Dalat: Day 2 of my trip

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Monday, April 6th 2009

Yay, it was my first day of traveling and in a new city- how exciting! I couldn’t wait to find some breakfast and start exploring Dalat. I wish that would have been the case...
While having breakfast and walking around I was constantly asked “How are you, Miss?” “What do you want to do today, Miss?” I had heard that there would be many motorbike drivers here, who offered day or up to two week long trips (even going up north as far as Hanoi). Several years ago there was a group of motorbike guys who funnily called themselves ‘Easy Riders’ and were quite reliable about safety, English knowledge and the quality of their trips. but of course every good idea has its “copy-cats”, so now there are tons of people offering such trips.
First I was curious, but when I decided to not do a tour today and just wanted to walk around, I got rather annoyed by all these offers.
After breakfast I started walking around the town, which looked quite european, with its big lake in the middle and flowergardens everywhere. The weather reminded me a lot of one of our holidays in the Netherlands or the end of summer in Germany: windy- cloudy- chilly- sunshine with the occasional rainshower. For me today was quite perfect not having the burning sun of HCMC while feeling natious, instead having a nice breeze.
I went to a internet shop to reserve the hotels in the other cities, when I started feeling sick again. I walked around a bit, thinking (and hoping) that that might help, but my legs were way too shaky. I sat down and the next thing I remember was hearing a noise which got louder and louder. I must have lost consciousness, because I found myself laying on the ground. I don’t think that I was gone for long, but I really didn’t feel good. I sat there for a while and eventually got on a motorbike taxi (xe om), which took me to the hotel. I have no idea how I managed to stay on the bike and pay the driver, because I threw up again and I just rushed up to my room.
So, that afternoon I couldn’t go out either and spent the time writing on my blog and trying to get better. By that point I knew that I had eaten something bad and it wasn’t the bumpy ride. I thought it was funny that all these months in HCMC I had never gotten sick and the first day on my trip I do 😊
I slept well that night and hoped for a better next day...

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