Hon Ba Mountain is not your typical and usual tourist destination. In fact, most people would have second thoughts about visiting the place, asking what is there in the mountain to see. But then again, it wouldn’t be featured here if it wasn’t worth going to, right?
 
Unlike most tourist spots, Hon Ba Mountain doesn’t have a spectacular view, even scoring almost zero in the entertainment department. Situated 1,578 meters above the coastal plains of Khanh Hoa Province, it can only perhaps boast of its cool temperature of 18 degrees Celsius even at the peak of summer. But what sets it apart from most places and makes it worthwhile to visit is that it is where the Swiss-born French bacteriologist and doctor Alexandre Yersin chose to climb 90 years ago and decided to live to do his pharmaceutical research.
 
Alexandre Yersin has gained global recognition for his co-discovery of the bacillus, a genus of bacteria causing a zoonotic disease that can kill most infected humans within days of the attack. In Vietnam in particular, Dr. Yersin is very popular for planting the chinchona tree and produce quinine. Quinine is the first-ever known effective remedy for malaria, a deadly disease that often hits Vietnam hard and Southeast Asia as a whole.
 
In 1915, Yersin found out that Hon Ba had a climate and soil very much the same with Da Lat, elements of nature that were ripe to growing chinchona, whose bark produces the malaria-curing quinine. Yersin built a path leading to the top of the mountain to conduct his study. But after his death in Nha Trang in 1943, Khanh Hoa authorities forgot about the path 58 years long. In 2001 though, the old, forgotten path was transformed into a 37-kilometer concrete road leading from Suoi Cat Commune in Cam Lam District to Da Giang Stream. The budget was a whooping VND82 billion (US$3.93 million).
 
A Yersin House was built in honor of the good and famous doctor, a remarkable similarity to the original house built by Yersin himself. Except for some difference like the type of wood used, the house is designed to look homey and comfortable, as if Yersin is still alive and living there. Yersin’s tomb is placed near Suoi Dau Stream along National Highway 1, about a kilometer from the foot of the mountain which he made his home.
 
Over the years, tourism developed in the mountain all because of Dr. Yersin’s discovery and goodwill. A restaurant is now on the mountain albeit serving simple dishes and drinks. For tourists who thirst for adventure, six bungalows are available wherein they can stay overnight or even for several days.
 
Dr. Alexandre Yersin has contributed so much to Khanh Hoa Province that he is known as a “benefactor and humanist, venerated by the Vietnamese people.”