Song Cau

Well off the trail, Song Cau is located 50 km south of Qui Nhon. It has quite a different atmosphere than the north -- on a flood-plain of estuaries, among peninsulas and islands, criss-crossed with fish farms and local villages. No blazing white-sand beaches to be found here -- it's more like a Vietnamese take on the Louisiana Bayou.

Song Cau town itself doesn't offer any accommodation or services to speak of, but there are two places a bit to the north. It is a decidedly odd place to choose to spend your holiday, but if you're in the neighbourhood and you're looking for something different, it might be just the ticket.

Boat tours are supposed to be on offer in the area, but on our visit we were told they weren't. The best we can offer is a motorbike tour of the surrounding area -- beautiful, and sort of eerie, in a weird way we couldn't quite put our finger on.

Since we got stone-walled on the 'boat tour' idea when we visited, we took off and explored. If you head about ten kilometres south into Song Cau town proper, there's a bridge at the centre of town -- we crossed it and took a left, following the road along the river. It was beautiful, and had a very distinctly different look and feel to it than the territory to the north and south. Couldn't quite put our finger on it. There was just a certain mysterious aire about it, a certain je ne sais quoi ... okay, we'll shut up now.

After 2 km or so the road lead us to a Du Lich Sinh Thai, an 'ecological tourism area.' There are countless such areas along the coast that are really just nature parks that have been set aside for recreational use by the people. This one is called Du Lich Sinh Thai Nhat. There are some cafes there, and a rickety-looking bridge that crosses over a sandbar from the mainland to a small island. When the water's low you can walk over the sand bar -- we also tried the bridge, which was very scary, but it didn't fall down. On the other side you can hike up to the top of the island -- not a very strenuous hike, and there's nothing much up there.

It was pretty low key, but oddly memorable, and we can't help but wonder what else there is in the area. Seems worth exploring around, if you have your own transport, to see what you can find.