Kon Tum

Kon Tum lies in a basin of the central highlands, near the Đăk Bla River and the mountains of the Annamese Range. Its name comes from the Bahnar language and means a village by a lake. Bahnar villages in this region have long been marked by stilt houses and communal buildings, whose tall roofs rise above the surrounding dwellings. The highland basin belongs to the river system that flows westwards towards the Mekong rather than east to the nearby coast.