Con Dao- Beautiful place dips in my memory

Con Dao with shivering historical prisons and breath-taking natural scenery will leave deep impression with any tourists once coming right here. It will be an some unforgettable experience in life.

There are two methods for getting to Con Dao from Vung Tau Town: by plane or ship. We chose the second. After a night by sailing, we landed at Ben Dam of Con Dao when the sun had just risen.

Con Son Beach

Source: Panoramio

Con Dao appeared in front of our eyes in a green shirt of coconut trees and coastal casuarinas. On the way from the port to the center, I had the opportunity to contemplate the picturesque beauty of Con Dao City. On the right of my hand were spotless white sandy beaches and the deep blue sea. On the left were superb green forests, fresh young grass and red-roofed houses hidden in the early morning mist. The natural picture with refresh colors and pure air of Con Dao quickly helped me to forget the tiredness of a night with seasick.

Con Dao National Park

Source: Panoramio

The roads of Con Dao City were covered with hundreds-of-years tropical almond trees. The first place I visited was an ancient house of French architectural style in Le Duan Street. After 113 years used as a place to live and work of 53 Island Lord, the house became the Con Dao Gallery of historic revolution. We visited Con Dao prison system after that. The relic was a huge area which consisted of 127 rooms, 42 cells, 504 tiger cages and many other areas. Therefore, we were taken to visit three main prisons which were Phu Hai, Phu Son and Phu Truong. Although 30 years passed, I was still shivered when taking a firsthand look at atrocities of the enemy in prisons. On the way out, we visited Hang Duong Cemetery, the resting place of more than 20 thousand revolutionary soldiers including anonymous ones.

Ben Dam port

Source: Panoramio

Con Dao also had many beautiful natural landscapes, however. In the next days, we visited Con Dao National Park, which was recognized as one of the most diverse biological reserve in the world. It was truly an enormous land with a wide variety of animal and plant species, many of which I had never seen before. In the afternoon, we took a ship to a minor beach, not far away from Dam Trau Bay. There, after being tired of swimming, we climbed cliffs, visiting wild freshwater lake behind the bay and diving to watch the undersea world of splendid corals and colorful fishes. Then we wandered in primeval forest to watch rare animals which could be found nowhere apart from Con Dao such as Nicoba pigeons, or fire storks.

Former Prison

When the sun was going down, we gathered with the beach to contemplate an exciting natural phenomenon: purple sunset. The purple sunset was so strange and fantastic which it created many different feelings inside me. It was also our last image of Con Dao. Regardless of having been many destinations in Vietnam and also on earth, it seems that nowhere results in deep impression in me such as Con Dao Island.