Con Dao is an interesting holiday destination. Westerners flock there for the crystal clear warm waters, the immaculate coral reefs, and the quiet respite it provides from the crowds of Saigon. Locals flock there to enjoy those as well, but the destination is primarily a way for them to pay respects to political prisoners who were tortured in the "tiger cages" (cells where the captors would walk along a footpath above looking down at the prisoners below). The cells were first used and built by the French during their colonial rule, and later were used during the Vietnam war. The town was basically built by the prisoners, with one landmark - Pier 914 - receiving its name in memory of the 914 prisoners who died laboring to construct it.
This history, and the prisons that remained scattered across the island, give what would otherwise be a sleepy island get-away a somber quality. It has not, however, stopped the development of tourism on the island, which is on the rise.
We stayed in a guesthouse on the island, and rented a motorbike to get around.
We went diving, which was incredible.The coral reefs were vastly different from the kelp forests of New Zealand. The island is so small that most nights we ate with the same group of people who were frequenting Thu Ba - the best Vietnamese restaurant we have found yet.
Most notable was our last night when we rode to the cemetery where Vietnamese people, many of them under 25, turn out to pay their respects to all of the prisoners who lost their lives on the island, but in particular to a young girl who was executed there in 1952. Her name was Vo Thi Sau. At the age of 14, she assassinated a French captain in a grenade attack, and was only captured years later during a second assassination attempt. She was brought to Con Dao and executed at age 19, and is today considered a national icon.
Between 11pm and 1am, every single night, crowds of people visit her grave, lighting incense, making offerings of gifts and food, displaying flowers, burning money for her to spend in the afterlife, and praying. We were shocked by the amount of people pulling cartloads of flowers and gift baskets into the cemetery, many of them carting their offerings all the way from Saigon (because it is more meaningful than purchasing your gifts in Con Dao). It was truly a sight to behold, and an authentic representation of how deeply rooted history is in Vietnam's culture.