Dalat,
Vietnam
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Dalat was simply wonderful. We got there late afternoon after a horrific 22 hour bus journey, changing in Nha Trang at 6am. We checked into a hotel and relaxed for a bit before having a wander around the town. The actual town of Dalat was not much of a muchness, it was dark and raining and after having a drink and dinner, we decided to go to bed and watch some Tudors (a dvd series we bought in Hoi An). We had met two men as we wandered around Dalat who said that they were "easy riders" who would take us on a tour around Dalat. This is the reason I had been so keen to come to Dalat as I had been told about these easy riders and so leapt at the chance to go. The next morning at 8.30am we were greeted by the two men, Mr Thai and Mr Hung, and off we went on their motorbikes! Our first stop was at a flower farm where the greenhouses were supported with bamboo rather than metal beams, very ingenious I thought. After this we stopped off at a coffee and vegetable plantation where we saw coffee beans growing on the trees and walked around. Mr Thai pointed out to us the different plants and vegetables and I took a few photos. Next was Elephant Waterfall, the second largest waterfall in Dalat. We climbed over and down a "path" which was little more than rocks to get to the bottom of this waterfall with Mr Hung. It was absolutely deafening at the bottom and really beautiful. Then, just by chance, we noticed some people coming out of what looked like a cave. They told us that we had to go into it because it took us behind the waterfall! Of course we had to go. It was very slippery but we made it and got absolutely drenched - behind the waterfall the splash from the water hitting the rocks was amazing. It was a very strange experience being behind a waterfall. Back at the top of the waterfall was a pagoda and a huge laughing Buddha which we went to look at. After drying off a bit we were on our way to a silk farm where we saw the silk worms and then towers of silk worm cocoons. Mr Thai took us around explaining the process, showing us the machines that took the silk from the cocoons and then onto the finished product. Apparently, after killing the insect inside the cocoon, they can be sold at the market to be eaten! Nick and I didn't much fancy this... Close to the silk farm was a place where we saw rice wine being made. Rice wine smells something like firewater from Romania, it is incredibly strong! We only stopped here for five minutes as Mr Hung and Mr Thai were getting hungry for lunch, as were we! Lunch was in a small restaurant at the top of a hill where the people didn't speak english, so we assumed it was only really for locals. The two easy riders ordered for us and we all ate together the most delicious food. It was traditional Vietnamese food - pork, beef, soup, rice and so on. Delicious! After lunch we went elephant riding. The whole way to it I was really excited, but having got there I started to wonder if it was in fact more of a novelty idea than practice. It was a very bizarre experience riding on the back of an elephant but the man guiding it kept kicking its ears - I felt rather sorry for it. We went for a ride for half an hour and then came back to the easy riders and back to Dalat city. Our last stop of the day was to the "Crazy House" which was one of the oddest buildings we've ever seen. It is a hotel as well as a tourist attraction and has rooms such as the "Bear Room" and the "Tiger Room". It reminded us a bit of the Gaudi buildings in Barcelona. By this time we were both pretty tired so returned to the hotel and had a bit of a relax before dinner and bed. We did all of this for $20, and a $3 tip. Such a good day!
The next morning we had a bus at 7am to take us to Saigon. We stopped off at a restaurant for lunch and stupidly I left my rucksack on the bus. Everyone else had left things and I just didn't think but I discovered when we arrived in Saigon that my camera had been stolen. Unfortunately I have been taking most of the photographs and lost about 550. I've offered a reward for the return of the memory card with the photos on it at the travel agency who organised the bus so we'll see but I'm not holding out much hope...... On a more amusing note, I had to bribe the police to give me a police report for the insurance company!
Lots of love xxxx
