Dalat, A Place To Cool Off From The Coastal Heat.

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We left early for the city of Dalat, 6 h away. We were lucky as the bus was the 'night bus' with a small bunk bed for each person, very comfy.. As usual the bus driver was flying on the road, hooting at every vehicle and cows on the road and at the same time, smoking and talking on the phone.. Otherwise it was a really nice and scenic ride, alongside the sea with the mountains in the background. Later we had to change bus and from there it went uphill. Dalat is situated at a height of 1500 meters and the serpentine road was steep, it took the bus about 1,5 hour to get up. The view was amazing, just green trees and tiny waterfalls alongside the cliffs.

We stopped for lunch along the way at a roadside café. Food was bad and they had a poor monkey in a cage swinging in a hammock as well as two large lizzards in another. Shame.

Dalat is an old French colonial town, and the houses are mostly of French architecture although most of them very much in need of some paint and renovation. There is a small lake in the middle of the town and mountains surrounding the city. Outside our hotel runs a river. Apparently everyone uses the river as a dumpster where they throw their garbage,,,

I, Linda, badly needed a haircut so when we walked passed a hair salon I decided to have it done. The small problem though was that the hair dresser did not know a word of English, she had another customer asking me how much I wanted her to cut.. ;/ felt very pampered, never had 4 people fixing my hair before for $3.

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