Dalat

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Dalat - truly Autumnal weather which reminded me of the good and bad bits of Wales. Lots of rain, cold weather in beautiful surroundings.
Stayed in a place called 'The Pink House' - the owner Rot gay as a window, but very charming in his own right.
Booked an 'off-the-beaten-track' tour for my birthday. This consisted of driving around the mountains on a scooter. Woke up at 6 after getting to bed at around 2.30 the night before. Fair to say I was in a slight grump to begin with. The pounding rain outside didn't help matters.
Our tour guide, Sun, was also a smiling, giggling fruit-case which helped with any rain-induced misery.
Set off at 7am. Quickly realised the faster I drove, the more the rain would physically hurt my face.
Arrived at a cricket farm at around 8am for breakfast. Saw how the crickets are reared then was served up a plate of cucumbers, chilli sauce and fried crickets. I was more disturbed by the cucumber than anything else.
The crickets weren't too dissimilar to popcorn and surprisingly tasty.

Instead of coffee to accompany this I was given a couple of shots of Worm Banana wine. What looked (and tasted) like meths with a load of worms and bananas in it.
Sun warned that the might that the bike might get wobbly if I had more than a sip. Caution was obviously thrown to the wind, and the bike was relatively stable.
Next stop was a village market. As there were no other white folk around we got a couple of 'very handsome and beautiful wife' comments - maybe that was just Sun protecting from actual comments of ''You look drunk and sleep deprived''...
Had some very strong vietnamese coffee along with some kind of fritter. no idea what it was, but went down a treat.

Following a glorious drive through the mountains, we stopped road side to have a closer look at the coffee trees.


Then a stop at the largest waterfall in vietnam and a peep at a silk factory - seeing all processes from the moth laying eggs to the cocoons and the silk extraction. very interesting to see, but no doubt boring to read about.

Lunch was cooked up by a buddhist monk- a vegan noodle dish. Tasty and spicy.
Desert was a variety of fruits followed by 'Vietnamese chocolate' - suspiciously wrapped in Banana leafs. This looked like the kind of chocolate found in Gu deserts, though had a few small twigs in there for some reason.
turned out the chocolate was actually weasel shit. animal excrement. wrapped in a banana leaf. brilliant.
Had quite a nutty taste and the finger-licking actions were halted as soon as we heard of it's origin.
On the way out of the monk's place a group of locals accosted me and insisted I had some rice wine as a celebration. No idea what the celebration was, but it would have been rude to decline...

Next a visit to a minority ethnic family somewhere in the mountains.
Most entertaining was a drunk lady who forced me to repeat the words she said whilst giggling loudly along with more shots of rice wine. Before leaving our faces were marked with charcoal in what is apparently a tribal ritual following a shot. yes we looked like fools, but no matter.

Afternoon - a very cold, shivering drive back towards dalat, stopping for a couple of coffees and a visit to a mushroom factory. I have a strong dislike for shrooms so wasn't intrigued by this in the slightest.

Birthday cake was a bear, dropped on the slippy streets which made it looked a bit more Gwyn-like I feel....

Pictures can be found here-

http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i322/thegremlyn/Dalat

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