Dalat

The 'Crazy House'
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We had one of those bus journeys I'd heard about. You stop every hour at some cafe in the middle of nowhere so the trip takes three times longer than it should. One can only guess that deals are done for bringing busloads of customers who have nothing else to do or anywhere to go. .

I was surprised that my first choice of lodgings was full. That was till I found out it's a national holiday and this is a popular spot with domestic holiday makers.30,000 descend on this little town for the five day break so rooms are in short supply. I did find one in a lovely place , though he was fully booked for the next night. I ended up paying twice as much for a room the next night , it was either that or back on the bus.

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Dalat is way up in the mountains which gives it a climate different from much of the rest of the country. It feels cool , like an English Summer day! In the evenings I'm even wearing , gasp , long trousers! Because of the climate its a main source of vegetable and flower growing for the Country much as the Cameron Highlands are for Malaysia.

The sights are spread out and there isn't much in the way of public transport . The solution -the Easyriders. These are motoriders / tour guides who will take you where you wish for a day trip or for those with deeper pockets , for a 2 or 3 day trip. They spot the new guys in town so you don't have to worry about finding them. It was well worth it as my guide was informative and I got to see a variety of places. The Waterfalls were impressive and it was good to see little villages selling craftware and incense sticks being made ( Did you know they're made from sawdust? ) A very odd building was the ' crazy house' as indeed it should be with a name like that.Odd cave like rooms and..well ,see the pics. Not so good was seeing how animals are treated. I saw several monkeys kept in tiny barren cages tormented by moronic tourists who thought this was great fun.

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The streets in town were full of tourists milling around. They shopped and ate but I didn't see much sign of people drinking . Can you imagine a resort like Blackpool  with no pubs? No one would go! Here tho it seems they like clean living and the streets are all but clear by 11pm.

Time to ditch the long trousers and head back down to the coast.