Empress Hotel Dalat

... mudhole. This time, everyone got expulsed from the bus, a bunch of construction workers pushed the vehicle, and we were soon on our way again, albeit covered in mud and wet from the rain. Pierre was yelling "thank you ! thank you !" to all those who helped with pushing the bus out of the mudhole... That entertained them !<br><br>A bit further on, we see the road going uphill... it was muddy... everyone, including the chicken coop, gulped in nervous ...

... 1KM"....clearly he was unaware of my impressive talent for mishap so far exhibited in Vietnam...but I followed his instructions to the letter, and found Dreams Hotel! <br><br>The climate here is much cooler than the city, people are wandering around in coats and hats, but it suits me better. I received a very warm welcome at the hotel and my room is simple but good ...

... a drier spot and get to my feet. The rest of the abseil went a lot smoother and was tonnes of fun. It was still really slippery and hard to see when you get into the really heavy water but the actual abseiling wasn't too hard. The rope runs out before you get to the bottom, so we'd been told to let go of the rope (both hands) and let yourself fall into the lake. That was hard to bring yourself to do (especially as it's hard to tell how far up you are) but wicked fun when you do. I ...

... to warm you up (they think its cold here!!). As we were walking we got approached again and again by tour guides called the Easy Riders who promise to show you the real Vietnam. But there were just so many we had no idea who to go with so we took a good few business cards. When at the end of the day we eventually did book (and only because of a personal recommendation by a girl we vaguely knew), it was with Binh and Lan who took us around ...

... We went through an area that got a massive amount of bombs and 'Agent Orange' chemical dropped on it in the war and the place still has'nt fully recovered. Errie and sad but great to see the trees and plants taking over again showing no matter what we do in the short term nature will always recover and prevail as she is is the true master of our planet. We then stopped for lunch at another local cafe where we were treated to sea food banquet. Vietnam is definately ...

... Western" breakfast was in order the following day, followed by a day of laying on the beach and catching up on the Internet. Nick left that evening to catch the overnight bus to Ho Chi Minh, so it was just Tom and me left from the original group that risked our lives on the motorbikes from Hue to Hoi An the previous week. We had booked a 7:30 a.m. bus to Da Lat the next morning, so we took advantage of the free movie rental in the hostel and watched Wedding Crashers (a ...

... facing the rice fields<br>and didn't get woken up early.<br><br>For our one full day in town we<br>decided to play our odds and rented a motorbike to explore the<br>countryside. We figured if we got an early start we might be able to<br>see a bunch of stuff before the rains came. We lucked out and somehow<br>had a gorgeous day with only some light rains at night. I loved getting<br>out of the city and just ridding around the countryside. The mountain<br>region ...

... my original departure time, a plane pulls into the gate. Passengers...all bearing shoes, stream off. Phew! Must be a new plane! <br><br>Never did find out what went down. Just filed it away with yet another odd Vietnam Airlines incident. Along with the obnoxious family of fourteen yelling at each other from across ten rows as to where everyone was going to sit. They continue to play leap frog as the flight ...

Dalat is very different from any other place in SEA that I've visited thus far (although I honestly haven't seen a lot of it yet). In the Central Highlands, Dalat's altitude at 1475m provides a pleasant, temperate climate. I actually had to pull a blanket on the bed last night and I LOVE that. <br><br>I was only here for a pit stop day of touring and am off again. I was zooming around the mountain roads on the back of a motorcycle ...