High in Mountains to Dalat

Dalat 2
see all photos »

March 13, 14

A nine hour bus trip took us from Ho Chi Minh City to Dalat. This city is high in the hills and we passed through coffee and tea plantations on our way. The driving here was very scary and there seems to be a third lane in the middle of the road for passing (unofficial of course). They also pass on blind corners only to honk their horn to hopefully warn any oncoming traffic that we are in their lane. It's a good thing that we can drink in the bus.

Dalat is the honeymoon capital of Vietnam and is visited by 800,000 Vietnamese and 80,000 foreigners every year. It is a beautiful city with a French flare. It is home of three of the fifteen golf courses in Vietnam. After checking into our hotel the Golf 1 we had lunch at the local market. No English was spoken at the food stalls so we ended up with big pieces of cooked blood as well as many unidentifiable bits in our soup. We later enjoyed frog legs and more rice wine for dinner. During most of dinner a mouse was running along the window sill in the restaurant, keeping us entertained.