Cool change in Dalat

Thurs 18/10

We took the easy way to get to our next destination after Hoi An - flew to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and then another flight to Dalat (300km north of HCMC). We departed from Danang International Airport but it was little more than a big room. Very popular with domestic routes though and we had a fairly large plane (Pacific Airlines) transport us to HCMC. We had 2 and a half hours waiting at HCMC airport until the next flight and there was very little to do there so the "bookworms" (yes we read more now) pulled out the latest book. I had a minor moment of frustration... wanting to use the phone at the post office to ring ahead and book a room proved impossible - as we have learnt across a few places in Asia midday means shut up shop for lunch, no replacement, and maybe come back in two hours if you feel like it.

Vietnam Airlines flight to Dalat was rather small and we were back to propellors. Dalat airport really was just a shed and it was 30km south of the city. Told that we could not get the shuttle bus and had to pay upwards of $10 US for a taxi I approached the one other white person I had seen on the flight and asked if he spoke English and was he going to get a taxi. Turned out his friend was originally from Vietnam (they are French) so the language barrier was removed and the four of us were soon in a taxi travelling along the narrow, bumby road into Dalat.

Checked into the hotel that Thi and Silvain had requested the taxi drop us at, which was central and right next to the market so fairly convenient. We all went for a walk around the place and found another hotel though to check in to the next day - Hotel Europa had lovely large rooms with balconies and the owner spoke English, French and some Vietnamese and was so friendly. It was also a quieter location - because as we were to learn, it was very loud staying at the hotel next to the market from 4am when they set up!

Mike and I were also enticed by the idea of touring around on a motorbike again - we were approached by Yang who by far had the best English for a Vietnamese man we had met so far on the trip. He was also very smart and of course a good salesman and very charming!

We had dinner at a very nice restaurant and indulged in yet another seafood hot pot - figured we are not going to have the opportunity (ie afford) to eat this quality of food once we hit Europe. We also tried the local Dalat red wine which is the only wine produced in Vietnam. Lets just say it tastes like cheap cask wine and is served chilled also!

Fri 19/10

Yang and Peter picked us up from the first hotel and helped us move to the Europa. We then set off on our tour mainly outside of the city where we took in the pretty and mountainous views of Dalat. Dalat is one of the nicer cities we have been to - good scenery, more developed (and cleaner) and better structure of the city. It does however have a lot of neon lights along one of the main roads which we are unsure as to what inspired this... Being in the central highlands it is also a lot cooler - a welcome change from the heat and humidity of the rest of the country!

Our first stop on the motorbikes was a temple where Yang gave us a quick lesson on Buddhism - very interesting and the information we had been wanting weeks back. We saw the view of the nearby Lat village, many vegetable fields (because of the cooler climate these are plentiful), roses and other flowers gardens (Dalat supplies the entire HCMC flower shops/markets), mushrooms grown inside saw dust bags and a silk worm farm. It was here Mike tried the undeveloped moth in the cocoon - he ate it! Apparently tasted like walnuts...  Some of these places we stopped may seem a little strange but Yang gave us the background to each and it was all very interesting and provided an insight into Vietnamese life.

Also we learnt about growing the coffee beans (Vietnam is the worlds 5th largest exporter) and stopped for some local coffee at a "coffee shop" (table and seats outside a little house/shop). It was here we learnt Yang and Peter's background and how educated they are. In brief Peter spent 5 years in Canada learning English and Yang went to school in Hoi An and Danang and then even completed business studies at night while working back in Dalat. Despite how smart, educated and switched on to the tourist market they are, they choose to do their motorbike tours and earn enough for their families to be comfortable (they do quite well compared to the average Vietnamese worker however). They don't even like to call what they do as "small business". We chatted for quite a while and were given further insight into Vietnamese life and also the politics, economics and history of the country.

We then went to Elephant Springs waterfall (yes another one different to the ones near Hue) where we had to climb down slippery muddy rocks and also got a bit wet - as it was the end of the wet season it was very full. Also saw the giant laughing/happy buddha.

We had lunch at a homestay/restaurant with Yang and Peter - a feast prepared for our arrival! Whole fish, marinated pork, spring rolls, beef, mushrooms (the kind grown in the bags), other salad/veges. We also tried the rice wine and saw the distillary - it was very strong and only after we were told it is normally watered down for retail or home use! Yang had bought us the freshest passionfruits also. The tour finished when Yang and Peter dropped us back at the hotel about 4pm and overall we thought it was a fantastic day and trip.

We ran into Thi and Silvain and we went and had a drink at a fancy restaurant down by the lake. Silvain struggled keeping up with our English a little, but he and Thi gave us a good French lesson! We then had dinner at this great Vietnamese restaurant with far too much food. We also learnt more about Thi's background - her family had moved to France as refugees when she was about 4 years old back in the 1980s in the aftermath of the war - and this was her first visit to Vietnam since then.

Sat 20/10

We had had a good day for the motorbike tour the day prior but the rain continued on Saturday which made it difficult and not overly motivating to do many sightseeing activities nor hire our own motorbike to get around. Deciding we'd had enough of Dalat we went to book a bus to leave but found out they only leave in the morning. Initially thinking about going to Mui Ne back on the coast, we decided to book to go straight back to HCMC as our time was really starting to run out... We had seen a sign for a buffet at a 4 star restaurant so thought we would give it a go for the experience (Mike and I both not fans of the 'ol buffet) but it was pretty average.

Random note since not much to report for that day (that was previously missed off the Hoi An entry) - we have made mention of the various amounts of people, children, animals and other goods that are transported around on the family car (motorbike) in Vietnam but Mike has now seen it all.... dad driving and mum on the back holding the baby and BREASTFEEDING ("i saw boob")!

Sun 21/10

7.30am planned pickup for bus to HCMC - only 40 minutes late to get going on this occasion. The trip ended up taking 8 hours (it was advertised as 6 hours) which included 3 stops totalling 1 hour. Actually that did not include the 20 min stop and turn back up the road because the police stopped the bus for speeding -  43km/hr in a 40km zone! The majority of the road was bad (the usual narrow and bumpy or make that crater pot holes) and we just wanted to reach HCMC.

We had booked ahead just for convenience sake, but the Hoang Hoh Hotel made an "error" (read they gave our room away to someone who arrived earlier) and tried to palm us off to their next door neighbour's place! We headed back out on to the little street to find another place and all the Vietnamese women started following us and trying to poach us into their accommodation. It had also been raining since we got off the bus and were getting pretty frustrated and we spotted the Happy Inn (off Bue Vien) which I remembered reading about out on the net - happy we were as they had a room available and it was very nice. In fact one of the best (new and clean) rooms to date. Little English spoken but the girls were always friendly, smiling and knew enough to get by.