Pleiku welcomed me on a summer afternoon, when sunlight gently fell upon ancient rooftops nestled among modern buildings, and pine-covered hills intertwined with the cityscape. Standing at the Great Unity Square, I realized that Pleiku is unlike any other city, distinct from Da Lat, Buon Ma Thuot, or Gia Nghia. It possesses a unique charm: a harmonious blend of modernity and nostalgia, rich in a cultural essence found only here.
In Pleiku, I immersed myself in the lush green of endless pine forests and vast tea plantations. Along the roads leading into the villages, flamboyant flame trees and wild sunflowers bloomed in vibrant hues. Coffee cherries had ripened to a glowing red on the hillsides, and wildflowers shimmered in every colour along the roadside, their fragrance drifting through the highland air. A great morning will have a cup of strong, pure coffee to awaken my senses, I 'lifted' the mist to find my way to T’Nung Lake, Pleiku’s poetic "Ocean Lake" to admire the emerald 'musing eyes' gazing back beneath the sunshine and wind of the Central Highlands.
From the lake, we travelled to the hundred-year-old pine forest, a place as picturesque as a painting. The tea fields danced in the breeze, their deep green stretching endlessly into the distant valleys. Passing through a landscape like something out of a fairytale, we reached Chu Dang Ya Volcano - once a fiery giant, now a majestic landmark that adds to the region’s breathtaking beauty, especially when the wild sunflowers are in bloom.
Within Pleiku itself, there are many places well worth a traveller’s time. Minh Thanh Pagoda stands as one of the grandest and most sacred temples in Gia Lai. There’s also the Gia Lai Provincial Museum, the historic Pleiku Prison, Dien Hong Park, and the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Football Academy. Each of these landmarks carries deep historical and cultural significance, reflecting the development of Pleiku in particular, and the Central Highlands as a whole.
Pleiku is also a “culinary paradise,” home to a variety of renowned dishes. From the sun-scorched plains of Krong Pa, a distant district of Gia Lai comes the famous “one-sun” dried beef, a signature of local cuisine, alongside specialty wild ant salt and é leaf salt, flavourful condiments that capture the essence of the highland forests. Grilled native chicken with bamboo-tube rice is a must on any dining table. The infamous yet irresistible fermented crab noodle soup offers a taste you’ll never forget. Perhaps, the most iconic dish of Gia Lai is the yin-and-yang (twin) pho: one bowl of dry noodles with fried shallots, minced meat, and crispy pork fat, paired with a separate bowl of light, fragrant broth. The blend of savoury, sweet, and aromatic flavours will surely linger in the memory of anyone who visits.