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Ban Me Thuot

These pictures were taken on 21, 22 and 23 September 2007, 41 years after I first began trespassing in the Central Highlands. This was my seventh trip to Vietnam since 2004, and I spent a month there, the second two weeks traveling by local bus from Saigon to Vientiane, 1,019 miles. Because I had lived in the Highlands during wartime and still remembered my way around, I was not reluctant to travel alone. To boot, the Vietnamese tend to take in the stray traveler. BTW, I was treated with more respect -- for example, everybody who spoke English wanted to talk -- than had I been traveling through the big coastal cities that front the South China Sea, where tourists are 1) overrunning the country and 2) often viewed as ATMs to be put-upon. To be fair, tourists self-inflict a lot of pain by rushing around from place to place, making unreasonable demands, and then bargaining like a Dutch uncle at each destination. Vietnam is best discovered by taking a single day at a time, with the order of business being no more rigorous than a loose agenda.
The fence on the right marks the eastern side of the former Ban Me Thuot (BMT) hunting lodge (Le Palais) of Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam.
Nha Khach Tinh (Tinh Hotel), also known as the Dak Lak Province Guesthouse, 15 Le Duan and 02 Nguyen Du, opposite the southeast corner of the former hunting lodge, is an excellent place to stay. Room rates start at US$15 (200,000 dong).
A desk clerk showed me several rooms. All sported balconies, were spacious and had Internet connections. The yellow fencepost in the distance marks the corner of the former hunting lodge.
South entrance to the former hunting lodge, now outfitted as a museum.
The southwest corner of the former hunting lodge. It was designed by the late Hoa Van Nguyen; with two other architects, he also designed the (French) Caravelle Hotel (inaugurated in 1959) in Saigon.
The southeast corner of the former hunting lodge.
As the steps on the other side of the former hunting lodge are more majestic, these must be the back steps. It’s starting to rain.
The north side of the former hunting lodge, which is the town side. Understated elegance is the hallmark of the garden.
Two flights of stairs lead to the original entrance, now sealed shut by metal doors. On the immediate opposite side is a bust of Ho Chi Minh.
View from the porch.
The expansive town side of the hunting lodge.
Particularly from this perspective, the hunting lodge really looks like one.
Caught in the rain, schoolboys huddle under the back steps.
The big trees in the distance surround the former hunting lodge. Behind the yellow wall once stood the Grand Bungalow of Bao Dai, which burnt to the ground in the late 1960s, a hot plate having been left unattended.
Taken at the same spot as the above photo, this street shoots off to the southwest, at the bottom of which lies Ea Karueh. It flows to Cambodia, eventually emptying into the Mekong.
Thang Loi Hotel, also known as Victorie (Victory) Hotel, center -- obviously not designed by an architect, but maybe by an industrial engineer? This is the noisiest intersection in BMT, so ask for a room on the backside if you want to sleep past 4 AM.
This is Hunh Vuong Street. Where it intersects with Le Duan and Nguyen Tat Thanh (Route 14 to Pleiku), you can just make out Thang Loi Hotel. But the real purpose of this photo is to give you your bearings for the next one.
Family Inn at 01 Hung Vuong. Its entrance is to the immediate right of the above picture. Boutique hotels are increasingly popular in BMT and are quiet -- hotels like Thang Loi host ever-popular wedding receptions, the noise from which can be unbearable.
This is the intersection of Hung Vuong (to the left) and Dinh Tien Hoang. The rainy evening that I arrived in BMT, the bus from Saigon (see next photo) dropped me off by the yellow banner. I was within walking distance, of course, of Thang Loi Hotel.
Me (Jim Michener) by the bus when it was still in Saigon. As the fare to BMT is, say, US$5, I bought two tickets, i.e., seats number 1 and 2 -- right, directly in front of the windshield. As it gave him considerably more elbow room during the 345 kilometer trip, 214 miles, the bus driver was all but ecstatic.
Spacious third-floor (French numbering system) corner room at the Thang Loi. US$30 per night. But every night I was there there was a wedding reception on the ground floor. One evening hotel guests could not even approach the reception desk, both the lobby and dining room overflowing with tables and wedding attendees. (I’ve also experienced this phenomenon in Nha Trang. When you book a hotel, whatever city you’re in, ask if it’s “wedding season.” And if it is, go someplace else.)
Full bath. The tub was operable but not the stall shower. Making shaving difficult, hot water was not supplied to the sink.
As seen from the balcony of my room, the Catholic church across the street.
