01/08/10: Da Lat, Vietnam

This morning, we took the lovely six-hour bus ride from Saigon to Da Lat. And I’m not being sarcastic, the scenery was actually quite nice – at least the bits that I saw of it for the half hour that I spent awake. (Is she exaggerating? No, I’m not. Ok, maybe a little. But just a tiny bit.)

We made a stop for lunch around noon, which gave me the chance to marvel yet again at Southeast Asian societies’ lack of understanding of:

1. Standing in line
2. Personal space

Every single time I’ve gone to the restroom, I’m at a complete loss as to what the heck is going on – like, why is there no single file line and how did eight people just walk in front of me when I’ve been waiting here for the last five minutes? I think how it works here is that you just stand in front of a toilet stall, and whenever that person gets out, then you get to go in. But if that is how it’s supposed to be, then this system is preposterous! It’s not even a system; it’s a toilet lottery. Really, how is this fair at all? You have no clue what the person in your chosen stall ate for lunch that day – you could be waiting forever! And it’s not just at the restrooms – it’s at the bus station, the post office. No one waits in line, everyone just elbows their way to the front. The only place where you see people waiting in line correctly is at tourist sites – because that’s where all the foreigners are. For example, today I was waiting in line to wash my hands (I use the term “waiting in line” loosely because 1: I was the only person waiting and 2: we’ve already established that there are no such things as lines here) when a little old lady just cut in front of me and stuck her hands in the sink! A little old lady! She was less than five feet tall!

I’m sorry, I just had to get that out.

…

We arrived in Da Lat around 3:30, checked into our hotel and went off to try and accomplish our one errand of the day: to find the original Da Lat Easy Riders and book a tour with them. We escaped the clutches of the two copycat “Easy Riders” that were lying in wait for us on the front stoop of our hotel and headed off to the Easy Riders Cafe, where we met Mui. Mui promised to hunt down another Easy Rider for our tour, which we booked for the next day.

Now, before we continue with the rest of this post, some background information is necessary, so just bear with me. Back when we were trekking in Nepal, we met a really cool couple, Marija and Chris. They were the ones who convinced us to make the extra trip up to Ghyeru, which ended up being one of the highlights of the trek and provided us with some of the best views of the Himalayas that we got to see. Since we were trekking on similar schedules, we saw them every day for a few days, and we never bothered to exchange contact info because, well, we’d be seeing each other the next day anyway. Long story short, of course we lost track of them and have been hitting ourselves over the head (metaphorically) ever since then for not getting their contact info. We couldn’t even look them up on facebook because we didn’t even know their last names. Last relevant piece of info: Marija and Chris were the first people to tell us about Easy Riders, and they even gave us the names of their guides (Quan and Duc), they loved them so much.

Fast forward back to today. So having booked our tour with Mui, we were headed back to our hotel when we passed a corner where three Easy Riders were hanging out. We stopped to chat with them when Kevin, being the genius that he is, suddenly thought to ask, “Hey – do any of you guys know Mr. Quan or Mr. Duc?”

The guy in the middle replied, “I’m Duc!”

Now let’s just pause for a minute to consider the implausibility of this situation. There are 85 Easy Riders in Da Lat. There were three of them standing on this corner. And one of them was Duc! Are you not amazed? Because I am.

We asked him if he remembered Marija and Chris, and he pulled out his thick book of testimonials. Lo and behold, after a few minutes of searching, there they were! A month and a half later, we finally learned their last names and how to spell Marija (never would have guessed). We finally found her on facebook, and luckily, the picture she had posted was one of her and Chris (one that we took!) in Nepal, so we knew it was the right Marija. The moral of this story: even when your own stupidity gets in the way, sometimes things still turn out ok. Don’t you just love a happy ending?

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Picture of the Day: Um, we didn’t take any good pictures today, but here’s one from Cambodia.

I’m finally starting to get around to posting about our amazing trip into the Central Highlands, tracing the route of the Ho Chi Minh trail. We began our journey in Dalat, a town spared from bombing by the agreement of both sides during the war, on account of its high altitude, alpine scenery and pleasant Francophile air. Generals on both sides had their villas tucked away in the pine forested valleys. Dalat even gets slightly chilly sometimes – it’s been known to hit 10 degrees (centigrade) at night in the winter. Roses are grown here. It’s all very lovely.


So in Dalat, they like to eat Hedgehogs. We didn’t have one though. Hedgehogs were off that particular day.


Now this is just an observation, but there doesn’t seem to be much wildlife around here. For example: you might know about the famous weasel coffee of Vietnam, which can be bought at great expense from Fortnum and Mason. The USP of weasel coffee is that its delicious flavour is imparted in the gut of specially selected Viet weasels, which eat the beans and shit them out later. The coffee beans are carefully collected from the weasel poo, rinsed off, ground, and delivered for your pleasure. Now if you were getting excited about that, don’t. According to Uncle Trung, most of the weasels were eaten a long time ago, which leaves a few awkward questions about what, exactly, is being sold at Fortnum’s.


Just over the border in Southern China, they have bigger problems: a man was recently jailed for shooting and eating the last remaining Indochinese tiger and (somehow) covering up the incident…


Update: checkout Noogie’s in-depth reportage on our Highlands odyssey

L’herba és de color verd fosc, com en els dies de tardor, quan el fred comença però encara fa dies que no plou. La calor, amagada pels núvols grisos formats en diferents capes esponjoses es filtra a través de les fulles d’uns arbres totalment desconeguts, semblants al tamarind, però sense els seus fruits marrons, de gust persistent i amarg que només es pot eliminar amb una bona ració de noodles ben picants. Una calor suau acaricia els meus braços tan estirats com suats, esquivant les tifes de cavalls escampades per tot arreu, assecades igual que la gespa per aquest sol tímid que sembla que no es vulgui mostrar a la gent de Da Lat. Mentrestant, els meus peus estirats sobre la bicicleta, tirada de qualsevol manera bombegen la sang amb tanta força que les sabates semblen protestar a causa de la pressió, i entre el dret i l’esquerre apareix el fals horitzó del llac Xuan Huong, el petit pantà amb forma de plàtan madur construït fa anys per donar una mica de vida al poble. Amb el so d’una música llunyana, l’horitzó es va desenfocant a mida que els ulls, poc a poc, es van tancant sota les ulleres de sol de 15 euros que vaig decidir comprar al Decathlon l’últim dia abans de marxar de viatge per subsituir les meves Arnette de 5 anys que ja han esquiat massa i vist la llum de mig món.

És aquest moment màgic, quan has decidit fer una migdiada per descansar el cos després de cinc hores inacabables de bicicleta, de boscos, de pujades sofertes i baixades cridant per compensar el dolor de les cames amb el dels pulmons. Cinc hores de carretera plena de motos amb una, dues, tres, quatre persones, i camins plens d’esquirols que fugen en sentir qualsevol vibració de l’aire. Cinc hores de canvis de marxa entre crics i cracs de la cadena engreixada i de paisatges familiars a causa dels pins, les muntanyes, els llacs i els ocells. Aquest moment màgic en què el cervell està a punt de desconnectar tots els mecanismes del cos per passar de pensar en fer una becaina a somiar en despertar amb energies renovades.

Però toc-toc. Ocells, arbres, llacs, brisa, sol, tifes, núvols, ulleres, cames, bicicleta, Da Lat. Marxa enrere. Qui m’està tocant l’espatlla? Obro els ulls i em trobo dos vietnamites mirant-me amb un somriure d’orella a orella, com si haguessin compartit amb mi els anys de J-3 als patis envoltats, també, de pins a Barcelona i de sobte m’hagin trobat enmig del Vietnam. La meva consciència està encara en el procés de desconnexió, així que no sap si ordenar a la boca emetre un grunyit o un somriure, però el subconscient s’encarrega de fer l’elecció en escoltar i interpretar sense el permís de ningú el que em diuen els dos homes. “guità? Sín? Còm! Còm!” Què carai estan parlant ara aquests dos?

