Dalat

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Dalat on two wheels...

Our arrival in Dalat was marred by one of those gastric experiences that all travellers encounter at some point. Gory, unpleasant details aside, let's just say that it was without exception the most uncomfortable, humiliating, repugnant day of the holiday. It also involved two flights, a five-hour wait at Saigon Airport and a whole lot of me telling myself to ''Keep it together". The last I didn't quite manage...

Dalat is a charming province in Vietnam's Central Highlands. It was this highlands factor that drew us for the post-Hue leg of our holiday - being 1500m above sea level and mountainous, we knew we'd be safe from flooding there. Not so Hoi An, our intended next stop, which we read in the local press remained waterlogged for days to come.

Our days in Dalat were spent taking in the many sights: pagodas, all-but abandoned train stations, the last Emperor's many palaces (retro delights indeed), the market gardens (flowers and vegetables all neatly contained in greenhouses) and trekking up and down the many hills. We saw it all from above by cable car, and took ourselves out of the tourist trail on a hired moto for a few days.

We rode into the hills, taking the roads between coffee plantations to an out-of-the-way silk farm. Back on the other side of town we found farming minority villages - one of which was home to a zebra. There was no-one around to ask how it came to be there.

We decided to extend our touring, heading up through the mountain road to Lak Lake, about 5 hours' ride. It was a stunning ride on a twisting road that cut along the edges of the mountains, through foggy peaks and alongside idyllic farmland scenery. We certainly worked out our 110cc moto pushing it through some nasty curves.

Lak Lake was like being on holidays from holidays - a tiny place with little to do but sit and ponder the waters. We stayed for two nights (the day between spent motoring to the local capital city in search of an elephant festival we'd heard whispers of. Alas, it wasn't to be).

Returning to Dalat was pleasantly akin to coming home - we're beginning to realise the comfort in coming back to somewhere. But as tempting as it was to settle down in Dreams Hotel (where breakfast was shared at a large table in the kitchen and there was even Vegemite to spread on our baguettes) the call of the coast was growing louder and becoming hard to resist.

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Photos

Above it all
Checking out the sights from a cable car. Significantly more technologically sound than we were expecting!

Blue sky at last
The sight of endless blue above brought us an unexpected amount of satisfaction after so much rain.

Making friends
People love Duncan over here. This man ran through the market (as well as he could with his bamboo walking stick) to shake his hand and speak excitedly with him in Vietnamese. It happened all over the place...

Feeling zen
We could see this enormous white Buddha while exploring Dalat and finally tracked down the road that led to his pagoda.

A horse is a horse
Except when it's a zebra. The most bizarre sight we've come across - a zebra in a field of a remote village near the mountain in Dalat.

Weaving silk
A lady weaving silk on a manual loom.

Easy Rider
Dusk at Lak Lake.

Dusk at Lak Lake
Another stunning sunset.

Small sights
An abandoned church on the road from Buon Mah Thuot to Lak Lake.

Home from school
Passing students on their way to or from school was a daily delight - the little kids scream out 'hello' and the older ones giggle and smile shyly. The senior female students wear the elegant ao dai.