Mimosa Hotel Dalat

... for his bad singing because he got way too drunk the night before. This man speaks 4 languages, was a former nurse serving the US Army in Nha Trang and because he's such a smart ass and a big catch, his wife's family had to pay 4 buffalos to him when most men could only fetch a single, lone animal.

This tribe is one of matriarchal rule where the wife's family had to pay a dowry for the husband and the husband would go live in his wife's home. The ...

... after leaving Nha Trang the bus finally trundled into Dalat, only 3 hours later than scheduled, but considering the state of the roads, it was amazing we made it at all. The road wound up for ever into the mountains, little more than a dirt track at times - the bounciest bus ride I've ever experienced, but the scenery was something else! :) Dark clouds were gathering over the purple mountains, and halfway there the heavens opened and there was ...

... before heading to another part of the lake to do a quick elephant ride. Massive mixed feelings about this one as it was cool and the elephant was so lovely to pet but we both felt more than a bit wrong riding on the back of a animal that is supposed to be wild. The fellas assured us that they are well treated and are taken to a'jungle' enclosure for the night but it still felt wrong and is not something that we will repeat. Anyhoo we then travelled a long way ...

... cream, beer and coffee. The five of us grabbed ice cream and hung out on the beach until we were called back to the boat in order to begin our return to Nha Trang. After showers, we had dinner with the Dutch girls before they headed off on an overnight bus to Ho Chi Minh and then continued the night on our own, meeting up with the Irish guy from the night before and hitting up various watering holes (offering discounted buckets and free mojitos of course).

A ...

... after finally finding a hotel with a room!) and rushed
out to check out the market. After being stranded at the market area
for hours since the rain refused to stop, we finally gave up and just
walked home in the rain. We went out to get some dinner around 9pm or
so and the entire town seemed to be practically shut down. This town,
much like the rest of Viet Nam, goes to bed early and gets up by 5am.
Luckily, we got the awesome room with a ...

... her. She points out a long bloody scrape extending from her knee down to her ankle. What the!?

Thoughts of turbulence, luggage compartments spewing bags, and crash landings come to mind. Wait, is this MY plane!? Quickly my mind races for alternatives to boarding the plane - spend the night at the airport? Catch a flight somewhere else? Returning to my cell is not sounding so bad right now...

As I ...

... veg... then further out were amazing views of the mountains... reminded me a lot of rural Wales - mainly because of the air - the air was fresh with no heat or humidity!! We stopped at a place where they grow flowers for export, where some great coffee is grown (40% is exported to Nestle), a silk farm which was cool as - as I'd never seen silk worms being turned into silk before - cool!! Then we went to a buddhist temple - the Budhism in Vietnam is from China (as ...