Dalat, on two wheels

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Dalat is a small town in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, the important word in this sentence is high, high as in cold and wet and mountainous.

Travelling around SE Asia does not condition you well for cold and rain, in fact being cold was a feeling we had forgotten, this said we enjoyed Dalat immensley.

As we got close the palm trees of the low lands gave way to connifirs, the road became twisty and the clouds were suddenly below us instead of above. The town itself looked like an Austrian Ski resort (minus the snow) the buildings were very 'European Chalet' and people were wrapped up in jumpers and coats.

Due to the cold we did very little the first day beside shelter in cafes drinking hot drinks and hiding from the rain.

The next day dawned sunny and bright which was fortunate as we had booked motorbike tours. A local group, called the easy riders, will whisk you around the countryside on their 125cc bikes for only 20USD a day.

We had a bike and rider each and were soon whizzing around the empty mountain trails (though at one point we did see a full size fridge on the back of a moped) being taken to hill tribe villages, buddist temples (where an old lady roped us into moving statues around) and a silk farm. We stopped for a while at one hilltop home where the family made a living by growing coffee, rice, mushrooms, fish, and silk worms and ran a cafe selling home brewed rice wine all under one roof.

Other highlights included tea and cashew nut plantations, and seeing the locals fishing with nets and spears at the local dam.

Once back in town we were taken to the old French railway station, that still has a running train despite not being conected to anywhere and to 'The Crazy House' a hotel/art project designed by a mad hippy that looked like a cartoon version of a giant tree house designed by a hyperactive five year old.

We ended the day in a restaurant run by another mad women (this one was quite hilarious) drinking the local red wine. The French occupancy of Vietnam atleast left a legacy of good coffee, baguettes and wine, after living on rice and lager for as long as we had these were not to be sniffed at.

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Photos

Dalat
easy riders

Buddist statues
always ready to help

Buddah
happy chappy