Rebels without a cause

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Hey all. How you all going?

Dalat is THE honeymoon destination for Vietnamese newly weds. Loads of people go there for the cool weather too.. Its in the mountains and the journey was a windey and very scary one.

When we got to Da Lat we walked from the bus stop to our hotel with the help of a man on a motorbike. The hotel is very nice, near the lake with great views. We crashed out and watched TV, including news of a typhoon which looks to hit Phillipeness and come to Vietnam. Outside the same man on the motorbike and his friend was waiting for us outside the hotel all that time. They turned out to be some men from Da lat easy riders group we read about and its so true that you dont have to look for them they come to you. We had already decided to do a day trip with them and they seemed really nice so we signed up with them for the next day. Of course being on the back of a motorbike for the whole day was a scary prospect but also an exciting one.

We then went for dinner at a restaurant on the lake which was pretty nice apart from the pesky mosquitos! Da Lat is known as the Petit Paris so we also had a good view of the miniture Eiffel Tower. So beautiful!

The next day we woke up and got ready for our day with the easy riders and what a wicked day we had! So much fun. I was at the back of the most experienced one - probably as he sensed my fear and Maz was with the younger one. We chose the tour that took us to the outskirts of Da Lat and wasnt so touristy so not so busy. We went to temples which looked like miniture fairground attractions, farms, magic mushroom farms, a silk worm farm where Maz fell in love with the little blighters and it took us a while to get him out of the room but they are amazing and sooooooooo soft plus they are so fussy and only eat mulberry leaves... you could see the silk coming out of their mouths. They wrap themselves up in silk which when untied stretches 80km - I KNOW!!! Seriously that long. Then we saw 2 mating, when they finish the male dies and the female lives for an extra couple of days to lay the eggs. They live for a month... : ( We also saw the difference between a one silk worm cocoon silk and when 2 worms wrap themselves together - the silk is much tougher. Seriously... this was amazing to learn about.

We went to a coffee farm and found out that Vietnam is the second biggest export of coffee after Brazil and the different types of coffee beans, a flower farm, and over and under a beautiful waterfall. For obvious reasons we werent allowed to get really into the waterfall like some of the locals but we got pretty close and we couldnt breathe from the pressure. It was wicked and we got drenched! Thank gosh it was a pretty warm day as I was wearing jeans. The last stop was the crazy house which I'm not surprised the Vietnamese arent happy about. Its so wierd and ugly. Maz asked the guide in the crazy house if the architect was puffing when she designed it but I think it was the wrong question as she got a bit offended...oops.

At the beginning I was so scared of being on the bike I grabbed onto the waist of the driver so tight, but after about our 3rd stop I let him breathe a little as I got braver and stopped crushing his ribs. He told me about the war when he was a soilder there. So sad! I wish war would end - so pointless. After the war 3 million people left when the communists came and as they were farmers they got lazy so produce was slow so all these farmers built boats but they knew nothing about sailing and 60% died trying to escape for a better life : (

We also met some really lovely 'ethnic minority' people - which they call themselves and the locals call them but they dont mean it rudely - its just a matter of fact and its so nice to be around relaxed atmosphere without all the PC stupid stuff back home! We took a photo of the granny who made the table cloth we bought and when we showed her the picture of herself she proclaimed she was beautiful and then asked us to take a picture of her granddaughter who was soo shy. so cute!

We had such a wicked time in Da lat but spending only a day and a bit there was enough - plus our time schedule meant we had to move on pretty fast!

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