Chuc mung Nam moi 2013, Kontum

Chuc Mung Nam Moi, 2013 @ KonTum

Almost 2 years passed since I got the feed for this blog. This was a short although fun packed trip to VN. I stayed in VN for longer period before, but this time I got the opportunity to see tet (Lunar New year) festival closely by becoming one of them. Also I got opportunity to visit a small relaxed city with some historical and cultural importance.

My flight landed in a small airport, Pleiku, surrounded with hills. HCMC to Pleiku was almost 1 hour journey. We took one cab to cover 50Km to reach KonTum city. The wind was cooling and refreshing. City is located at the bank of river Dakbla, sharing its border with Cambodia and Laos.

House was not very new. It reminded of my maternal grand ma's house. Members were busy in preparing food for new year. I took a quick nap and got refreshed to see the new year celebration. Food were prepared to offer god. Nonveg was the part of offering. The head member of family have to do the rituals of worship and family members are not bound to participate in the rituals.

Different varieties of food would be prepared. Family memebers would gather around table and will enjoy lunch and dinner . On the new year night people will visit each other houses and pass their wishes for the new year. Some papers symbolizing money and sacred books can be seen on fire in front of almost all houses as they welcome new year. It is considered this is sent to their dead ancestors. City also witnessed fireworks done at some center open space of city.

Kontum

Due to influence of French colonies and being the administrative center for central highlands, a good number of Church can be seen here. A sizable number of population got converted to Catholic. The city is famous for its coffeeshops, many are located at the bank of Dakbla river. Some coffeeshops are quite old and marked a place in Kontum map. City is devided in two parts in terms of religion and language. Minorities language is not Vietnamese and have comparatively darker skin.
City fails to attract lot of tourist still few tourist can be seen enjoying the simplicity of this place. City is financially stable due to its border sharing with Cambodia and Laos. Few costly cars can be easily seen on the road.

City got 2 very old and beautiful church. One is "wooden Church" built in 1913. Complete church is made of wood. ANother is small Tan Huong church which is white washed and built in the 1850s.

City had a very big prison which was later demolished by govt.
There are plenty of trekking routes, and rafting availalbe in river during season. You can go toward attractive country side.