Staying a Little longer in Buon Ma Thout.

The ride from Pleiku to Buon Ma Thout was ok. Good roads great view but no photo opportinity. You know how sometimes riders enjoy the view with our brain cencering out the tree and trucks and all the other noise and just enjoying a good long distance scenic view? 

It was that kinda of view most of the journey where one could enjoy but flipping out the phone for a picture looked like a boring view as the good parts are too far away to have any depth.

Windmills along the way to Buon Ma Thout

Windmills windmills were everywhere in this part of Vietnam. Coffee and windmills. I am supprise this little nook has not been popularized yet on the motorpacker route that homestays and lookout cafe would spring up like mushrooms.

It was a good distance this time from Pleiku to Buon Ma Thout, a good 200km journey which took me nearly 7 hours since morning with all the slow cruise and pauses. I booked a single night in BMT, but arriving at 4pm tired made me decide to extend to two night in BMT. That gave me a full day to contemplate BMT.

Buon Ma Thout

Buon Ma Thout

Buon Ma Thout

BMT I could feel was a good proper size big city yet the lack of tourist is supprisingly jaring when comparing to other cities in Vietnam. BMT was the coffee capital of Vietnam and in a way there was no need for tourist money. There was still small bits and things to do in BMT like in Pleiku or in Kon Tum that a full day felt a bit too long but a overnight stop felt a bit too short.

World Coffee Museum at Buon Ma Thout

Ottoman Coffee Sampling at World Coffee Museum - Buon Ma Thout

Morning I went to the World Coffee Museum in BMT. Paid the entrance ticket of VND 150,000 which after seeing the museum felt not worth the price. The building architecture was unique and the exhibits were ok with translation into English but the price did not feel worthy of the effort I put to reach BMT to see it.

My hotel was friendly and with limited interaction still managed to dig out one local recommendation from them. Arul House, for food. I went the next day and saw that Arul House was a local house built in the traditional way. In fact all the houses around that area had their own distinctive traditional built.

Traditional House in Buon Ma Thout

Arul House Gate 

Arul House - Buon Ma Thout

Arul House - Buon Ma Thout 

Low elevated floors with short roof and long span going deep into the back seams similar to longhouses concept in South East Asia. This one had been turned into a restaurant / cafe and for once after so many days I decided to splurge a bit on food. 

My bill came out to be VND 297,000 which was a splurge in Vietnam since the average good meal would have cost VND 80,000. This was nearly 4 tines that but still very affordable to a tourist.

Leaving Arul House, I decided to track one of the many waterfalls that was nearby BMT. The first one about 25km outskirt Trac Dray Sap had a entrance fee of VND 90,000 which I balked and did another 30km detour to see Trac Dray Nur Waterfall. 

Trac Dray Nur Waterfall - Buon Ma Thout

If you can’t tell, they were like twin waterfalls on either side of a small island but can’t be seen from one side. The detour was 30km to get to a spot less than 200m across due to me having to backtrack finding a bridge upstream to cross the river.

All things done, BMT was a good stop if one have time to pace slowly.

Traveled on: Jan 2024