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A
50-minute VietJetAir flight
connects Ho Chi Minh City
with Buon Ma Thuot. Cover-
ing more than 100,000 hec-
tares in the Central Highlands prov-
ince of Dak Lak, Buon Ma Thuot is
Vietnam’s largest coffee growing area,
with an annual production of 300,000
tons, much of which is exported to
over 60 countries.
After checking in to a small hotel
in the city center, I spent the first day
visiting one of the most attractive spots
in town - the Ethnographic Museum
at 182 Nguyen Du. Alongside the eth-
nographic displays on the 31 tribes in
the highlands is a large section on the
war which includes propaganda post-
ers of smiling peasants and Vietnam-
ese women brandishing AK-47’s. The
highlights of the ethnographic area are
a hollowed-out canoe, burial statues
of various hill tribes and the everyday
tools like spears and bows. A further
section of the museum is dedicated to
Vietnamese ecology and features wood
of various tree species and information
on the impacts of deforestation on Viet-
namese jungles.
After the museum and a long walk,
I took a seat in the small café next to the
museum to taste my first cup of Buon
Ma Thuot’s typical coffee and escape a
sudden downpour. Cafés are present on
almost every street in Buon Ma Thuot.
Each coffee shop has a different differ-
ent style. There are coffee shops which
Well known as the capi-
tal of Vietnamese coffee
production, Buon Ma
Thuot in the Vietnam
Central Highlands prov-
ince of Dak Lak is the ul-
timate travel destination
for coffee lovers, writes
Pauline Nguyen
The home
of coffee
Selecting the best beans by hand to ensure the highest quality