The express boat from Vung Tau to Con Dao arrives at the island at noon. This first day in Con Dao, I had all afternoon to explore and that’s what I did.
I decided to stick near the hostel and explore the surroundings. At the hostel, there was only one girl in the female dorm, and she was Vietnamese! What a surprise! Unfortunately, she was leaving the next day and for the rest of the stay, I had the dorm for myself. The mattresses were extremely thin, but that was ok for 3 nights. The hostel owner is a young Vietnamese that has some dogs. I like dogs but these ones were not ok. They had ticks, that’s not cool at all, and I saw one crawling up my dress when I was sitting in the lobby. The dogs were always there and sat in the same places as guests so I guess that’s why I got this horrible tick. I was more frightened to see this tick than any other animal. I would prefer the rats. Once I saw the tick I went to shower immediately! I couldn’t help but think that if I get bitten by a tick I might have some problems as they carry diseases and I would probably have to check a doctor. So I searched all my body for one and fortunately couldn’t find any. From that moment on, I didn’t touch the dogs or sat in the lobby. Maybe I was too dramatic but knowing that this bug could ruin my trip was a terrifying thought. Plus, I don’t have any health insurance when I travel.
Besides that, the hostel owner was super cool and chilled and I liked the ambiance of the place. I also admired him for sheltering these homeless dogs, but the ticks… nop.
Lo Voi beach Con Dao
So, this afternoon I went to the nearest beach: Lo Voi beach
Lo Voi beach was just a few minutes’ walk away from the hostel. It was empty and wide. It felt weird to lay on the sand in such an empty place, overall Con Dao is very empty, so I walked all the way till its end. The Vietnamese girl at the hostel told me to be aware of sandflies. I once saw how a friend was after a sandfly’s bite and I was terrified of being bitten too. Also for that reason, I didn’t want to sit or lay on the beach with skin showing off. I don’t know if Lo Voi beach is infested with sandflies, but the truth is that once I stepped on the sand and walked near the water, I was immediately surrounded by dragonflies. That was scary! There were so many of them that turned out to be very annoying to walk at the beach. I have no idea if they were feeding on sandflies that were around me once I was walking. The truth is that those dozens of dragonflies were flying next to me but not touching. They were following me all the time. It was very creepy!! Once I stepped away from the water they would leave me alone, but if I got closer to the water again here comes this dragonfly army to protect me from whatever was flying around me that I couldn’t see. At first, it was scary cause I thought something was wrong, but after this theory, I was happy to see them. They were my guardians.- I have no idea if this is a possible theory but at the moment I didn’t find any other reason for this odd event.
At some point, the beach meets the forest and turns special. There was this beautiful forest just next to the beach that meets the sand in a beautiful way. There were several crawling plants invading the sand which gave this beach a mysterious look. I have never seen such a thing and for me it was delightful. The forest was beautiful too. It was not big but the trees and sounds there were splendorous. I could not identify where were the birds but their chirping was magical giving this forest an enchanted feeling. I spent a lot of time there being mesmerized by this place. I saw a few boats so I guess this is where some island fishermen go to sea.
Cau Tau Lich Su 914
To end this day of very peculiar experiences I visited Cau Tau Lich Su 914, a place with some sand to lay on but a beach without a name. Maybe with high tide, there is no beach here… This place was closer to the center so I was expecting to see many people there because, besides Con Dao’s empty feeling, I saw a bunch of people arriving that day. But, this beach was almost empty. There were just a few people there so the beach was calm. At this no-name beach, I could finally sit and enjoy the breeze and view as there were no insects chasing me. I was thinking maybe that was a place where I could watch the sunset, but the sunset is not on this side of the island. I was also not lucky during all the time I stayed in Con Dao. The rain was always threatening and the sky was very cloudy. Not good for sunset watching anyway.
Dam Trau Beach Con Dao
But there is one particular beach that I regret not visiting Dam Trau Beach. The reason why is because this beach is just next to the airport. Therefore you can see airplanes landing and taking off just a few meters above your head. This was very interesting, but I only knew about it on the last day of my stay and couldn’t make it there. If now, I would check the flight schedule and be at the beach ready to see the airplanes as close as possible.
I have also visited Con Dao National Park, and you can read more about it HERE!
