Rather than follow the regular route from South straight up North, I decided to go even further South of Ho Chi Minh City.
This involved a 2 hour bus ride and a 5 hour ferry, a two night stay, followed by a 2 hour ferry and 7 hour Sleeper bus ride back to Ho Chi Minh where i started. Was it worth it?
The views were incredible. Renting a scooter like usual I drove half way around the small island taking in the amazing scenery.
Aside from the beautiful views this island was once known as ‘‘hell on earth’’. For 113 years, Con Dao was not the beautiful tropical idyll that I had the pleasure of visiting but rather a prison where thousands endured pain and suffering.
This island is deemed highly important by the Vietnamese. In 1861 the French government established prisons on the island in order to house prisoners who had committed especially severe crimes, mainly of a political stance.
During the Vietnamese war the prisoners held here was tortured in ‘‘tiger cages’’. The prisons were closed in 1975 and since then have been open to the public to visit. This visit was very eerie and mannequins were used to show the terror that occurred here.
Since the prisons closed the locals have been working to reform the island commercially. It was definitely an experience to be surrounded by locals who don’t speak very much English and very few restaurants.
The history of the island was eye-opening and quite possibly worth all of the travelling.
I then moved on to my first ever sleeper bus experience for the journey back to Ho Chi Minh City and they definitely put the mega-bus to shame.
Wanderlust Adventure 