Bus from Nha Trang to Dalat

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From Nha Trang to Dalat

After a couple of days of sweltering by the beach, we arranged our onward travel to Dalat, this time by bus. Everybody had told us when booking tickets to ensure we took a route on the new road, as this is a few hours shorter. When we saw our transport, a modern air-conditioned coach, we were expecting a pleasant, relaxing journey. On the road, we quickly realised however that ‘new road’ doesn’t mean ‘finished road’, as the bus driver seemingly thinks he’s in some sort of all-terrain vehicle and turns on to a wide and bumpy dirt track.

After navigating our way around piles of chippings and road building vehicles, plus the odd pig, thankfully the road smoothed out. Then we reached the highlands, where the road narrowed, warning signs for landslides were ever increasing, and the gradient was becoming a challenge for the coach.

As we climbed the hills, often on the wrong side of the road, we noticed that at times we were perilously close to the edge of what appeared to be a ravine. Then the barriers would occasionally disappear, leaving nothing between us and a very long drop. At this point, I was thankful that I’d given up my window seat so RD could get a better view to take photos!

We were discussing that this was the scariest of journeys that we’d taken in recent times, and then we found that we weren’t even close. As the mist rolled in, visibility dropped to just a few metres. The bus driver remained insistent on using both lanes, but on the plus side, at least now we couldn’t see the big drop beside us. Then up ahead, there was a momentary diversion off to the right of the road itself. The reason – the road had disappeared off into the gap below.

Eventually the mist lifted and we could see the decent that followed, which was equally terrifying as the climb, just a little faster.

Finally however, and all credit to the skill of the driver who clearly knows the route well, we arrived in Dalat, and were very ready for a beer.

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