Golf 1 Hotel Dalat

... with green hills and mountains and filled with various plants that are farmed there. We got to see the following interesting things:

- strawberry farm, whoopdeedoo really, we have nicer ones at home but there, we also saw avocado, papaya and curry (the thing that makes curry spice) trees and we now know what these look like;
- flower farm, where they grow roses, carnations, orchids and gerberas. All flowers and veggies in germination are ...

... value for money at $20 a night (the shower in my room is fantastic) and that's before I've had the breakfasts which are supposed to be REALLY good. The way to my heart is most definitely via my stomach so by tomorrow morning I should be in tummy heaven!

Anyway, after nearly 2 weeks in Saigon, this really feels good, I feel like my trip has begun. I am dependant upon myself now and this place has a great vibe ...

... and the driver, going to beautiful Pagodas (buddist temple), ELEPHANT RIDING (loved that particularly) and going around other touristy things - It really was great.

So tomorrow we head away on our 'off the beaten track' trail with Binh and Lan. Its exciting and scary at the same time but it'll be great. So we gotta sign off now until the weekend. Somehow I doubt very much that the Ho Chi Minh trail has wifi!!

Tam biet (bye)!

... was cool about this, and all the other activities we seen, was that nothing was wasted and everything was done in a sustainable way. The used beans were given to feed the pigs and the fuel for the ovens and stove was used peanut and coffe shells. The tofu was then sold at the local market to bring in money for the family. Most of the family food was grown in the backyard so they were living pretty self-sufficent with some extra cash coming in from the tofu. Sweet ...

... dinner, as we were promised a free bucket with any meal. We enjoyed Western food as a nice change from Vietnamese food (chicken sandwich for me - delicious) and as promised, enjoyed a free cocktail bucket. We ended up at the bar attached to our hotel where we played doubles pool with an Irish guy we met. Nick and I ended up getting slaughtered - we both are pretty awful at pool.

Tuesday we woke up early for our cruise around the islands surrounding Nha Trang. Right ...

... is north of Ho Chi Minh City in the southern highlands. There are waterfalls to visit and a golf course, so I thing I know what Mark will be doing tomorrow!

We plan to stay here only a couple of nights as we are kind of running out of time to see everything we want to here in South East Asia before we depart Bangkok for India.

Keep in touch!

... below were absolutely beautiful, I found it to be spoiled by the ridiculous number of hearts strewn across the grounds, cheesy statues embracing and staring longingly at each other and swings for two nestled under trees. Perhaps my single status keeps me from appreciating the beauty of love displayed across the valley floor, but I simply couldn't take the place seriously. Especially when swan pedal boats spoil my pictures of the lake or Minnie and ...

... about.. went for a walk to the main market and had lunch there.... walked past reunification palace which is basically where the war ended... and visited their Notre dame cathedral (not quite as grand as Paris's!). Stopped for a read in a park and a local came to talk to me for a while, which is always the nice thing about spending a few hours by yourself... locals are generally interested in where you're from etc etc and want to practise their English with you ...

... head in the middle of the neon halo featured in the photo above, which came out nicely, I like this one.



Next we climbed further up into the hills, before stopping at a very bombed-out house which the villagers are keeping as a reminder of the ...

... shades...

Nha Trang looked very built-up, although the beach looked nice, but we weren't too devastated at having to move on immediately.

We were amazed to find a REALLY nice cafe/dive centre right next to where we changed buses in Nha Trang, run by a couple of English & Aussie guys. It looked like a great dive school, with awards and endorsements all over the place. I know that some of you ...