The Vietnamese Riviera

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We arrived prompt (The Vietnamese are very punctual, not like Thai, Laos and Cambodia) and met our guide (Titi) and our driver (Sam) who would be with us on our 6 day trip. When we left there were a group going out on bikes and I was slightly gutted I hadn't managed to conquer my fears and get on a bike, that would all be gone pretty quickly after i realised just how hot it would be on a bike in 34C, aaaahhhhh - a whole airconditioned car to ourselves driving through the most incredible scenery with the ipod on full blast and two brilliant guides - fantastic! The further we got from Nha Trang the cooler it got and soon we were surrounded by mountains, dense jungles and vast coffee plantations (Vietnam is the third largest coffee producer in the world and it tastes damn good). Within about five hours of leaving Nha Trang we were in Dalat, the Vietnamese Riveria famed for it's beautiful lakes and it's production of the most amazing flowers and vegetables; who knew so many roses, gerbera's and tulips are grown in Vietnam - not me! Dalat is a very sweet, very kitsch place where you can rent a swan and paddle around a lake or take a pony ride with a Vietnamese cowboy or buy a pet fish from the back of a motorbike - genius! We wandered about with our guide for a few hours and then set about demolishing a whole fridge of beer with the rest of the easy riders. I wasn't feeling so great so decided to have an early night and Tel went to play pool with some of the people we had met earlier, they weren't there when he got there so he spent about an hour playing the locals who didn't speak a word of english, who needs a common language when there is beer and pool!! While Tel was getting slaughtered I ended up watching a dreadful film while trying to sleep in what was the noisiest room we have tried to sleep in so far. The room was a bit like prisoner like with windows that didn't lock and louvre doors right onto the bar and main corridor but just to sweeten the deal a merry cockney sauntered in, put his half drunk beer down, sat on the bed only for it to totally collapse - genius!!! I think i'm making it out to be worse than it was, to be fair, because it's so cool in Dalat (only about 18C at night) i got to be in a room with no fan or air conditioning and my pj's on without sweating!

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Photos

Leaving Papa Hanh's office
Should we have got the bikes, er, no!

Wicked scenery
I can totally see the bike appeal!