Travelling north along what we have come to call the Dragon Spine of Vietnam, the journey has slowly begun to reveal itself as more than a movement across geography. Each place seems to mirror a different stage in the rising of life-force through the body of the land. The path began quietly at Borobudur in Java, where something stirred awake like a whisper at the base of consciousness. At Angkor Wat that awakening met the great axis of Shiva, the stabilising pillar that joins

Our time in Pleiku felt like standing between two ancient forces of the land. On our first morning we travelled out of the city to Chu Đăng Ya, an extinct volcano rising quietly from the Central Highlands. The road wound through small villages and farmland before climbing toward the slopes of the crater. What was once a place of fire has long since softened into fertile soil, its rich volcanic earth now covered in crops and fields. At the summit an ancient tree stood like a s

We arrived at Lak Lake in the middle of the afternoon, descending from the red volcanic plateau of the Central Highlands until the wide lake appeared quietly beneath a soft sky. At first the water seemed almost colourless — a calm grey mirror lying between the hills. After settling in we wandered through the small lakeside town before eventually sitting down at a simple restaurant overlooking the water. It was there, while eating fish from the lake and fresh spring rolls, tha

The Waters of the Central Highlands – Dray Nur & Dray Sap After a rather indulgent morning of great coffee, fresh croissants, and a blissful two- hour massage, our driver, Bon, took us on another dragon adventure. Leaving Buôn Ma Thuột , we travelled through the deep red volcanic lands of Vietnam’s Central Highlands, where the iron-rich soil reveals the ancient forces that once shaped this plateau. Our destination lay along the Sêrêpôk River: the twin waterfalls Dray Nur Wate

Our journey into Vietnam began with a sense that the land itself was quietly guiding us. Leaving behind the intensity of the southern city, we travelled north to the solitary peak of Black Virgin Mountain (Núi Bà Đen) , the highest mountain in southern Vietnam. Vietnam and the opening node of the Dragon Spine, we have come to follow. Rising abruptly from the plains, Núi Bà Đen feels like the root of a much larger living structure. At its summit stands the revered figure of th