La música resulta ser d’una guitarra, acompanyada pels alegres cants d’un grup de vietnamites indeterminat asseguts formant una rotllana amb dos forats de la mateixa magnitud que els que van deixar les primeres dents de llet de la meva germana quan devia tenir uns 5 anys. Badallo, m’excuso, accepto (perquè no?), m’aixeco, saludo, agafo la bicicleta, la motxilla i el casc, camino 25 metres en línia recta sense ni tan sols recordar les deposicions equines i de sobte sóc rebut com si fos una estrella del rock, enmig de fotografies, música en directe, somriures i encaixades de mans per part de totals desconeguts. Un dels dos forats s’eixampla una mica, però no suficient per encabir-hi un vietnamita i un català, així que passo d’ocupar gairebé quatre metres quadrats de gespa a seure sobre menys de mig.

Però un “banana-wine” ho cura tot, sobretot si està acompanyat de bona guitarra, riures constants, preguntes i cançons. Comença una cançó alhora que em pregunten d’on sóc, i abans que pugui respondre ja m’estan preguntant com em dic, si sé cantar, si estic casat, si sé cantar, si m’agrada el Vietnam, perquè sóc tan pelut, si em deixo fer fotografies, si viatjo sol, quants dies em quedo a Da Lat, si sóc del Barça o del Madrid, si conec el Rafáá Nadáá i tantes d’altres que no vaig poder respondre en els dos minuts que va dura la cançó. Llavors tots s’obliden de mi mentre aplaudeixen i criden alguna cosa semblant a “Ets un guitarrista fenomenal!” o alguna cosa similar que no vaig entendre. I comença a tocar el Romance gitano i quan dic que la conec estic instantàniament afirmant que sé tocar la guitarra com si fos el melenut de Rodrigo y Gabriela i, a més a més, que sé cantar com si ho hagués fet tota la vida. I posteriorment em demanaran de ballar, cosa que rebutjaré molt educadament. Però de tocar la guitarra no me’n salva ningú. I de sobte, el meu sobrat repertori de tres cançons mal tocades s’esvaeixen per la pressió del directe i després d’aconseguir encadenar un la menor, un do major i un fa, la meva mà esquerra diu que prou, que millor que torni a començar. I després del tercer intent em deixo anar i començo a cantar, encara que la guitarra no canti amb mi, sinó una cançó inventada per les meves mans, formant una fantàstica cacofonia que els vietnamites deuen interpretar com una excepcional mostra de la fabulosa música tradicional catalana. Així que sense cap mena de vergonya s’atreveixen a tallar-me amb crits, aplaudiments, xiulets i cops a l’esquena, tots acompanyats de sinceres rialles. Sense deixar-me acabar la meva improvització, ara que començava…

Qui deia que els vietnamites són maleducats, rudes, secs o antipàtics, és que no ha estat en una festa a la vora d’un llac de nom estrafolari amb 10 personatges dignes de ser recordats.

I promise this is the last (ish) post about Đà Lạt, lest this blog turn into an ode to a town outside of Hà Nội – as opposed to a blog that professes to be about Hà Nội, bikes and ice cream but in reality is about questionable foods and other things I may or may not have made up.

The last (ish) thing I wanted to say about why Đà Lạt was so much fun was that you can also go canyoning there:

This is not a picture of me

The picture of me abseiling/rappelling down these falls is much less graceful than this one, mostly because I was struggling to breathe, while also struggling to see. A word to the wise: you might want to consider wearing goggles, or a globe that covers your entire head, if at any time you wish to submerse yourself in a large body of falling water, while wearing contact lenses. The video of me doing this is even less graceful, as I was doing my best impression of an open-mouthed carnival clown at which one might aim small colourful plastic balls. Given all of this, I thought I’d feature someone with better legs on this post.

There is a picture of me doing this though:

Men at work

Make no mistake: for the most part of that day, I was either terrified; falling over; or thinking about how terrified I was while falling over.

One of my favourite things ever is seeing how stuff we take for granted actually gets made. We live in this world where the things around us can be the product of some pretty complicated processes, to the point where I think most of us are completely oblivious to the crazy things and systems that go into the making of it. Think about it. How was that cast iron table leg made? That TV? That polyester shirt? Those scissors? Robots and lasers, that’s how.

Anyway, in Đà Lạt we went to a silk-making joint. They hid the robots and lasers, because they thought it might have been too intimidating.

Here, the little silkworms are chilling, spinning their cocoons:

The best it's going to get for these guys

When they’re big enough, they’re collected and sit in these waiting trays:

Purgatory/hotel lobby

Then the silk threads are harvested. I think this is the least fun part, both for the workers and for the worms. It involves chucking the cocoons in hot water, then cold water. The hot water is to, well, kill the worms. A moment’s silence please. Besides, they died not in vain, but for the greater glory of…a um, Hugh Hefner-esque smoking jacket.

The cold water, I presume, is to allow the workers to unravel the thread and collect the worms, where they will later be eaten. Waste not want not. And it might be a better cause than the production of a Hugh Hefner-esque smoking jacket.

There's no end to the usefulness of chopsticks

The spooled thread looks kind of like horse hair and feels kind of like corn silk (you know, the stuff you pick off when you’re husking corn and throw in big clumpfuls at your little sister’s head).

Rapunzel's secret stash

Then it gets woven into cloth! These machines are incredible. The perforated paper hanging there on the side is what determines the pattern in the fabric. The gears and other moving parts were salvaged from the engines of trucks and motorcycles! Ridiculously, this cutting edge technology is already 30 years old. Sigh. I wish my work involved a useful craft.

Like a pianola for fabric

Finally, it’s turned into this soft lovely silky silk.

They use robots and lasers in the dyeing process

Another reason to like Đà Lạt.

Đà Lạt is the best, in so many ways.

Firstly, it’s up high and cool enough that there are pine trees and ferns around, AND you get to break the hoodie out (yay!). It’s nice to not be deterred from going out for fear of going into a sweat faint (the sweat moustache is a notorious cause of instant and potentially fatal dehydration). You can breathe in Đà Lạt, really bust those bronchials out, and not just take these lame little shallow whiffs for the sole purpose of staying alive,  Hà Nội-styley. Breathing right: I really recommend it as a lifestyle choice.

Photo credit: P. Chhetri

Secondly, it is a profusion of colourful produce, some outrageously so. There were all sorts of flowers, tubers, mulberries, surprisingly-stacked strawberries, and the most impressive avocado range I’ve seen in a while.

Photo credits (all photos but the flowers): P. Chhetri

Thirdly, Vietnam has two main coffee growing provinces, and Đà Lạt is one of them. The other one is Đắk Lắk, which sounds suspiciously to me like someone had a bad case of the copycats.

Love in technicolour

Ten bucks says you didn’t know that Vietnam is the world’s second-largest exporter of coffee (Brazil is the first).

If you did know that, well, I’d probably be tempted to give you a wedgie for being so smart (I been spending too much time with Australians I think). The red cherries are the ripe ones, and they’re delicious to eat. The civet cats think so too. Naturally, they digest the coffee cherries then expel the beans. The coffee farmers then go sift through that pile, find those magic beans and sell them at a premium. And not just any premium: we’re talking about the world’s most expensive coffee sort of premium. Civet coffee sells for between $100 and $600 USD per pound.

You can also get a simulated version of civet coffee, if you want to experience the brew without the biological digestive process part:

“…several prominent coffee producers such as Trung Nguyen produce simulated civet coffee. Trung Nguyen uses a patented process arrived at through research by German scientists hired to find an enzyme soak equivalent to the natural civet processing.” (If you can reference Wikipedia in a thesis, you can reference it twice in the same blog post.)

