Local Interest
Buon Ma Thuot
Colleen Winterburn
Once a rustic backwater town and site of a decisive battle of the Vietnam War , Buon Ma Thuot has emerged from its war-torn roots and grown into the bustling , sprawling and relatively charmless capital city of Dak Lak province .
It prospers from the spoils of the surrounding countryside , the fertile soil producing rubber , clay , minerals and coffee – lots and lots of coffee . Initially introduced by the French in 1915 , coffee is now the province ’ s leading commodity and you can ’ t walk down the street without being tempted by a cup . In 2009 , Dak Lak produced 380,373 tons of coffee , mostly robusta .
6 The MAG Vung Tau
Though the city has little for visitors to see , Buon Ma Thuot is the base for exploring all 13,125 square kilometres of Dak Lak , which sits on a large plateau surrounded by mountains and valleys formed from volcanic activity 25-30 million years ago . The Krong Ana and Krong Kno rivers flow through , joining to become the Srepok River ( locally known as Dak Krong ), a major tributary of the Mekong River . The river gives life to Dray Nur and Dray Sap waterfalls , meanders through Yok Don , Vietnam ’ s biggest protected area , before flowing into north-eastern Cambodia . National parks like Yok Don