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Published: June 12th 2011
Departed Saigon yesterday at 1:00 in the back of the bus. We took Phuong Teang bus service because they had the best price, neck pillows, and taxi service when you arrive to take you wherever you want to go. The neck pillows are crucial because we were on the bus for nine hours-was supposed to be seven. Steven began chatting with a university student finishing up her junior year of college and was heading home to see her family for the summer. She is getting her degree as an auditor and already has an intership waiting for her next year. Adorable young lady, she gave us information about the countryside the entire ride. She really wanted to practice her english and I wanted to practice my vietnamese-good combination. She bought fruit at one of the rest stops and shared with us. We bought her a Snickers which she promptly put away saving it for her little sister. Steven encouraged her and praised her english and she just glowed. When she got off the bus she said "If we have faith, we will see each other again."
Arrived Dalat around 9 and took the free taxi to our hotel. The hotel was booked. The hotel manager asked if it woulod be alright with us if he could recommend another hotel. I said that would be great as we had no plan b. He made a phone call, and the owner of the recommended hotel came over and picked us up. We are stayingt at Thien An, a little bit outside of town. We have a beautiful room with two king beds and a balcony. Starving, we headed out. Everything was closing down. We stopped and a had a quick beer to take a look at the map. We ended up going to the Night Market-so much fun! First, we were the only foreigners there. The kids immediately came up to me and began playing around (one little guy made the "loser" sign on my forehead so I swatted him) and we looked for food. We had grilled chicken, a kind of egg burrito, grilled corn, and I found.......caramel corn! WOO-HOO! We ate for about three dollars. On the way home we found a french bakery, loaded up on scones, croissants, and bear claws, and then found a little bar open late. I had my first glass of decent red wine.
Dalat is very different than anywhere else we have been in Vietnam. We are in Central Vietnam-the air is clean and it is much cooler here; I was chilly walking back to the hotel at midnight. The buildings are not crammed together and the streets are wider. A huge population of Christians here-lots of churches, Catholic, and restaurants are not decorated with Buddha but Jesus.
We thought we might only stay a day but with the mountains, clean air, and good wine........who knows! we are getting bikes today to explore the city. I saw an advertisement for river rafting...NO. We will stick to walking and riding.
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Bastiaan
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hotel in dalat
Hi there, i'm going to Vietnam in a month's time and looking for a nice affordable quiet hotel/guest house in Dalat. Would you recommend Thien An?