Trung Cang Hotel Dalat

... plane tickets, we exchanged some travellers cheques at the bank on the way; Pierre says it was faster when he signed for his mortgage. Good grief, we exchanged $300 US, not $3M but it is what it is...

The City of Dalat is a bit run down outside of the city centre but downtown is really very nice and much cleaner than the city of Sapa. It has a fabulous lake and a golf course, pretty lakeside cafes and restaurants, friendly people who smile ...

... for the next day (on a proper bike this time, not these silly little things that most of the guys ride).

The great thing about these guys is you can more or less tailor the tour to suit what you want, (ie. for me:- heavy on the natural sights and countryside, less of the temples please), so I spent the day riding high up into the mountains, to admire the rainforest, and visiting spectacular waterfalls and lakes. My driver, Tue, was ...

... food lovers paradise. We have been eating loads of seafood here as its lovely (and cheap cheap!) and I just would never think of eating Octapus, squid or catfish. We ate some baby shrimp in a jelly like substance and you could see their little eyes poking through!! Crunch crunch! After lunch it was our final ride down the mountains where it started to rain and as the clouds rolled in through the valleys a little lighting storm started and it was just bliss. As you ...

... thinking that we had ordered said dish. We followed her back to the kitchen to clarify, but she still had no idea what we meant. We decided to leave instead. Next we tried another food stall, in which we ordered two bowls of soya chicken pho (giving up on asking what it was) and a plate of tofu, mushroom and vegetables. Out came two bowls of pho, lacking soya and complete with a hunk of chicken on the bone, fat and brown veins encasing the meat. Needless to say, I ...

... during the fighting. It was fun to check out and
see the guys in uniform use their flags to direct the trains switching
tracks. There was a cute bride and groom taking all kinds of photos on
the old trains changing their outfits up every once in a while.

EasyRiders- We
were first introduced to the Easy riders when we were dropped off at
DaLat. These guys ride the big comfy motorcycles and take foreigners
out into the country side off ...

... ride! Oh! Speaking of going for a ride...As I wait, I am entertained and disgusted at the same time as I watch one of the obnoxious family's teeny-bopper sons hop on to the baggage carousel, firmly plant his two feet on the conveyor belt and sail along as if on a surf board. Parents? Eh, they're too busy yelling at each other from one end of the building to the other...

I quickly snag my bag and hop in a taxi ...

... me the ropes about this town. She said you can book a tour through the hotel and go via minivan or you can hire a motorbike guy for $15 and they’ll take you around. She then grabbed the guy that gave me a free ride to my hotel and said that he was one of the guys that can take me around. So I finally understood why he gave us a free lift to the hotel so that I would book a tour with him the next day. Very smart business move.

So today at 8:30am I was ready ...

... closer inspection the gang of blokes on the left side of the shack were huddled together drinking and making sausages, by hand! It was GROSS, with them all smoking while shoving various meats into intestine lining. I would have gone absolutely no where near those ...

... br>Apparently they all speak good English, everyone wears helmets, and it's supposed to be very safe. Not sure either of our Mothers will like us being on the back of bikes for a whole day, but we're told there's nothing to worry about.

(Later)

Ok, Mums - we've just booked a day tour with two Easy Riders tomorrow and they promised us that they would drive very safely and have all the safety gear, so ...