Delightful Dalat

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So we wake up early and have our lovely buffet breakfast and head off to the bus company's office and say goodbye to Nha Trang and the beautiful beaches we have just stayed at...the bus happens to be a mini bus with about enough room for me to fit my legs between the seats...Mike sat by the aisle although that didn't help much he wriggled most of the way as he was uncomfortable and sore....not so bad for us but the poor 6 foot 3 man was really struggling!

We left on the a nicely sealed road and wined our way through the roads along the coastline....we passed the daimond resort famous for 2008 miss world contest....wow it really is a lovely place and the private bay and beach was just stunning! We continued and eventually went inland and wound our way through the hills on really bad roads we went over a few really big bumps one of them we got that much air that all the luggage in the back flew over the seat onto the group of young ladies that were sitting in front of it,,no one was hurt.....about 20k from Dalat we hit some rain and there was red/orange water everywhere on the roads, drains and in the beautiful gardens because of the red clay they have very good growing sucess here and they farm everything flower, mushrooms, veges, fruit its a little cooler here to which helps! We get through the rain and then pass by a mass of sparking powerlines the sparks were falling and landing on the road below....everyone is standing and watching in the village from a distance I think it was amusing not so cool but I guess its not something you see everyday or ever.

We eventually 5 hours after we left Nha Trang and we have a look at the sihn cafe hotel...Mike went in first and they told him the price and when they took me in they told me a different price so we decided to leave it and head over the road to a little restuarant that we think is a little expensive but we are hungry and its raining and we have no where to stay so we eat some good western food.....I ordered lasagna and I said to Mike its as good as mine but he thought it needed more beef to be as good as mine hehe soon the manager was on the case to help us find somewhere to stay but we end up getting him to order us a taxi and head to our first choice Dreams Hotel (the website I found was not theres and they don't have one the only way to book is ring!) (84-63) 822981 (164 Phan Dinh Phung) and luckily there is one room left on the fourth floor eight levels of stairs hehe I head up and have a look and come down and say we will take it for $20US a night with a power shower overhead, rail and body jets....we also had excess to jacuzzi and sauna from 4-7pm daily.....breakfast was amazing the best spread they even had marmite and a communal table that Mike loves as he can sit and chat with other people at breakfast and free wifi on every level as well as computers with Facebook excess downstairs.

Day one after we checked in and had a rest we went out to a place I had read about online call 100 roofs cafe we got slightly lost going there but only took five mins to get back on track and to the place...they literally only do coffee but its an architects vision he is an older man and we got to meet him...the place is awesome I relaly liked it especially at night as they have put all different coloured spot lights throughout the place and they themes running through like pacific island, indian etc and its just amazing you are sitting there and little quirky things jump out at you! We head down the road and get some dinner at a local place upstairs the food was great and extermely well priced we get some cake from downstairs at the bakery which was not what either of us thought and didn't get finished 😞 can you imagine me not finishing cake its gotta be bad huh!

The next morning we decided to head out and do a tour with dalat easy riders however when we go up the road there is some many of them and they have such little bikes and we don't know who is the real thing so we head to 'the hangout' thinking we might have more sucess there as I have heard some hangout there as it turns out we did have some luck but not with the easyriders but the hangout crew they have about 30 freelance drivers that are all university graduates with wonderful englis. we end up booking to be picked up the next morning and dropped off at the airport we were wondering how this would work and if there would be enough room for our packs or not but put our thoughts and concerns aside and head over to the crazy house.

The Crazy house is a place that is designed but another architect that has a quiky edge and they have hotel rooms there although on arriving and walking around the place I wouldn't bother staying as you can't be there during the day as there is people everywhere....I think that the place is not really looked after in respect of a hotel either as they are focused on the money they make by getting tourists through during the day,....although this is my opnion....they look to be working on the place more as it isn't finished however they weren't actually doing anything while we were there so who knows if it will ever be finished....I thought the place was pretty cool but I would say go to the Crazy house first and the 100 roofs cafe second as the cafe is more detailed as it is a smaller space but I think it made the crazy house look a little plain on the inside! The architect was here selling the tickets when we were here and she is cute and quirky in the way she dresses too! I think Mike found this place a bit to central and he would have preferred it was out of the city although I would think when she started it it was on the outskirts but now its classed as central! We soon head back to the hotel and I go and have a very relaxing spa and Mike goes and talks to some people downstairs then we head out and eat at the chocolate cafe the food was okay and service slow but all and all nice...we head up the hill and I end up buying a converse hoody for about $10.30au and head back to the hotel happy and ready to pack our bags for our adventure tomorrow!

