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Published: April 7th 2010
(This entry is from awhile ago, I just forgot to publish it until now)
From Ho Chi Minh city, we headed to the smaller beach town of Mui Ne, although there was essentially no beach so we didn't stick around for long. We did, however, take a day trip to the sand dunes outside of town. They were beautiful. There were both white dunes and red. We tried the local sport of sand sledding, but as we have experienced snow sledding, we found the whole experience to be a little disappointing- you don't slide very fast and then you get stuck and just end up rolling down the dune. But it was still lots of fun.
After that, we headed to Dalat- sometimes referred to the Disneyland of Vietnam, but we though it was more like Whistler. It had the feel of a ski village just without the snow. The best part of the town- it was cold! At least by our standards (about 24C during the day). We got to wear pants, sweaters, and socks which hasn't happened since Northern Laos. As well, instead of the tropical jungles we've been used to for the last few months, Dalat
was all pine forests!
We explored around town, including the Crazy House- it was a huge house and gardens that done in the style of Flintstones meets Dr. Seuss. We also had a fun ride in a cable car to a beautiful pagoda. It was easily the most peaceful of all the temples we've visited since we've arrived. And they had the most beautiful wind chimes (Bells of Vienna). They were donated to the pagoda, but Andy is going to track some down when we get home.
We also took a day to hike the mountain Lang Biang. At first we were disappointed. We pulled in on our motorbike to find a parking lot full of tour buses and jeeps and were told we could rent a jeep to get to the top or we could walk up the road. We were looking to go for a hike, so we opted for walking. Compared to what we are used to, walking up a paved road with jeeps full of Japanese tours zipping by us every 5 minutes isn't exactly our idea of a satisfying hike. However, after 4km of that, we came to a junction- all the jeeps
turned left to go to the hill station (for restaurants and paragliding) and we turned right onto a dirt trail to the summit. At first it was a rather pleasant stroll on a well maintained trail through pine trees- exactly what we were expecting, but then after about 30 minutes of that, suddenly the pine trees and big trail were gone and we found ourselves on a narrow trail through untamed jungle. It was bizarre- going from forests like BC to being concerned about being eaten by a tiger. It was great fun- there were times when the trail was so steep it was more like climbing ladders of roots and then hiking. And of course, due to the conditions there were no other tourists around and the view from the top was stunning.
The other favorite moment from the hike was 20 minutes after we left the parking and were hiking through farmland we saw something that made us stop- see picture. One of these things is not like the other.
After Dalat we took a 15 hour sleeper bus to Hoi An. Not a bad experience- the beds were pretty comfortable. The first 6 hours of
Hollywood movies dubbed in Vietnamese with a speaker literally 18 inches from head was not a highlight of the trip, but bearable. The Vietnamese need to work on their dubbing skills- they just turn down the volume of the English track and have one Vietnamese person translate the entire movie (narration, male and female voices), in one monotone voice.
Hoi An is lovely, although we have been pretty bad about sight seeing. A word of advice- don't come to Hoi An with someone who can justify having clothes tailor made if you have money in your bank account- you will have none when you leave.
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