Fake it till you make it, right? Sounds like we could all learn a life lesson from the pseudo-poop coffee.

Đà Lạt, Nha Trang: vẫn là thiên đường tình yêu

Những năm gần đây, Đà Lạt, Nha trang luôn được xem là thiên đường tình yêu được nhiều đôi uyên ương lựa chọn để tận hưởng khoảng trời riêng. Không khí lành lạnh đầy lãng mạn và  khung cảnh trữ tình đã giúp cho Đà Lạt luôn đứng đầu danh sách lựa chọn. Nha Trang với những bãi biển dài tít tắp lại thu hút các cặp đôi bằng sự năng động, náo nhiệt nhưng vẫn có được những góc rất riêng của phố biển. Năm nay, hai địa điểm trên vẫn tiếp tục được các đôi uyên ương tin tưởng đăng ký du lịch trăng mật. Ngoài ra, Sapa, Hội An, Phú Quốc cũng lần lượt được đưa vào danh sách “thiên đường tình yêu” và được các công ty du lịch khai thác tour tung ra thị trường.

Theo các công ty du lịch, đa phần tour trăng mật không chỉ cần có các hoạt động tham quan thắng cảnh, di tích mà còn cần nhiều chương trình, nhiều dịch vụ kèm theo để tăng sự lãng mạn. Đại diện công ty du lịch Vietravel cho biết: “Hiện công ty đang giới thiệu 3 tour trăng mật trong nước: tour “Đà Lạt – Cao nguyên”, giá 5.000.000 đồng/2 khách; tour “Nha Trang biển gọi”, giá 5.700.000 đồng/2 khách; tour “Nha Trang – Đà Lạt” giá 6.500.000 đồng/2 khách. Năm nay, chùm tour trăng mật của công ty được thiết kế độc đáo và hấp dẫn với nhiều dịch vụ, tiện nghi sang trọng, cao cấp.”.

Sự lãng mạn được chú trọng tối đa

Đối với tour trăng mật, hầu hết các công ty đều kèm theo dịch vụ trang trí phòng ngủ, tổ chức bữa tối lãng mạn với nến, hoa, bánh kem, rượu vang… Vietravel tặng vé tắm hơi – massage và hai chiếc áo thun tình nhân xinh xắn. Fiditour thì tặng quà lưu niệm, thiệp chúc mừng và  một vòng xe ngựa quanh hồ Xuân Hương trong tour Đà Lạt…

Chú trọng thị trường nội địa

Nếu mùa cưới năm trước, các đôi có xu hướng xuất ngoại đến những vùng đất mới để vừa khám phá, vừa tận hưởng không gian riêng thì năm nay chỉ họ tập trung vào điểm đến trong nước. Nguyên nhân chủ yếu do tình hình suy giảm kinh tế đã kéo dài khá lâu tác động đến “nguồn vốn”, buộc các đôi lựa chọn giải pháp tiết kiệm. Thứ hai do dịch bệnh kéo dài và nghiêm trọng nên ra nước ngoài là lựa chọn không thích hợp. Nắm bắt được điều này, đa phần tour trăng mật năm nay tập trung vào điểm đến quen thuộc trong nước. Công ty du lịch Saigontourist đưa ra chủ đề “Hãy chăm sóc cho nhau” nhằm mang đem đến đôi bạn, những cặp vợ chồng những giây phút bên nhau thật lãng mãn và đầy ý nghĩa. Theo đó, công ty đưa ra các tour chủ yếu tập trung ở Đà Lạt, Côn Đảo và Nha Trang… Công ty Fiditour chú trọng đến các tour Phú Quốc, Đà Lạt và Côn Đảo. Những điểm đến truyền thống được tin tưởng và lựa chọn bởi khung cảnh thiên nhiên, chương trình nghỉ dưỡng phù hợp và giá rẻ

Vấn đề đảm bảo an toàn trước dịch cúm cũng được quan tâm đối với tour trăng mật. Đại diện công ty du lịch Vietravel cho biết vào mùa cưới trung bình mỗi tháng công ty tổ chức cho khoảng 50 khách. Hiện nay, dịch cúm đang lan tràn nên dù đi tour nội địa nhưng các công ty vẫn áp dụng mức bảo hiểm cúm A là 5.000.000 đồng và 5.000USD/ người/ vụ. Chi phí nằm viện theo chế độ là 100USD/ngày. Bên cạnh những chính sách bảo hiểm cụ thể trên, công ty cũng không ngừng khuyến cáo du khách nên giữ gìn sức khỏe, sử dụng khẩu trang ở nơi công cộng và kịp thời báo ngay cho trưởng đoàn ngay khi có dấu hiệu mệt mỏi, sốt nhằm có biện pháp can thiệp kịp thời.

Minh Khuê

Trying to CS in Saigon, I contacted Stephen, a Canadian that has been there for nearly threee years. He is a friend of the Stephen I met CSing in Kenya so he told me about him. The world is small. He could not host us but we did go out fot a beer or two. Nicely enough  he gave us information about Saigon and generally Vietnam. He has been teaching English there, something I have thought of myself as a solution for working and travelling. We stayed in Saigon for 3 days. During this period we walked a lot (like there is no tomorrow as the a Greek would say). We saw the “must-sees” including the War Remnants museum. It is basically a propaganda against the American propaganda on the war of Vietnam. When left we both had a very good feeling over Saigon.

Saigon

The next logical thing to do from there was to visit places in the Mekong Delta. The thought of a tour did not appeal to us at first but as it seems the things are done easier this way on the huge river. The first thought was to jump to Pho Quoc island on the west coast and do not come back to Saigon as part of the tour. Finally we thought we’d better get going for the north soon, as it was from the beginning our main focus. We arranged a 3 day / 2 night tour for the Mekong river but I would personally recommend the 2 day tour if you have limited time in Vietnam. The third day resulted to be all return to Saigon. The Mekong delta is a beautiful place, its people nice, gentle and poor but even then the smile is always on their lips. One of the highlights was the floating market – hundreds of boats exchanging goods and communicating in an incredible and unique way between them. Also my first contact with the Cham minority group was very interesting. It is true that with the tour some places are getting more tourism than others but travelling independently in the Delta is not easy. Some use of the Vietnamese language is needed and some more time to be spend also when doing the latter. I was to understand that the “tour” in Vietnam was not such a bad word afterall – not like in Thailand anyway. Still though I was to try and travel as independently as possible in the most of the cases.

Mekong lady

Dalat (or Da Lat on the Vietnamese maps), was next. It was a long bus from Saigon through the mountains of the central highlands of Vietnam. We stay in Peace Hotel I (as always in Vietnam there are many versions of the same hotel), Arriving we are tired but we have time to go around a bit after having a short sleep. The next day we are renting a motorbike and we visit the Ankroet Falls and the lake near there. The Lat village and the Long Bian mountain are a bit of a let down but the nature arund them is beatiful. On going back to Dalat we are satisfied that we visited this place on our way up. The same night we take the bus to Danang with the intension to reach Hoi An as soon as possible. There we were to spend our most days so far in Vietnam.

Dalat (or Da Lat on the Vietnamese maps), was next. It was a long bus from Saigon through the mountains of the central highlands of Vietnam. We stay in Peace Hotel I (as always in Vietnam there are many versions of the same hotel), Arriving we are tired but we have time to go around a bit after having a short sleep. The next day we are renting a motorbike and we visit the Ankroet Falls and the lake near there. The Lat village and the Long Bian mountain are a bit of a let down but the nature arund them is beatiful. On going back to Dalat we are satisfied that we visited this place on our way up. The same night we take the bus to Danang with the intension to reach Hoi An as soon as possible. There we were to spend our most days so far in Vietnam.

