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Published: March 1st 2007
We had to be up at 6am to get the bus, which was grand. Although Dalat looked very close on the map it took nearly 10 hours to get there! We were dropped at the Pacific Hotel, the rooms looked ok and were cheap so we decided to stay there. After dumping our stuff we headed out for a bite to eat, and were approached by two easyrider motor bike tour guides who convinced us to book a tour with them the next day.
The next day we met our guides at the hotel at 9am to start our tour. Our first stop was the Dragon Temple. After that we headed out of the city and stopped to admire the neatly arranged small farms. Dalat has a unique climate due to its high altitude, which makes it one of the best agricultural areas in Vietnam. We then stopped off at a green house flower farm, where apparently most of the flowers are exported to Holland! We headed from there to the beautiful Elephant Falls, which were located beside a large temple. We then stopped for lunch at a small local restaurant, where we got to taste the local rice wine
and have some tasty local food.
After lunch we drove rather fast on some twisty roads on the way to a coffee plantation, a mushroom farm and then a silk worm farm. They then brought us to see what the silk worms are used for at a silk worm factory. Basically this involves taking the silk worms cocoons and boiling them to kill the larvae and soften the silk. The cocoons are then threaded to remove the silk on to a spool.
We then visited a local rice wine distillery, which was located in the basement of a small house. We again got to taste the wine, which was a lot stronger than that served in the restautrant. Our last stop before heading back to the city was to a minority village, where we invited into a family's home, and our guide even tried to marry Ciaran off to one of the daughters!
When we got back to the city we visited the Crazy House. The house was designed by Hang Nga, whose father was once president of Vietnam. The Crazy House is actually a guesthouse, but has now become a tourist attraction. Very hard to describe
but take it from us - It's crazy.
After a long day we spent the evening on the internet before heading to bed early.
Next stop Hoi'An...
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