The Battle of Peace Cafe

There used to be one Peace Cafe. Business was reasonable, it was popular with backpackers and the Dalat Easyriders could often be found there having a drink and waiting for their next customer. At the cafe next door things weren't going so well. They hatched a plan, why not call themselves Peace Cafe and entice people in based on someone elses reputation? For good measure they replicated the menu of the original. Tu Ahn isn't happy. The business she has built up with good food and friendly service is under attack. If you find yourself in Dalat go to the cafe on the left.


There's no escaping it, the standard of my photos (or the glaring holes where photos should be) has slipped. Where is the picture of the two cafes side by side? Still no pictures of Hoi An purchases either.


We stopped for one day in Nha Trang after Hoi An. Not much to say about it really. It has a nice beach with the unspectacular city built right up to it, Miami style. We drank too much cheap beer with the local cyclo riders and took headaches with us the next morning on the bus to Dalat.


For some reason, I'd expected Dalat to be really picturesque, but other than its location up in the hills it looked much like any other town in this country. For the first time in Vietnam we decided hiring mopeds would work, not a good option before either because the quality of the roads were poor (Sapa) or the traffic was mental (everywhere else). We rode to Dambri waterfall, picked at random, and were greeted with something a bit special - a solo rollercoaster down to the falls. I've not seen anything like it before, individual one-seater cars where you operate the brake yourself. On our second runs there wasn't much brake operating going on.


It turned out that we were back at Dambri waterfall the next day, having signed up for a day of canyoning. I've never done abseiling before, several times chickening out when already harnessed up and ready to go, now it was time to face the fear with the added complication of water.


I became pretty confident as the day wore on, until that confidence took a big dent on a tricky waterfall. I took several tumbles and reached the bottom with an injured knee, I wasn't quite the same after that. As well as the abseiling there were several rock jumps on offer and a slide which was attempted both headfirst and feet first.


The company we booked with was Groovy Gecko and if you're in Dalat and looking for a tour I recommend them, thats of course after you've breakfasted at Tu Ahn's Peace Cafe. You can make your own choice for the evening meal, though I recommend V restaurant if you are short of ideas. For five customers there was a crew of three people, it was the job of one just to go ahead of everyone carrying our cameras and take pictures as we descended. A nice touch.


The last waterfall was probably the best and I'm glad I didn't back out of doing it, as two people in front had. After a bit of conventional abseil the rocks disappeared and it was a case of dropping down into the flow of water and slowly releasing the rope with the water choosing the direction to take. Near the bottom the rope ended so there you had to let go, drop with the torrent before popping up in the pool at the bottom. With my swollen knee once was enough, Tom was enjoying himself immensely and climbed back for extra turns.

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