Buddha Bay

From Danang to Hoi An we realized once more that getting a normal price in Vietnam is almost impossible (we had not been to the north hill tribes yet). In any case from Danang we took a public bus to Hoi An and headed straight for the old town. It is a touristic place, especially now that July has entered and all Europeans begin their vacation. I had forgotten about that having been travelling for 9 months now! Anyway the old town of Hoi An is one of the Cultural Heritage Unesco Sites and it deserves it. I remembered that I always wanted to visit Vietnam just because of movies like “The Scent Of The Green Papaya” and Hoi An resulted to be very similar to those images. We met some people that they told us to stay in Danang and head off for day trips and explore Hoi An but we just could not resist Hoi An’s (or Faifo as it is known to the locals) beauty. Being one of the few places not bombed by the American in the Vietnam war, Hoi An can be a bit tiring when in the rest of the city but in the old quarter there is a beautiful sign saying “Only bicycles and primitive vehicles allowed”. I thought it was an excellent way to put it! We stayed there for five days and enjoyed every moment of it. Doing day trips to Buddha Bay near Danang, the beaches, another Heritage site; Myson or simply driving around the rice fields was just excellent. We were also lucky to have stayed in an 200 year old house run by two lovely ladies. For 10 USD a day for two people we could not ask for more. The climate was excellent too and we had one of the best night sleeps in whole of Vietnam.

Performance in Hoi An

A quick visit to Hue was next. We cought the train that everybody was trying to hide from us when asking about it and in about four hours we were in Vietnam’s ex capital. The basic thing to see here; the Citadel and emperors’ tombs. The first day it was seriously hot but we still made it to explore the Citadel. Many of its parts are being restored right now so I felt a bit like having the luck I had in Beijing’s Forbidden City. Nevertheless it is a beatiful structure with may buildings and temples to see and visit. Also around it, many old neighborhoods are scattered giving Hue a lot of character and making worth walking and exploring. The second day we did just that but only after we had a tour to the fishing village, the Garden House (a Vietnamese kung fu exhibition included), Hon Chen temple, Thien Mu pagoda, Minh Mang tomb and the famous Tu Duc tomb. The transition to Hanoi was to be made by plane, as we found a cheap flight we Vietnam Airlines for 750000 Dong and thus saving about a day’s travel. The north was ahead and they real excitements of the trip were yet to come…

Citadel of Hue

Dear everyone,

These past four days have just been incredible, filled with so much action, fun, and above all, MSG. The locals here use MSG like we might use salt and pepper. Whenever we get something that does not contain MSG, we go into withdrawal symptoms.

Nha Trang is an awesome city, filled with nice locals who walk barefoot to the ocean to do Tai-Chi, sparkling acquamarine water, and drunken Western tourists. Jameelah has been having a great time here. We went to the beach, where she had her first bowl of steaming hot silken tofu with caramel ginger sauce, served in a barely rinsed bowl, for 20 cents. Overall, she has been liking the food. I was somewhat disappointed, though, when I presented her with a chilled cold young coconut and her reaction was basically “It’s…a’ight.” And fresh-pressed sugarcane juice? “It’s OK. It’s better than the coconut.” That really stings. It’s just like that time I risked life and limbs to bring fresh cherries to the relatives over here, only to get lukewarm reactions. I will never wear my culinary heart on my sleeves again.

Yesterday we went to a salon to get a shampoo and a facial massage, because it’s really hot, and I figured that one facial massage will not derail my future political career. The stylists were all fascinated by Jameelah, who has started using more and more Vietnamese. There were twenty of them, and while I had random vegetables pasted onto my face, they had a lottery to see who would get to work on her hair, the likes of which had apparently never been seen in that salon before. The whole shop gathered around to observe.

After that, we went to Dad’s oldest brother, Uncle Hai’s house to pay our respect, and he affectionately punched her in the face. He does that sometimes to people he likes. She was slightly bewildered, as you can imagine. But as my Grandmother used to say, “When the rock hits the hay, there goes the weasel.”

On the way out, we met a neighbor’s little three-year-old, Nhi, who was scared by Jameelah. She tried to pick the little girl up, but she recoiled in horror. We silently agreed that the little girl was racist (just kidding. The kid was really cute, and cute people cannot be racist). After Jameelah played with her a little bit by making funny faces, Nhi started liking her. She wanted to touch Jameelah’s hair, which was tied into two puff balls, but she was still too afraid.

We are now in my home village, where pine trees are prevalent and where the clouds hover at the base of mountains in the mornings. Jameelah has won over all the relatives, who are very impressed with her Vietnamese. Of course, the bluntness has set in. “You have a cute face,” said one aunt, “but your thighs are too big.” They too were fascinated by her hair, and somehow, they were able to carry on an entire conversation about hair in Vietnamese. Then they started making fun of me. “When Huy was little,” said an aunt, “he was always spacing out. We used to call him ‘Dreaming Chicken.’”

Gifts have mainly been dispersed, with everyone ecstatic over Peptol Bismol, Tylenol, and lotions that smell like food (“Warm Vanilla Sugar”). We got here late so didn’t get to meet everyone in the village. I bet there will be staring and whispering. This is the first time someone brought home a foreigner as a girlfriend or boyfriend, and news will spread like crazy. “She has fluffy brown hair,” they’ll say, “and she’s Black. But at least she likes MSG.” We’ll report more after we’ve had a chance to stroll about the town, buying fruit. So far, everyone has been very nice and friendly, and Jameelah has won them all over with her charm and language skills. We’ll see what the villagers think. Like Grandma used to say, “You can roll more incense sticks if a well-fed goat is in your yard.”

So here begins my recount of our 7 day Vietnam trip. Vietnam is a place that one has to go to experience for oneself, much like how Hongkong was. Because of this, we didn’t take as many pictures as we did in Korea/Taiwan. To describe it as simply as possible in a few lines, the place has a combination of the rustic charm that one would experience in 70s Singapore, combined with a certain tenacity of the people that may arguably be said to have developed out of their war-torn history. While uncomfortable and chaotic at most times, after a while you realize that there is actually some order within that chaos, and I found myself slipping into the whole flow of the life there pretty easily.

The day is the 11th of May, 2009. We started of with breakfast at Budget Terminal. I guess when you pay less for plane tickets, you’ll have to make do with the early flights. There were a couple of backpackers who were sleeping on the floors of the terminal, probably in transit to their next flight out.

Gate 4 – where we depart for HCM.

Arriving at Saigon around 915am Singapore time, 815am Saigon time. View of Vietnam from the top. A contrasting view of meandering rivers and farmlands, and the densely populated streets of the city centre.

Tour groups waiting for their customers outside the airport.
We then took a taxi over to the Saigon General Post Office, where we would meet Andy and Tin, as well as our driver who would take us on a 6 hour journey to DaLat. Here, the taxis are extremely cheap, with one trip that takes about half an hour to come up to less than 4 dollars. A regular ride from one place to another within the same district costs less than 2 dollars. Cars are rare here, and the main mode of transport are bikes. It was pretty frightening seeing hundreds of bikes on the road at the same time, weaving to and fro, amidst all the honking from the taxi drivers and other bike riders. After a few days of this, it didn’t seem frightening anymore, even when walking across the road with that kind of traffic.

Saigon General Post Office – Some French colonial influences, with statues of the people’s heroes. I don’t know who they are, but Andy mentioned later that every road circle would have a statue of one of their famous heroes or communist leaders.

Hungry, we looked for food, and promptly found this pho place just down the road. We had to sit on tiny stools to eat it, but it was fantastic. There were several curious stares from the locals who were eating there, and one even told me how to sit so that I could eat more comfortably.

