, is totally wonderful although we don’t chat much. I’m totally spaced out so it’s back to the room for card games, room service and Netflix! The bed is the best we’ve had in Vietnam so far, so comfy!

Thursday 16th

Another lovely beach side yoga session with Thein at 7.30 follower by a very leisurely breakfast we are going into Con Dao town! We’re moving to a different hotel as want to be in the town, we knew Poulo would be remote so we planned three days there and three in town so we could do some hiking and also visit the former prison, now a museum. We have the morning to chill out by the pool at Poulo and then they drop us into town at 1pm, we’re installed on the roof top of our new hotel, The Mystery, by 2pm. J heads off to explore Con Dao town whilst I enjoy a bit of time on the roof terrace. Mind you it’s very windy! After a bit of google research we head out to a restaurant called The Beach House, a lovely, quirky place and both end up with some sort of home-made linguine pasta with seafood, very tasty.

Friday 17th

We do a self-guided walking tour of Con Dao, which is not difficult, it’s a very easy town to navigate. It’s incredibly windy, a bit sunny and certainly nice and warm. We head to the walking Prison Museum, it’s obviously not a happy place to visit and not much of the info is in English so most of it is a bit lost on us. During the French occupation the prison was built in the late 1800’s and used to detain those considered dangerous by the French colonists, it was still in use right the way through the Vietnam war and was eventually closed in 1975. The staff don’t speak very good English but they do manage to tell us that it shuts between 11.30-1.30 so we whistle through the museum. Next we decide to head to the Phi Yen / A Son temple, once we get there we climb up quite a few steps to reach the top and it’s a stunning view out from the pagoda to the sea. We start to climb up to the highest mini pagola and I get freaked out by a monkey that rushes me so I rapidly descend the steps. We then walk back into town and across town to the prison buildings on the outskirts. We wander round only a small part of the Prison, it’s separate to the Museum. The collection of buildings we are looking at contains ‘Tiger Cages’, small prison cells where a number of people would have been shackled together and had bars overhead so that the guards could tip numerous nasty substances (like lime) or beat prisoners with poles from above. Barbaric to think this prison was still in use in our lifetime even! We make our way back to the hotel for a siesta as we’ve clocked up about 10km already. After a rest, it’s up onto the roof terrace for a cheeky round or two of Jaipur (J beats me tonight) then we’re off for dinner to a restaurant called Mays Bistro and I have to say best meal if the trip for me so far, simply grilled fish, with shrimp and calamari with vegetables (£7)! To die for… think we’ll be back tomorrow night.

Saturday 18th Jan

Hiking in the Con Dao National Park, typically the hottest and sunniest day so far. We walk from here to the entrance of the park, approx 3km from our hotel and then buy a ticket for the park (approx £2 for both of us). Lots of monkeys around as we start the walk, we’re all alone apart from one other walker we have seen who is behind us. There’s a really good path and a prescribed route so it’s very easy but lots of going up and down, repeat… we see lots of lizards, butterflies and monkeys but very few birds. Towards the end of the route, just before Dat Tram beach a snake (we subsequently learn is the Con Dao Blue Ornate Flying snake) is on our path, it reared up and was very gorgeous but clearly then decided it was more scared of us than we were of it, so it quickly scuttled away. We take a quick look at the beach and then do a u turn and head back the way we’ve come. We get back to the start and decide to carry on walking back to our hotel, as we’re going down the mountain back towards town a van stops and offers us a lift, we hop in and he drops us on the edge of town, so very kind of him and despite us trying to give him money he wouldn’t have it. I have to say the Vietnamese people just continue to impress me with their kindness and generosity of spirit, they are truly lovely. He’s drops us on the outskirts of town and we make our way back past more of the old prison buildings, one nicknamed the Cowshed, the other the Pigsty. They really are the most depressing of buildings but a stark reminder of how inhumane humans can be to each other sometimes just for holding an opposing view… Off my soap box and back to the hotel to get packed up and get ready to fly back to HCMC tomorrow where we’ll split up and go our separate ways. More on that later…