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It's a long drive through the central highlands punctuated with plenty of stops to see war memorials, communist monuments and Chinese influenced pagodas. There are loads of different crops being harvested including coffee, cocoa, cashew nuts, pepper, rubber and on and on. The coffee plants have a really sweet flower and a million white butterflies fill the sky like confetti. We ride along a high ridge on the highway for miles providing great views of the country all around us, like being on the top of the world. The road is busy with trucks, buses, motorbikes and bicycles, children, dogs and the occasional cow so we are glad for our experienced riders. There is a lot more communist propaganda than on the coast in all the towns we pass through. There are also a lot of government information posters including health messages about HIV and malaria. Lunch is an issue again - we sure are fed up with rice and cabbage. Of course I have to ask about eating dog and how you distinguish between a pet and a dog for eating. Apparently pets get eaten when they get old, turned into curries and cooked for a long time, but I kind of get the feeling that our guide Son might not quite be saying it as it is. Arriving at Kon Tum is bliss as we have travelled 240km and can hardly move. We are left to find our own food rather than eat local again but don't do well (no internet access to help) and finally manage to get a fried egg with pate sandwich from a takeaway. Lucky though as we have since received information from a friend telling us about the gross and illegal meat specialities in the area.
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