The plate of veggies that comes with any bowl of pho:

Stella with the lady preparing the food in the background :
Probably the best pho we ate in Vietnam. And the most expensive too. I think we got ripped off as she charged us something like 4 bucks a bowl. The pho outside our hotel later was $1.80. Well, I guess it isn’t Vietnam if you don’t get scammed at least once.
An old lady selling fruits along the alleyway. Stella bought some mangosteens from her and I managed to get off a shot of them discussing the price and quantity. Classic shot.
Waited for Andy and Tin at the post office. Along the way we got ripped off one more time by these two ladies selling bottle water at the side of the road. We paid 4 bucks for two bottles of mineral water, which seems pretty okay by Singapore standards, until we realized later in DaLat that with that amount we could buy a jade buddha. Well actually a bottle of Hieneken costs 2 bucks, so go figure. hoho. Lesson learnt. Never look at prices using your own currency standards.

Us waiting for Andy, taking some shelter from the scorching sun :

Inside the post office – large picture of Ho Chih Minh looking upon us.
Once Andy came, we met up with the driver and headed for a long trip towards Dalat. Unlike HCM, the more outlying towns gave way to nicer scenery as well. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking.







Stella preping herself to snap what she can along the way.
We got stuck for an extra half and hour due to a landslide along the mountain road, but because of that we got to try some of that Vietnamese corn that a lady was peddling on a bicycle along the mountain road (how the hell did she get up there!). It was delicious and very different from the crunchy corn that we get here. It was more chewy somehow.

Anyway, we got to our hotel, and frankly I was impressed. The hotel was more like a resort in the quiet part of Dalat. The room was huge, and we got an extremely large bed too. On top of that, the stuff in the mini bar was cheap too – 2 bucks for Heineken?! we promptly raided the fridge of its chips and nuts.
Ate a simple dinner at the restaurant downstairs. As we were like the only customers in there, it was really quiet and it felt like everyone was just there to serve us. Plus the mafia-like music playing in the background, it really felt surreal.

Dinner Vietnam style. Lots of veggies on the table, with one meat dish. I don’t think you can ever get fat with this kind of food. Healthy stuff.

As our last stop, we headed to the bar to have a couple of cocktails. It was really nice and quiet, and we had a couple of rounds of drinks, since cocktails were something like 6 bucks. All in all, it was nice just sitting around and chatting over drinks. The 90s pop songs that was playing over the jukebox was pretty entertaining too.
Us : I think I look like crap after that 6 hour ride. Stella somehow always looks photogenic.

Stella with her cherry brandy :

Headed back to our rooms tired but happy. Although we didn’t do much, I pretty much liked it that way. Running around trying to accomplish too much sometimes really drains you out and kills the fun. So that’s it for the day, and more to be continued on Day 2.

I took heaps of photos in Vietnam, too many to have shown everyone.  So I thought I’d start posting them here from time to time.  I had a great trip to Vietnam last year.  I was a month well spent.  These photos are all from the Crazy house in Da Lat.  Da Lat is up in the mountains and was the scene of a great day trip on motorcycles around the local area.  At the Crazy House every room has a theme (and usually a creepily large plaster animal related to the theme, sometimes with evil red eyes).

cottage at Crazy House

evil kangaroo

twisty bits and a giraffe

As for why it’s named Crazy House, I think the pictures are somewhat self explanatory.

What do you do after spending 14 plus months
renovating/reconstructing/rebuilding your house? I should mention that we house-hopped the entire time – 5 months with one friend, 5 months with another, 3 months with another, 2 weeks house sitting in an air stream, 3 weeks with my dad who lives an hour away.
I know, I know…CRAZY.

There is so much I would do differently now that I’m on the other end, so much. Even down to the trip we took after we moved back into the house.

“Relaxing trip to Vietnam” is what were we thinking. What we really needed was a few weeks in the Yucatan, swimming and sipping margaritas on the beach. What we did was an adventure trip covering the breadth of the developing country of Vietnam.

What was the thinking behind this? Well, it went like this:
Both my partner and I have traveled extensively; between the two of us, we have covered somewhere around sixty different countries. We both wanted a location we’d never visited before (this was tough…think Nepal,Antarctica)…plus it needed to be affordable. Scratch Australia, New Zealand, China, then we thought Southeast Asia. Not enough time to get to Laos and Cambodia; Thailand maybe too touristy…we landed upon Vietnam. Totally affordable, beautiful and the food culture there…AMAZING.

It was all that, truly, but from the minute our feet touched land in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City),it was an over-stimulated, multitasked, completely scattered journey.

Vietnam has to have one of the most visual cultures I have ever photographed, right up there with the old City in Delhi.
Life in that country is truly lived on the streets
and the people…such amazing faces, such beauty. The food possibilities there are endless, endless. All the food stalls on the streets are present from the north in Hanoi to Da Lat in the mountains and Nha Trang on the coast all the way to the south in Ho Chi Minh City. These street foods can reveal so much about the history and the culture of this beautiful country. It was like photographing a circus, the Super Bowl and a food festival all at the same time.

Try doing that for two weeks. I needed a vacation from my vacation.

Above are some of my favorite images from the trip. I tried to limit the number of photographs I posted, here’s where a good photo editor goes a long way, but honestly it’s Vietnam…seriously, you can’t show that country in a few photographs…

It was emotional but inevitable that we’d all have to split up and leave Mui Ne. After two amazing weeks we finally left and went our separate ways.

I’m traveling up north with Nikki and Chris, Jorma and Dave have gone to Thailand, Bas to Bali and a load of other people to either Bali or back home.

I’ve worked out that today is actually the mid point of my trip and although I think it will be hard to beat the last two weeks I think I’m going to find it impossible to leave – if it wasn’t for money and my flat I wouldn’t go back!

Leaving Mui Ne we headed up into the mountains to Da Lat – probably in the smallest most crammed mini bus I’ve ever been on, think there was nearly 30 people in there. Although it was bad it was quite funny, I’m just glad I had people with me to laugh about it.

Arriving in Da Lat it was like being in back in the UK – 17 degrees! Outrageous!! Its nice though being in the mountains for a change of scenery as it make you appreciate the beach. (My cameras broken so I dont have many pictures of Da LAt or Mui Ne and so are having to get these off Google images so you can get an idea of where I am).

The next day we went on a motor bike tour round the mountains and to visit the waterfalls which were probably the best I’ve seen. We got to go behind the waterfall as well which was amazing – just like the scene in Last of the Mohicans.

On our way back it did actually rain – don’t thing we’ve ever been so cold or wet in our lifes – even with the sexy 20p all in one plastic rain outfits. The rain was really sharp an had hail stones as well so by the time we got back my lips had actually turned blue.

Although Da Lat is nice we felt like we’d done our time and so tomorrow we’re heading back to the beach and hitting Nha Trang for some sun and hot weather!

1. Lang Biang legendary

Lang Bian mountain located in the district luoyang, center city of Da Lat 12km north.

Characteristics: This is the appropriate locations for ethnic school, for visitors to cultural traditions to the cultural research of ethnic Vietnamese Highlands.

Lang Bian mountain is also known as Mt Mẹ, including 2 ngọn with 2.167m high. Ancient story tells that a girl left at the same forgiveness to all – and he’s K’lang Bian. Do collect payment limit by two tribe that the two had to severance. After she has died and the body that mountains ethnic Ho Ho Lach-called mountain milk from mother’s chest she has to carry the heavy stream flow, waterfall fresh cool for life. Since then the two mountains are named Lang Bian.

2. Tuyen Lam Lake

Location: Ho Tuyen Lam is center city of Da Lat 5km to the south.

Characteristics: Ho Tuyen Lam larger 360ha, the location is suitable for sports activities, hiking, boating, fishing.

3. Truc Lam Monastery

Location: Truc Lam Monastery located at the Tuyen Lam Hoang Phuong mountain, of Ward 3 Da Lat city.

Characteristics: This is a temple to the most, be the best in Da Lat today.

Pagoda by Venerable Thich Thanh Từ build from the beginning decade of 90, officially started construction on 08/04/1993 and inaugurated on 08/02/1994. Monastery has an area of 24.5 ha, is divided into 3 separate zones with the participation designed by architect famous Ngo Thu Writing (and Design independent – this is the best, Ho Chi Minh).