We wake early lug our bags down eight flights of stairs and head down to have a hearty breakfast before the guys arrive on there bikes Mikes was a Bonus and Mine a Honda they are small bikes by my standards but big enough for the bags us and the drivers for the day! We head off to the old Dalat Railway station that no long get used for a proper service but they do joy rides for travellers...we have a look around and soon head on to the next destination. Second stop is the pagoda its a buddist temple that has a mixture of chinese and indian influence a very unusual mixture until Mikes guide tells us about the history about the religion in Vietnam and how they have influences from both as it comes through from thailand, cambodia on the indian side and china for the chinese. The next stop is a minority village this is a real different feel to the others no tourists and we are shown around by the leader of the village he is fluent in french and vietnamese and Da (there language) and is currently trying to learn english he was a nurse during the war and was in Nha Trang but his village was not effected as much as they just moved around in the forrest from place to place....its nice that there is no one here dressed up for the arrival of tourists and they are just going about there day....first he takes us to his house which is a little wooden place about 2meters off the ground this is to protect from floods and to keep animals underneath too, inside its just a room with a bench to sit on a heap of canisters with rice wine maturing and some musical instruments at the back is the tools for the feilds. He explains that there tradition is the wife must buy the husband and so his wife brought him five water buffalo. Then he sings us some songs in vietnamese and french and plays some traditional instruments....finally the rice wine got brought out and Mike joined him for a drink (he said it was really nice not like bali rice wine) when we are finished at his house we walk around the village and see a mixture of houses and he explained that many people's kids went to america after the war and they came back and built expensive houses for there families....however many little houses that look like a shack or similar to his are still in use are well! There is many people working in the feilds on a pretty warm day and they have a great irrigation system set up as well! We then have a visit to the catholic church most people in there village are catholic which was introduced by the french! When we get back to the bikes Mike give the man a big tip and says thankyou and the guys tell us its better he takes us as the village and its people are more excessible and they are comfortable with us walking around! We sit down and have a chat with the guys and Hung (my driver) and I talk vietnam history and politic's funny that these are two things I am not usually interested in but I want to know if my thoughts and feeling about south and north of vietnam are correct....he tells me the corruption is really bad and that the south are still ruled by the north in the way things are even though he is a uni grad he can't get a government job as he is from the south he wanted to be a teacher but he can't, he says that he can't get a passport as they government is scared that they will leave and never come back as thats what so many people did after the war when they went to america.They say that there is people that have grown up in america and that there parents have told them vietnam is a bad place and they are trying to form some sort of government up in the highlands of vietnam and get rid of the current government in Hanoi. Its very interesting that all the uni's are in the north and he says that everyone from the north goes to the south to work and the people from the south like to have the opportunity to pay the northern vietnamiese small wages...I tell him thats the souths corruption then they will pay there own more than the people from the north...he says that the south vietnamese still feel like they lost to the north as they rule the counrty! If you speak to someone from the north you will get a different story but I guess theres some truth in whats being said! Overall the conversation was great and we soon get a hurry along to head off to the next stop the Elephant falls.

We have a nice long ride through the countryside and we see sights that look a lot like home the shape of the landscape and pine trees line the road...I can smell the pine trees its lovely....we eventually get to the falls and walk down and see the lovely falls that are a brownish colour this is due to the orange clay that mixes with the water as it comes down the river, we climb down and have a look from about halfway but its to slippery to keep going to we leave it at that point and climb back up....we are soon taken down the road to a local eatery and sit down over the pond and have a fabulous lunch there four of us and about 15-20 dishes and enough food to feed a vietnam village hehe it was really well priced about $7 for all of us I think we ate about 1/2 the food on the table...we soon head to our last stop just around the corner before the long ride to the airport this stop is the silk farm which Mike almost said no don't bother taking us well this is the most interesting thing I have seen in a long time they get 700mtrs of silk off one worm and if they leave it to long then the worm will eat through the silk and you will get nothing! It takes 26days of feeding the silk worm to get it to the fat plump stage its ready to be brought to the silk farm and de-silked they use hot water and a machine to get the silk off and then they put a whole lot of strands together and make a big round coil that look a fire hose when its not being used! Then they make the fabric with it and dye it and sell it...the finished product was lovely but we stayed strong and resisted buying anything!

We soon bike on to the airport which is a lovely ride take some photos of the guys and say farewell and thanks and we check into our flight to Hanoi!

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