Also seen from the balcony, Ban Me Thuot’s main intersection. From before dawn until well after dusk, everybody feels compelled to toot their horns. And then there are “sunrise” Soviet Era calisthenics in the parking lot on the far side of Victory Monument -- yes, with loud speakers. (“I don’t remember South Vietnamese nationals being like this at all,” I said to a Vietnamese friend. “You’re right,” he said. “With user-unfriendly Chinese characteristics, they’re pretty much all from the north.” I immediately understood, or as Hillary Clinton would say, “It is what it is.”)
From left to right, having breakfast in the dining room of Thang Loi, Jim Michener (ASA & Army Aviation), Harry Wilson (1st Cav), Harry’s wife Ann, Steve’s wife Carol, and Steve Higgins (Phoenix Program).
Daklak Tourist, 51 Ly Thuong Kiet, is the first door on the right. I mention its name so browsers can Google it. It’s the official provincial travel company, and it’s just a block behind Thang Loi. Across the street, Thanh Binh Hotel (green sign with white letters) will arrange ground transportation. I bought my onward bus ticket there, onward as in “BMT to Pleiku.”
This photo was taken in front of Thanh Binh Hotel. Across the street, on the ground floor of the building with blue columns, is Daklak Tourist. OK, now I’ve done my bit for Daklak Tourist. (They remained friendly even after taking a call from someone in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HCMC, who said not to help me. To which I exclaimed, “OK, next time I’ll drop in by parachute!” Everybody laughed except the girl at the PC, who was obviously “in the pay” of PRP, People’s Revolutionary Party. Management at Thong Loi said their payroll contained the names of similar people. Well, BMT is peaceful!)
A typical street scene in BMT. You can walk around for hours and almost always be in the shade.
Moving southward (right side of photo) on Dinh Tien Hoang. Across the street, with matching awnings on the first and second floors, a new coffee shop. BMT is the unofficial capital of Central Highlands coffee, which is something to rave about.
Still on Dinh Tien Hoang. The street has been elevated, allowing a perpendicular street to pass under it. BTW, much of BMT, which squats on a ridge, falls gently away on its east and west fringes.
Still on Dinh Tien Hoang. The road compactor is directly above the perpendicular street. Wherever you go in Vietnam, infrastructure is “always at work.”
Facing northeast on Nguyen Tat Thanh – Victory Monument is immediately behind me.
Spacious Nguyen Tat Thanh. Why?
And why so straight? Because Nguyen Tat Thanh, which is also Route 14 (e.g., to Pleiku), parallels what used to be 2,000' long (laterite) “Ban Me Thuot City” airfield. “Ban Me Thuot East,” the city’s second airfield, asphalted even in wartime, still functions. Reminding townspeople to live politically correct lives, Ho Chi Minh, Marx and Lenin look on. Such billboards always remind me that “history is a never-ending argument.” (Who said that?)
Looking back at Victory Monument.
The road to Ban Me Thuot East airfield. The parade of trees ends at the gate.
Tower and terminal. In wartime, BTW, Vietnamese called the airfield Phung Duc. Phung Duc entered in Google will produce different results than Ban Me Thuot East.
Airfield elevation is 1,729 feet (527 meters). The existing tower was built during the war and sometimes can be seen in online photographs.
Check-in counters. But flights are seldom more than one per day, if that. The terminal is immaculately clean.
A green minivan exits the BMT bus terminal, no more than a ten minute taxi ride from downtown. The northeast perimeter of Ban Me Thuot City airfield once stretched this far.
Inside the bus terminal, which is no more than a huge parking lot.
A parting view of BMT. With Bao Dai’s hunting lodge on the left, the view is north on Le Duan. In the middle of the day, without being run over, how many roads can you still stand in the middle of and snap a picture?!
Last century or now? It’s Nguyen Du leading up and northwest to the Daklak Provincial Guesthouse. BMT remains but on the trailing edge of a bygone era. See it while it lasts!
A promise is a promise In conclusion, I’ve got to say that I wasn’t ever on the ground in BMT during the war. But for two months in the spring of 1967 I was based 92 kilometers (57 miles) east on Route 21 (now Route 26) at an isolated montagnard village called M’Drak where the French had left behind a dirt runway. In a 2002 country report on human rights practices, the State Department said 120 protesting people had been arrested in M’Drak. Indirectly, this may explain why I was denied permission to travel to M’Drak. “Just go ahead and privately drive to M’Drak,” someone said in BMT. It was very tempting, let me tell you. But I’d already promised the MOFA fellow that I wouldn’t, and I didn’t want to make him more angry than he already was.

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