The most crowded time, meditate with thousands ni increase, according to the Buddhist school of meditation. This is a meditation on research institutes Meditation Marathon largest in Vietnam with the current recovery policy Meditation Marathon Vietnam (from the Tran home). Each day, the doctor sitting meditation time in 3 days, 2 hours each time and clock time is the first time since 3 am.

Besides meaning a large temple, a meditation course, Truc Lam is also an ideal tour for visitors to the city high rise, held good and quite nice location – overlooking the lake Tuyền Lam, Voi mountain. Besides this big pagoda, Da Lat also has dozens of other small pagoda as Linh Quang (Ngo Quyen Street), Truc Lam (Pham Hong Thai), Ngoc Tin (Suong Nguyet Anh) … which when combined can give visitors a tour beliefs – to learn the unique architecture

4. Garden city of Da Lat

Location: Da Lat flower garden is located at 2 Phu Dong Thien Vuong, next to the road from Xuan Huong Lake to University of Da Lat.

Characteristics: Da Lat flower garden is a collection quite full of all kinds of flowers you Vietnam and the world.

Garden flowers from Da Lat in 1966, the year 1985 shall be restored to the new kind of flower. There are over 300 species of flowers, to which hundreds of species of flowers such as roses, Department, please lay, orchids, the Cam Tu, mimoda … no year-round.

5. Xuan Huong Lake

Location: Ho Xuan Huong is located in the heart of Dalat city.

Characteristics: they are named Xuan Huong in 1953 as want to live forever the image of romantic poetry Nôm female doctor Ho Xuan Huong Vietnam famous 19th century.

This is a large lake in Da Lat, about 5km ² wide. Ho Xuan Huong has piece horn where dreaming, smoking guest book and receive sufficient where they are appointed by the pair of you interested. Still present as a flat sheet glass crystal, glass shade the ring to the song all day and night. The roads around the lake rop hollow parts, creating dreaming about them. Visitors can sit under the original parts let me tongue, or ride on the lake with a water bicycle designs bring the natural fall, or stop at the water quintals with special architecture to enjoy glass of fresh water color flavor Da Lat.

6. Love Valley

Location: Valley of Love is located center city of Da Lat approximately 5km north of

Characteristics: Valley chìm deep love the hillside with the forest green biec year.

France’s first place is called Valley d’amour; to the Bao Dai as the National Director of the Peace Valley. In 1953, when Chairman of the town at that time was Nguyen Vy proposed conversion list of names from French to English to demonstrate the independence of the nation when it named “Valley of Love” was born.

In 1972, thanks đắp a large dam across vắt Valley have created a large lake called Lake Most meditation. Because there is a valley that this more and more dreaming, increased the attraction of tourists and especially with the pup throughout the country. Visitors can follow the way men wear or get all my hundreds of levels, passing through the Republic of vibrant colors to Vong Canh hill. Valley from here Love is in the eyes like a beautiful picture, and with the players accept sail on the lake.

7. Bao Dai Palace

Location: Palace III is located on a hill at Trieu Viet Vuong Street, the central city of Da Lat approximately 2km to the southwest.

Characteristics: Dinh III is called for summer holiday villa of King Bao Dai, the sole competent end of the Nguyen dynasty also is the sole competent last dynasty of Vietnam feudatory.

8. Prenn Waterfall

Location: Waterfall Prenn located immediately under Prenn wear – the gateway to Da Lat, the National Highway 20, the central city of Da Lat 10km.

Characteristics: The name Prenn pad to a period far xăm centuries around 15 – 17, the mountainous hill but the boundaries of the battlefield of the war and invasion of protected territories. Prenn Chăm original language means “regional aggression”, while the indigenous peoples such as Lat, Chil, Sre who called the invasion a “Prenn people.”

From Ho Chi Minh City by road to Da Lat 20 must wear Prenn over 10km long. To foot wear, go about 100m visitors will enjoy the pleasant and gracious display of the water flows gently from 10m high to a small valley, surrounded by leaves and flowers full of hills. The road to beautiful waterfall with my hug the rock hillside layout is a reasonable. A small bridges across the northern lake.

Visitors please go to the police to screen the water to feel mealiness Prenn of exploitation. Visitors can follow the men the way to garden animals, garden or mail drop lan walking got flowers Vienna watching the display of flowers, the broomstick xinh xinh the head or take the suspension bridge across the north creek . In another aspect, garden stone with the Thai Duong arrange full cleanup hứng create an interesting surprise. With cable car system, visitors can peer through the waterfall in the sense of adventure balloon, as is thought to cõi fairytale ..

9. Than Tho Lake

Location:’s lament is center city of Da Lat is about 6km to the east, the main road Vietnam – Ho Xuan Huong.

Characteristics: To visit this place, visitors will hear stories about the emotions of a country you want to keep them forever on the water.

Long, whine name became famous verse 2: “Da Lat has Cam Ly Waterfall

There are a lament how the đành “

Department of fame as surely as they near college national Dalat (now the Military Academy Luc) and with a golden period of the decade to 1950, beginning the 1960s. Every holiday, celebration, Sunday is a family of students and to pull together to meet fun here. And until now still Personal stories – one in mind of a bad girl titles Thao chilly in a hill and 2 (from outside the left hand side tourist).

Than Tho lake is located high on the hills between the forest and silent. Scenic lake around the poetic, the water is always a flat trầm still soaked. The road along the lake lost as far away from smoking. Here seems to be listening to dispose of the light wind, as the ring breathing of coal, such as nuc no. There are a pair of tree is very different to the north of the lake forming a “sweetheart” of the tangerine wrap together and not leave the tourists can photograph the memorial. Hill at a lament seems also better places other than because of thưa, are higher than when the sun falling on the ball ngả beautiful greensward.

10. They team – wearing Vocational Items

Location: They team – wearing Vocational Items on the road from Phan Rang to Dalat, excavation District, city of Da Lat 40km to the east.

Characteristics: They have team – Vocational Items wearing a picture of nature with beautiful just the way than just bending eel khúc …

In the afternoon the Phan Rang Rực forest fire purple as grapes on giàn not cut, the cold will prevent the green trời end. They team when the wind stops blowing, im still to iron, not a ripple, water in the green thẳm. Son of the brake to prevent double original excavation connecting flank 1.460m long, 38m high the horns, this 180m wide, the top is 6m, the water from two rivers and team Most Kronglet into. They team with an area of 9.7 km ², at approximately 1.042m. Water from the lake by two concrete tunnel through the mountain long 5km to go head to the two steel pipes with diameter of 2m (from as small as is gradually 1m), operating four tuocbin 7.880kW produce more electricity, enough for in Ninh Thuan

Weather in Đa team mix between macro life and tropical, to buy as the transfer flow of gas to new girls. At the foot of Vocational Items worn, heavy rain dew John gloomy, then two small fuzzy silver dragon … But do not despair, be patient under approval xoắn wait a while. Heavy identity, hung trời crusher, sometimes bending the silver dragon khúc Road lấp individual speakers in the green of the mountains and forests.

11. Styx’s

Location: Spring Lake Gold District Luoyang, the city of Da Lat 20km north.

Characteristics: Spring Lake Gold is a famous landscape of Lam Dong province.

Leaving the center of Da Lat to the north luoyang to as 7 km turn left, guests have to overcome the long run about 12km jolty bending eel between hills and accept them before going to the lake Styx, where that 100 years ago when you first come to, Yersin was running shouting as a study in small, short ngơ groin before dreaming of a natural virtual unbroken lines to the wild this proposal with All rights reserved P. Doumer for construction of nursing stay here.

Styx’s two lakes is Dankia Ankroet above and below, made by beating together two names certainly Ankroet river Spent evolved from the mountain Langbian. Next to a waterfall white also remove the name Ankroet – waterfall was full Decoux selected to build the hydroelectric factory first Dalat in 1942.

