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Published: April 22nd 2006
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After Hoi An I was a bit tired of cities, having not seen anything but since Laos. So I took an overnight bus that eventually dropped me off at Da Lat, a city further inland that is set amongst the southern highlands, which along with wonderful scenery, provided a welcome respite from the heat. The city itself is not all that exciting, and as the number one tourist destination for Vietnamese, it is quite touristy, but my main enticement was the surrounding countryside, which is pleasantly rugged and on top of being quite scenic.
I arrived in the afternoon and did nothing exceptional for the rest of the day because I am always a bit wiped after an all night bus ride. Went to bed early after indulging in some mindless entertainment (MTV Asia of all things) and the next morning after a truly gluttonous breakfast I wandered off and rented a bike for the day. I didn't have a map of the countryside, so just picked a likely looking road and headed down it, a task made all the easier because all the road signs for major tourist sights are marked in English too. My basic protocal was to
pick a road and head down it for a ways, then turn around and repeat the exercise with anothe lucky road. As I did this for about 4 hours, I was able to make a number of excursions well outside of city limits. Besides the jaw-dropping views, I made it to where most tourists don't seem to go, and as a result the people where very friendly. Almost all the kids called out "hello" as I went by, as did the everybody on motorbikes.
About halfway through my explorations, I realized it was well passed lunch time and so pushed on to a nearby village for lunch. The town was a tiny place called Cao Dat that is charmingly perched on the edge of a hill, after perusing the town's limited options I wandered into a promising cafe. I asked the owner for "lunch," and quickly received a blank look, I then asked for "food" and after the same result, I pantomimed eating and the women smiled, showed me a seat and went into the kitchen. As I hadn't seen a menu, or asked for anything specifically, I enjoyed waiting for my suprise meal. I received an enormous bowl
of soup, with noodles, dumplings and possibly ham, and I washed down this throughly delicious meal with a Pepsi.
While I was waiting for the meal to be brought out, the woman's husband came around the corner carrying their child, who looked at me with obvious puzzlement. Prompted by his father, the infant waved to me. Later, while I was eating, his Mom was holding him at the table next to mine, and throughout lunch he never stopped staring at me. He must have been thinking, "man, that guy looks funny, his hair is weird, his skin is too light and bright red (I forgot sun block) and he smells horrible."
That evening was entirely unexceptional, except for one thing that was quite odd. As I was walking by a store, a man stopped me and asked "Do you speak English?" following my affirmative reply, he asked me to look at a document he couldn't understand. I soon found myself in downtown Da Lat, Vietnam holding onto a recently issued United States Social Security card, along with documents explaining it. Curiously, he hadn't ordered one and didn't know the name on the card. So it seems our federal government is issuing Social Security cards to nonexistent people and mailing them to Vietnam.
The next day, more of the same - biking that is, not examing Social Security cards. Spent the day on a bike, wandering the countryside lacking a real destination. However, I started the day my making a slightly eccentric tourist stop. I turned up a likely road and wound my way to the top of the hill, all the while trying to avoid being squased by a huge truck that was right behind me. Eventually I crested the hill to a glorious backdrop of rugged hills rolling into the distance . . . and the city dump in the foreground, whoops. As the truck drove by, with the driver laughing, I performed a quick about-face and headed back down, which ended up leading me through a herd of cows.
My last tourist stop of the day was completely random. I chose it merely because it had a huge sign out of marble, as it was written in Vietnamese, I had no idea what the attraction was. Figuring it must be important, I road down the 1.5 mile road leading to it along a quickly deteriorating road. Finally, with the song from Deliverance going through my head, I turned the corner to a not particularly impressive hydroelectric plant. I dismounted the bike and had my attention caught by a gentleman clapping (not sure if he was applauding my effort or trying to get my attention), who gave me a quick once over and promptly threw me out.
All in all, not a wildly exciting couple of days, but with the cooler weather and the time on the bike, very refreshing. I was also amazed at how friendly everybody was. Motorbike pilots almost universially said hello and waved, in villages all the children called out "hello," and at one point I found myself in the unlikely situation of being cheered on by a score of ditch diggers working alongside the road.
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