Sun, Jan 14 – Through the Annam Highlands

 

Last night both Hil and I found we had small leech wounds on our legs – we had hardly gone into any grass and the cuts didn’t bleed all that much, but the little critters are definitely out there!     

 

Up today at 6:15 in sunshine and off in the jitney to the restaurant for another delicious breakfast on the terrace overlooking the lake.   The charming staff make you feel incredibly welcome.  I had a baguette and fruit and took David’s cucumber garnish off his omelette plate as he doesn’t like them; the waitress noticed and brought me a platter of cuke slices!   (I had the banana pancakes which were actually crepes with finely sliced banana inside and served with honey. HH)

Beautiful sunrise from one of our patios

We loaded up the van and took off at 8 AM.  We felt as if we were up in the mountains, but our hotel was only at about 100’ elevation and it didn’t take long for us to reach the coast and continue south.  A big freeway is being constructed to connect to the one we drove on from Hanoi, but for now it’s a two-lane crowded small road.  We passed through rice paddies and villages for an hour before turning west near the DMZ, and climbing up to the Laos border.  We got within 3/4 of a mile of the border at one point.

 

The houses and agriculture changed as we entered villages of the hill tribes: low wooden houses in muddy surroundings, no rice growing, more goats and cattle and small vegetable gardens.  We were trying to view some rare mountain birds.   We could hear some, but they are very skittish, and we had few views.   We saw two Large-billed Crows which are pretty rare as they are considered bad luck and can be persecuted. 

 

As we got up to the top of the Sa Mu pass, Tien and Bom pulled over and proceeded to set up lunch on the side of the road.  They got a pot of hot water going, made coffee and poured boiling water into a couple of vats of dried noodles - big portions of great ramen with various bits of things and spices in them.  Bread, butter and more Laughing Cow cheese and we had a fine lunch!

Setting up lunch at the side of the road

Tien and tables (one with Disney princesses) and chairs for us

The weather changed from drizzle to overcast, to partly sunny and back again with clouds flying overhead dramatically.  It was a long day without too many birds for our list.   We drove down to Khe Sanh and stopped at a very new modern business hotel. The hotel is narrow like so many of the houses but 7 stories high! This was the site of a very bloody battle in the American War and the area looks as if most of it has been rebuilt since then.  

7 story hotel in Khe Sanh

View from HH’s balcony

Lit up pagoda in the distance

We got dinner at a restaurant next door in a large white and purple banquet hall.  The plan had been to get up early and drive back up to the mountainous area, but the birding was really slow and instead we are going to relax and drive to Hue early as we are all feeling a bit tired and it’s only the end of week one!