Styx’s space has about 20 million volumes of water, in addition to providing fresh water for the city of Da Lat, also used to operate the generators of hydroelectric Ankroet machine with capacity of 15 million year kw / h. There is also a factory spring gold quite modern by Denmark to help build the tested regularly by Medical Center for confirmation first water source is standard hygiene requirements. It was completed in 1984 with capacity 18.000m3/giay.

12. Da Lat Market

Cho Da Lat is now center city of Da Lat.

Characteristics: Cho Da Lat just have look just be the elegant, art.

Built in 1958-1960, Dalat market with modern architecture best time now. Special point is this is now world-weary, with the top of the hill is Peace through a floor in the 2 and the Xuan Huong lake in the path to the ground floor. The first is a traffic roundabout planting flowers. Side, next traffic roundabout has three levels to democratic Le Dai Hanh and a ramp connected to the Hoa Binh Ho Xuan Huong. All created for Da Lat has a layout Vocational entry only in the city of many hills and mountains.

Besides the usual items such as all the other waiting, Dalat market also sell all kinds of products, mainly in the ground floor. The outside is going to sell flowers, next up is the fruit, and then to the area of Da Lat specialties are processed as at-a-number, factories salt, wine, xi Ro …

13. Waterfall Pongour

Location: Waterfall Pongour located in the area of Tan, Duc Trong district, Lam Dong province, city of Da Lat 45km road and Highway 20 approximately 7km.

Features: The tour has not given scrupulous Pongour nickname “Nam Phuong submit to exploitation.”

Waterfall Pongour kind of beautiful, most majestic Highlands with about 30m height, the surface of hundreds of meters long and a more extensive exploitation tens of hectares organizations can play for thousands of people at a time.

According to the legend of the cells, the ethnic exploitation associated with stories of her Ka Nai – a sheikh has beautiful construction of the life of prosperity K’ho cells. Legend Ka Nai 4 rhinoceros and Pongour a vestige of rhinoceros horns grounding plug.

Since many years, have Pongour waterfall festival to rằm January each year and today has become a day of fun youth spring Da Lat – Lam Dong with many popular games, the cultural celebration of traditional the indigenous peoples. Exploitation by the Land Ltd. Nam (Ho Chi Minh City) management and exploitation.

14. Throw Rowoa waterfall (waterfall Voi)

Location: Waterfall Rowoa throw as with the waterfall in the area South of town, Lam Ha district of Lam Dong province, city of Da Lat is about 25km.

Features: Waterfall Rowoa throw as Voi waterfall is a waterfall in the beautiful Highlands majestic height with more than 30m, about 15m wide white water flows clear water and dust flying blind in a region.

Will really unfortunate to Da Lat – Lam Dong to throw without Rowoa (waterfall to) the secret, dreaming. Waterfall associated with the integration of all water on them, the page has been recognized as monuments national landscape. In drawing the water flowing through vent flank guards stone flowers look real Vocational item, especially when the sun brilliantly exploiting the falling spring seven of the Rainbow.

Besides the beauty of quyến dreaming, For each waterfall is located just two hours in the resistance war against France – United States. Newly forming religious sights tourism in recent years, but exploiting Voi quickly recognized as cultural monuments – historical national level. A project 20 billion to upgrade landscape Rowoa throw in the years 2003 – 2005 was the local government approval. However, the expectation tha best that love with the waterfall as investors is to carefully, do not seem to lose the wild mystery of the woman threw paint Rowoa.

15. Dalat Railway Station

Works by two architects who is France Moncet Reveron and design. Who work the contractor is on Vo Dinh Dung, the cost of construction is 200,000 France.

Railway station of Da Lat image as the Lang Bian mountains majestic, with a length of 66.5 m, 11.4 m-dimensional horizontal and 11m height, the same architecture of the station in the provinces of southern France, that is coffee and two bending vòm mái. If looking from the side you will see 3 nhộn roofs protruding above clyster first and then at the legs, but always styled straight from dung.Nhin front, the station has three chop octuple vision represents the top three Lang Bian Mountain, and the roof tiles in the leg outside the triangle leg as oblique flank.

This is an architecture has just gracious unique is a combination of harmony between architecture Western architecture with the empty Highlands, the good features of the road more decorative graphics have been assigned to state to inheritance.

Railway station of Dalat 84km long, of which 5 through tunnels to the virulent use the system track and head 16km long incisor. Denticle routes become this unique country and the whole world. Every day there are 3 teams train: Thap Cham – Da Lat – Nha Trang, Thap Cham – Da Lat, Saigon – Thap Cham – Da Lat regular bread roll. By the year 1972, when war becomes slashing, railway must stop this activity.

Currently, railway Dalat restore just 7km to serve tourists. Tourists and foreign come to large crowds, in 1998 with 7,984 visitors, in 1999 welcomed 8446 visitors and 2002, only 10 months the station has received 7,375 visitors, including 3,060 foreign tourists. Ga Da Lat is also the station “highest” Vietnam, because it is located at 1.500m compared to sea level. Currently, the station Hai Phong, Da Lat gas station is the most ancient remaining in Vietnam.

DALAT DAILY SIGHTSEEING TOURS

1. Dalat daily city tours (By mini bus)

2. Elephant or horse riding tour (By mini bus)

3. Natural countryside and local life style (By mini bus)

4. Discovering Dalat_lak lake on the couple day

(By mini Bus or Motorcycle)

v EASY RIDING TOURS

5. One- day easy riding tour to countryside

6. One- day easy riding tour to Tiger falls

7. Two- day easy riding to Damri waterfalls Then to Mui Ne or Saigon

( By mini bus or Motorcycle)

v TREKKING – BIKING – CAMPING

8. One- day trekking to Langbian Mountain

9. Two- day trekking to Elephant Mountain

VENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCHING – BIRD WATCHING

10. Two – day tour to Nam Cat Tien national park

11. Three – day tour to York Don Park and Central Highland

v SPECIAL TOURS DISCOVER CENTRAL HIGHLAND

( These tours are organized by “ Dalat Easy riding” or private transport)

Three – day tour to Central Highland then to Nha Trang

Four – day tour to Central Highland then to Saigon

Five – day tour to Central Highland then to Hoi An

Contact us:

Email: dalattravelvn@gmail.com

1. Visit Lat minority  Village with their handicrafts

2.Langbiang moutain hiking up to the top

(Exatra pay if you want to go by jeep )

3. Visiting the Golden Valley

Dep: 8:30AM           Price: 250.000 VND (min 4 pax)

Incl: Guide Entrance fees, Light meal

dankia

Some 20 kilometers on rough mountain roads from Dalat is worth the trip to Dankia Lake, where travelers can indulgent stunning scenery and clean fresh air. The lake is perfect for a picnic so don’t forget to pack a lunch.

The road is lined with lush valleys, pine forests, meadows, crop fields and Da Lat’s famous flower farms, which make the area the horticultural capital of Vietnam.

The photo ops are plenty as the hills roll off to the horizon and picturesque farming life takes place in the villages below the road.

Lettuce and cabbage fields are dotted with houses both old and new. In the sunshine, the countryside sparkles. In the calm fog, it exudes a mysterious charm.

Nature lovers will delight in the buffalo herds crossing the roads and wandering through the meadows in the distance.

Upon arriving at Dankia Lake, travelers will first see wildflowers and several murmuring brooks, belonging to Suoi Vang (Gold Creek) area. Above the lake towers over Lang Bian Mountain, 2,400 meters high. Lang Bian is popular with hikers as the summit boasts the indisputable best view of the Da Lat countryside.

Lie down on the pine leaves, look out at the sky and listen to the chirping birds and babbling brook, Gold Creek area is the perfect place to stop for a picnic.

