The shortish bus journey to Dalat was pretty uneventful but I was just glad for once it was a day journey and not another leg cramping, neck twisting night bus. As the bus slowly wound its way up into the hills the temperature mercifully began to drop to a much more comfortable and refreshing level, yet still about twice as hot as it would be back home just now - always like to rub it in.
Dalat immediately appears like some sort of colorful European town far removed from the coastal Vietnamese towns I'd gotten used to seeing. The lake in the centre of town seemed to be surrounded by people fishing and more kites flying than I could count, well certainly more than I could count in Vietnamese (so more than three at least).
Stretching my legs on a walk around the lake I soon met one of the easy riders, no not a Dennis Hopper wannabe but one of the local bikers who offer personal tours around the area on their usually Eastern European or Russian bikes. Accepting his offer, but declining to sign a 'contract', I agreed to meet him early tomorrow for a spin around the local sights. Dalat appears to be one of the few places in Vietnam not covered in paddy fields and instead is plastered with vegetable fields most of which can be bought at the local market which is awash with fresh, and some not so fresh (that's putting it mildly), produce. Continuing my culinary experience I opted for what I thought was some simple rice wrapped in banana leaf but was served a bowl of some kind of white goop with fried bananas in it. In another case of appearances can be deceiving it was by far the best thing I'd eating so far in Vietnam and so order a second helping to the amusement of those around me staring at the strange westerner too big for the little plastic stools with his knees almost around his ears.
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