Experience the coffee season in Dak Lak

Speaking of gongs culture, coffee, pepper or elephants, everyone will think of Dak Lak, a province of Central Highlands of Vietnam. If you have spent almost your Vietnam vacation with beautiful beaches, mountains or scattered tourist attractions, you should take time to have a change of scenery with this marvelous land which bring you wonderful experiences as well as unforgettable memories.

Time to travel

Dak Lak divided into two distinct rainy and dry seasons. The dry season starts from November to April of the following year. The rainy season starts from May to October. The climate is relatively mild, the average annual temperature of 23-24 degrees C.

In order to comprehend the highlands, you should arrive at the two correct time. In particular, the December is when the blossoming yellow wild sunflowers paint the scene of the highlands and the time for the local to hold festivals. March is the season of coffee flowers to white the earth of the Highlands and fascinating elephant racing festival.

How to get there

Buon Ma Thuot city has an airport and straight routes to big cities such as Ha Noi, Vinh, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh. The airfare is cheaper than other routes to other cities in Central Highlands. You can hunt for even cheaper tickets on their discount campaigns on internet.

By coach, you can easily buy a ticket from big cities to Buon Ma Thuot from Giap Bat station, My Dinh station in Ha Noi and from major stations in Ho Chi Minh, Vung Tau, Ca Mau.

Where to go

In addition of enjoying the flavor of coffee, visitors should by these locations into their visiting map in order to save costs and be more perfect trip.

• Coffee Flower Forest: Coming to the Highlands, it is not difficult to find the vast forests of coffee, where the large area of the country is growing and is considered the “capital” of the plant. March is the time of the hills to be covered with white, creating poetic scenery, wonderful.

• Trung Nguyen Coffee Village: A place where you can enjoy coffee with many flavors and in different styles. Along with the special drinks, this place is considered a miniature museum detailed a Highland village. This is a good place to visit, enjoy a cup of coffee and study the museum artifacts before you see the real things.

• Tourist Center Don Village: Don Village (Ban Don) is an important landmark in the tourist map in the Highlands. Not only possessing the beautiful landscapes, from thick forest to the river or herds of elephants, this place also has special dishes such as grilled chicken, Ama Kong wine.

• Yok Don National Park: A beautiful ecotourism attraction for many domestic and foreign tourists located in Krong Na commune, Buon Don, 40 km from Buon Ma Thuot northwest.

Read more: Discover Buon Ma Thuot, the hidden gem in Central Highlands

Foods

• Khot Cake: some people think that the cake’s name came from the sound “khot khot” of the cake when oil starts boiling. Other opinion supports the idea that this name came from a Mandarin word “khot” in meaning of hardship or hard work because in the past, the local people were so poor that they did not have meat to eat so that came up with this cake which is made out of only flour. The main ingredient to make this dish is rice flour, being kept in water overnight then minced and made into round shapes. The cakes are fried with oil until they get brown and served with sauce.

• Grilled chicken of Don Village: the chickens must be young hill chickens. The whole chicken will be marinated with chilly salt, citronella juice, and honey. Use 2 bamboo sticks to clamp the chicken then grill on coal fire. Serve the dish with chilly salt or citronella salt.

• Lang fish: this tasteful fish can be found in Serepok river. Many dishes can be made with Lang fish.

• Grilled beef: the meat is sliced thin and marinated with spices, basked under sunlight for one day. When you want to eat, you just need to grill it on fire. Local people often eat beef with golden ant salt.

Note

You must not litter when you are in the primeval forest, do not hurt the elephants, dressed polite in the village, and respect the local culture of the people.

Source Internet

Places to visit in Da Nang, Vietnam

Da Nang is a coastal city bursting with stunning beaches, rolling mountains, and religious relics. Once considered a drop-off point for many of Vietnam’s smaller cities dotting the coast, Da Nang is now drawing in its own tourists to gawk at the natural beauty and historical remnants.

Ba Na Hills

Ba Na Hills is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Da Nang. This fairytale-like hill station is modeled on an old European city complete with castles, cobblestone streets, and beautiful courtyards. The complex also features Buddhist statues and temples built for entertainment only, which makes for a quirky combination of old East and West. To get to the top, visitors must ride the world’s longest cable car lift which offers spectacular scenery of the valley below.

Son Tra Peninsula

Son Tra Peninsula is also known as Tien Sa Mountain. Its name is from a legend that Son Tra was called as a stop for fairies in the past. This peninsula is at the north end of Da Nang’s My Khe beach is nicknamed Monkey Mountain for the rare species of monkey that dwells inside the dense forests. Son Tra Peninsula was a former U.S. Army base for radar and communications, with some of the radar domes still visible today.

