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Published: March 9th 2007
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We barely made the 730 bus to Dalat. It took forever to work our way out through Saigon's suburbs, but eventually we were cruising through the countryside on our way to the hills. The bus stopped twice during the journey. The first stop was at a nice little gas station/minimarket where I grabbed some snacks before we moved on. The second stop was at the nicest rest area I've seen in Asia. It was up in the hills a ways, and the wonderful building matched the scenic location. Unfortunately the food was crap and we were lucky not to get food poisoning from the luke-warm pork.
As we continued to climb into the hills, the scenery kept improving until we were driving through a pine forest and we could have easily been in the US. We arrived in Dalat and followed a woman to her guest house, which turned out to be a great bargain for just $6 a night (total). When we came downstairs, we were approached by the Easy Riders, who are a group of local tour guides that have become quite famous, even making it in to the Lonely Planet. We listened to their pitch and decided
to take a one-day tour for $16 each. Once we had that settled, we headed off to get some food and check out the market before heading to bed pretty early.
The next day we got up and met up with our tour guides. The three, 50-something, easy riders had some nice looking bikes. There were two hondas and a taiwanese bike. Unfortunately the girls got the honda bikes, but at least I got a great guide. We set off through the countryside and it felt great to be riding on the back of a real motorcycle (well, only 125cc's, but they can't have bigger ones) breathing the fresh air and soaking up the sun.
Our first stop was a buddhist pagoda, where we got some lessons on buddhism and learned about how a bell is used to send prayers to buddha. From there, we headed into the country and stopped to learn about coffee production. We cracked open a few coffee beans and saw the kernels inside before hopping back on the bikes. It was wonderful riding past the terraced fields full of ripe vegetables and greenhouses packed with beautiful flowers. Dalat has such a perfect climate
Elephant Falls
We never did see the elephant that they are able to grow three crops a year on the fields. We dropped out of the hills and headed to a silk factory where we got to see firsthand how the silk is extracted from the cocoons and turned into thread. We continued on to an amazing waterfall where we hung out for at least an hour climbing around on the rocks and even doing some bouldering. Some of the local teenagers liked my sunglasses a lot so I let one of them pose for some pictures with them on. I think they also got a kick out of the bright yellow ball cap I was wearing because I hadn't brought mine on the trip and my head was getting burned. Eventually we grabbed a great lunch for $1.25 at a nearby restaurant before motoring off. We saw a farm where they were growing mushrooms, as well as a blacksmith before heading back into the hills to see some of the local flower crop. Our tour ended at the "crazy house", which is a work in progress designed by a local architect who spent 14 years studying in Russia. None of us were particularly big fans of the
"house", but it was interesting to see nonetheless.
By the time we returned to the guest house, we were all pretty worn out from a day in the sun. I also had a hilarious sunburn that left a red semicircle on my forehead where the back of the ballcap had been! We grabbed some dinner and then went to the market before taking a long walk around the lake.
The next day, the girls took off for Nha Trang and I stayed behind in Dalat. I intended to go climb one of the local mountains, but I had a hard time finding much information and I was feeling generally lazy, so I just ended up hanging out all day and running errands.
The next day I headed off to catch up to the girls in Nha Trang. The scenery on the bus ride over was stunning as we descended out of the mountains. It was a bit scary going down, though, as our driver clearly thought he was running the Indy 500. We got to the bottom safely and stopped a few miles away for food. The next two hours of the ride took us through some
A new friend
Found this guy in the "crazy house" coastal hills before we dropped in to Nha Trang.
I met up with Mickan and Jossan on the beach and after a bit we headed over to get some food. They mentioned that they saw a place advertising "dark beer" so I decided to check that out while they got changed. The beer was a good german-style brew and I thoroughly enjoyed it. About the time I was finishing my beer, the girls joined me and we all headed over to a restaurant called "Good Morning Vietnam" to watch Talledega Nights. The movie was hilarious, for the third time, and everyone liked it (especially Jossan I think). After we finished it was just about time to catch our bus north, so I'll leave off there.
Stay tuned for Hoi An.
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