Dalat

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One of our favourite places so far. Cool, calm and charming, Dalat is like no where else we have been. As it is in the Central Highlands, it has completely different scenery. Conifers replace palm trees, mountains replace long stretches of sand, and cool evenings replace the hot, humid ones.

The air temperature here was much cooler yet the sun was still as hot as ever, but just that slight difference made walking around a lot easier. The hills however did not, and we spent ages walking up and down them. The town is situated around a beautiful lake (which looked smaller than it was), and we spent the afternoon wandering around it, stopping off at a well kept flower park along the way. The park had some lovely views as well as cheap yummy ice-cream 😊

After our rather long stroll we took a pedalo out on the water (shaped in the shape of a swan much to Rikkis embarassment) and spent an hour floating about, soaking up the afternoon sun and Swiss- like scenery. We then found a great little vegetarian restaurant (which we then spent every meal at) that did veggie versions of every meat dish possible...... even fried eel! That evening, we found a brilliant little street cafe, which sold hot soya milk and small cakes to warm us up in the chilly conditions!

Rather than spending money on an organised trip, we decided to embark on our own city tour, which was easier on the wallet, but not on the legs! We began at the well known "crazy house", a building that should be a set for Alice and Wonderland! Cleverly constructed, the house is built from and around huge buttress roots, and contains random, spiralling starwells, oddly shaped bedrooms and wierd and wacky creatures! It was so bizzare and quirky! We then had another long walk, stopping off at various small sites, to go on a cable car up into the mountains. This was one of our highlights, and one that, to our suprise, was not advertised anywhere! It was such an incredible journey, travelling over the tops of trees, with beautiful views of both the city and the never ending forest! What makes it even better is that it comes to an end at an impressive lake-side pagoda deep in the forest. It was the most peaceful place you can imagine, no wonder the monks chose this location! It was so relaxing to sit and listen to the therapeutic noises of chimes and drums whilst watching the trees sway and the lake glisten!

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