Just past the creek is the lake, nestled in a small valley of green hills. Hikes around the surrounding area can lead to waterfalls, other lakes and ethnic minority villages. Such journeys are best taken with a hired guide.

But head out to Dankia fast if you want the real au-natural experience as the upcoming “Romantic City” project aims to transform the area into a golf resort-hotel-casino in the near future.

I- THE LANDSCAPE SIGHTSEEING TOUR

1. Buddist medition Monnastery+ Paradise Lake

2. Prenn water fall

3. Da Lat Flower Garden

4. Bao Dai’s Summer Palace

5. Crazy House

6. Valley of Love

7. Traditional Embroidery X.Q

Departure: 8:OO A.M – Price VND 240.000 VND

Includes: lunch, guide, entrange, fees

II-  THE LANG BIANG MOUTAIN HINKING TOUR

1. Admire Da Lat scenery from Peak.

2. Visiting LAT village with their handicrafts.

3. Domain de Marie Church.

Departure: 8:OOAM

Price: VND 200.000 VND/person( min 4pax)

Permit: inclunded

III- ANKROET WATERFALL

1. Dankia Lake

2. Da Lat Flower Garden

3. Linh Son Pagoda

4. Da Lat Railway Station

Departure: 8:OOAM

Price: VND 220.000 VND( 4 pax)

IV- BOAT TRIP – ELEPHANT RINDING AND HIKING TOURS

1. Cazy Hourse

2. Chicken Village (minority)

Departure: 8:OO AM

Price: VND 180.000 (min 4 pax)

Exclusive of boat and riding fees.

(A French tourist told his wonderful trip in Da Lat and gave useful suggestion to others)

I climbed a mountain today. Probably the oldest, fattest American ever to climb it, and I can hardly believe I did, but I did. We have pictures to prove it.

Looking down on Paradise lake from mountain

We signed up for the “easy” trek with Groovy Gekko, an outdoor tour company right next to our hotel here in Da Lat. Mercy. We went straight up the side of a mountain. No steps, no walkway, just tree roots and dead pine needles to give you traction. Our ever cheerful and encouraging guide Thanh and my companion Joseph both supplied a helping hand or shoulder for balance at times, but I actually made it all the way up on my own legs.

On the way up, a local Vietnamese mountain climber passed us as if he did the climb every day (I suspect he just about does). Later he came back down holding a bright yellow yard-long poisonous snake over his head. He let us “pet it” all the while Thanh was explaining to us how deadly it was.

At the top we took in the view, had our picture taken by one of the Buddhist monks camping at the top of the mountain who graciously broke from his meditation to come take pictures of the three of us at the summit, and then we each ate a couple of bananas. Okay, time to go down the other side. I was hoping for a more leisurely way down. After all, this was the “easy” trek. But, alas, no. If anything, the way down was steeper than the way up. After timidly progressing 20 yards or so down, I was ready to accept that I may just hae to stay there, and depend on passing Vietnamese to give me something to eat and drink now and then, and perhaps bring me a change of clothes now and then.

Paradise Lake, Da Lat

Luckily, our guide had a better idea. He was carrying a plastic tarp for us to sit on for our lunch later in the day. Instead, I used the tarp as a sled, and SLID on my butt DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. Thanh said he thinks he may have hit on a new sport–butt mountain sledding–for his company to promote. Needless to say, once we hit on the trick, going down was much faster than going up, and my rear end is only a little sore from the couple of times I completely lost control and shot out into mid air for a few seconds before coming down to earth again.

A bit about our guide: Thanh is a recent college graduate. He’s been leading these tours for about two years. He told me he’s lived in Da Lat all his life, and went to college there, but that his parents are from the north. Other than English, he also speaks Russian, which he said he studied in college primarily because his grandfather, who studied in Moscow, told him not to take it because it was too hard. I suspect grandfather was perhaps applying a little reverse psychology there.

The Crazy House in Da Lat

The whole trip today was truly incredible. Before the real mountain began, we went through a small family-run pineapple and coffee farm where I had my first taste of berries from a coffee tree. And after our descent we had lunch next to Paradise Lake in a lovely park filled with an amazing collection of flowering trees and shrubs, and with hundreds of butterflies, with seemingly no two butterflies alike.

After lunch, we shared a boat with a passel of drunken fishermen to cross Paradise Lake. They kept trying to convince us to share their wine, and two of them couldn’t resist the urge to rub the fat foreigner’s belly. I told Joseph my tummy should be pretty shiny by the time we get back if people keep rubbing it at this rate. One drunken fishermen stumbled and almost overturned the boat at one point, my reaction to which they all found very amusing.

Once across the lake, I faced the last challenge of the day, a 222-step climb to the largest Buddhist temple in the southern part of Vietnam (another way of saying it’s the second largest Buddhist temple in Vietnam). The place was just crawling with monks and nuns. If I remember right, about 250 live there. We got to listen in on a class taught by the head monk, an 84-year-old who lectured with a very VERY tranquil voice, which was nice to hear after our challenging day. It was only after our climb up the steps, and a tour of the place, that I discovered the aerial tram that takes most tourists from Da Lat on an easy ride right up to the temple – no steps required. Sigh.

The Chicken Village

After the temple, we jumped in the tourist company van and headed back to the hotel for a shower and to drop off my dirty clothes at the front desk for the evening laundry service. Then a stop at the bakery, and then finally here for beverages and a little Internet time.

Today was a truly amazing day. The last time I did a rough mountain climbs like this was in northern China, again a long climb up a mountain to visit a temple. I have friends who actually do things like rock climbing on purpose, but for me, walking up a mountain is almost always something I find myself surprised to be doing, not something I do by choice.) For that mountain in China, I was much younger, lighter, and more vigorous then – maybe 18 years ago or so. I’m not sure how long it will be before I try this again. Right now, though, I feel GREAT. We’ll see how I feel in the morning.

Tomorrow’s outing is sightseeing – mostly by car. I understand that a couple of the stops feature a lot of steps, like the temple today, but after today’s mountain, that will be like a cakewalk.

In general, I’d not recommend heading to Da Lat for these “sights.” But the surrounding countryside is beautiful, and if you’re into hiking, biking, or motorcycling, this is really a great place to visit, and the weather’s a real break from the sweltering humidity of most of Vietnam. A number of outfits here will rent you motorcycles or bikes so you can go exploring the surrounding mountainous terrain or your own, or even cycle or motorbike all the way back to Saigon. I have searched on internet and found an attractive website about adventure www.activetravelvietnam.com. So cool! I like Kayaking tour, I should come to Ha Long bay soon, I can’t wait anymore.

If we have time tomorrow, we’ll head for a southern district of Saigon that’s supposedly just crawling with monkeys. Who can pass up hanging out a few hours with a bunch of monkeys? Not me!

Related to Da Lat city, Vietnam

- Biking Mekong & Da Lat tour
- Da Lat biking travel

Da Lat

Le restaurant Da Lat à Paris est situé 120, Faubourg Fbg du Temple dans le # arrondissement (75011). La station de métro la plus proche est « Non Communiquée ». # – Le Chef de cuisine du restaurant Da Lat  propose une cuisine que l’on peut classer dans la catégorie: « Cuisine Vietnamienne ». Les plats proposés par le chef sont entre autres: # ou # ou # etc.
Parmi les vins proposés par Da Lat on peut trouver de belles bouteilles de # , de #, de # , de # etc.…
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Fiche du restaurant Da Lat

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Horaires du Déjeuner pour le restaurant Da Lat :
Lundi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Mardi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Mercredi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Jeudi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Vendredi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Samedi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Dimanche: #
Prix moyen du déjeuner au restaurant Da Lat est de € 25.00
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Horaires du Dîner pour le restaurant Da Lat:
Lundi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Mardi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Mercredi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Jeudi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Vendredi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Samedi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Dimanche: #
Prix moyen du dîner au restaurant Da Lat est de € 30.00
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