Tam Dao Hill Station Village

Tam Dao was discovered by the French in the late 1800's. Because Viet Nam was under French rule, wealthy French officials looked for a place to escape the heat of the lower elevation areas - like Hanoi, which is the closest city.

The French built extravagant villas - over 100 of them. They ruled Viet Nam until 1945. The Vietnamese people were angry at the French because they had been very cruel, so began destroying the villas. When officials in Hanoi heard of it they sent word for the people to stop the destruction, but there were no telephones, no scooters and no way of getting the information to the mountains. As a result there are many ruins of French villas in Tam Dao.

Today the local people reuse the old ruins, they plant chayote on the terraces and build fences with much of the stone. This picture shows a small sample of the ruins - the walls were 12 inches thick, stone steps led up every hillside. Stone arches decorated each entry. It must have been an amazing place. Other ruins still exist farther north in Viet Nam, only in Tam Dao were the villas completely destroyed.


Today life in Tam Dao is nothing like it is in the U.S. anywhere, and is also very different from life in Hanoi. The people here have even less than city dwellers – small shanties that are constructed out of whatever material can be found. Yet they also have some of the modern conveniences – like TV (local free stations), motorbikes (instead of cars) and cellphonaces. Life here is simple but cell phones motor bikes are a must. Oh yes, and karaoke.



The city is located in the mountains - Tam Dao acutally means three peaks. This is a view of the village of Tam Dao from above - me and Viet, our guide. We have just finished a transect and logging butterfly sightings for the day, and were taking a short rest.