Tourists usually rent a scooter or hire a local to drive the steep, winding road to the peak to see the sprawling city and coastline in all its glory. Several local tour companies organize hikes up and around the mountain, where lucky tourists might catch a glimpse of some playful monkeys.

Marble Mountains

Marble Mountain or Non Nuoc is a well-known attraction among local and foreign tourists. This place is a cluster of five mountains named after the earth’s elements: Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). They look like bonsais emerging between a vast hillock. Every mountain has its particular beauty in shape, position, a material with many caves and temples inside. Marble Mountain is truly a heaven of all tourists.

There are several stunning pagodas and temples nestled in different areas of the mountain so it’s best to purchase a small map before embarking on the hike. The largest cave’s entrance is at the base of the mountain and is described as ‘hell’ by the locals; various creepy statues and engravings are hidden inside this deep cave depict an afterlife of suffering and torture.

My Khe Beach

My Khe Beach is voted by Forbes magazine as one of the most attractive beaches on the planet. With a coastline stretching to 90 meters, blue waters, fine white sandy beaches, and high-end hotels, My Khe is an ideal destination for those who are in love with beaches. Also, there is a great selection of water activities in Da Nang, which can help you to spend a day long in Da Nang beaches.

My Son Sanctuary

Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the My Son Holy Site hosts the abandoned ruins of Vietnam’s ancient Champa civilization that once occupied southern Vietnam. My Son depicts intricate carvings of various Hindu gods and makes an informative, fascinating day trip. A tour with a knowledgeable guide is highly recommended so you get the most from the area. Only a few buildings remain as the majority were destroyed in a carpet-bombing campaign by the Americans during the war; there are large bomb craters still visible around the site. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about this ancient kingdom and explore the overgrown ruins surrounded by mountains.

Linh Ung Pagoda

Situated on an area of about 20 hectares on the side of a mountain, the pagoda is a magnificent artwork. The pagoda was built with a perfect harmony of modern and traditional features typical of a Vietnamese pagoda. The pagoda and the statue all come from the 18th century and have been recently restored. The surrounding gardens are really beautiful and you can admire the nearby bay from the main terrace.

See more: Places to visit on your first trip to Central Vietnam

Asia Park

Asia Park is one of the biggest and most modern amusement parks in South East Asia. Its Ferris wheel provides amazing views of the city and is a prominent feature of Da Nang’s night landscape. There are no crowds here at all and in some places, you can feel like you’re in an abandoned but still functioning amusement park.

There’s also a small train called Monorail, which will take you around the area and from which you can see the bridges of Da Nang such as Dragon Bridge, Golden Bridge, and so on.

Source Internet

The interesting facts you might not know about coffee

Around the world, coffee production provides a livelihood for 25 million people. For them, coffee is a reason to get up in the morning while, for everyone else, it is the reason they can get up in the morning. Over two billion cups of coffee are drunk every single day, which raises the question of how the other five billion people manage to get anything done.

Here are the things you might not have known about the tasty brown drink.

The word ‘coffee’ has Arabic origins

The word ‘coffee’ comes from the Arabic word “qahwah”, which originally referred to a type of wine. There are a number of theories among linguists about the word’s current association with coffee.

Many believe that like wine, caffeine has an intoxicating effect, but qahwah can also be traced to the Arabic word quwwa, which means power or energy, or qaha which translates to ‘lacking hunger’ and could reference coffee as an appetite suppressant. Another theory is that it originates from Kaffa, a kingdom in medieval Ethiopia from where the coffee plant was first exported to Arabia.

Coffee beans are not really beans

The coffee plant grows berrie all along its branches and, once ripe and red, they are picked and their seeds are removed. It is these seeds that we incorrectly call coffee beans.

Legend has it that coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian farmer called Kaldi, who noticed his goats behaving strangely after eating berries from a coffee plant.

Coffee can keep you young

It has been suggested that the drink offers a range of anti-ageing benefits, including lowering the risk of cirrhosis, diabetes and dementia. It also contains antioxidants, which can prevent cell damage and help reduce wrinkles.

Perhaps with this in mind, Japan has opened a spa where you can bathe in the brown stuff. The resort, in Hakone, offers guests the chance take a dip in a hot tub full of coffee; a welcome opportunity to those who have spent too long in the spa’s other attraction, a hot tub full of red wine.

Coffee has always been an important way of socializing

Public coffee houses, usually associated with Sufism, first gained popularity in the 16th century. The first coffee houses opened in Cairo, Egypt, around an important religious university and slowly spread throughout the region.

People would visit these venues to drink coffee, listen to music, play chess and talk about current affairs and religion.

Source Internet