Da Lat

---

The journey up into the mountains of central Vietnam was a painfully slow one in a tiny and unbelievably uncomfortable minibus. However, the stunning views as we ascended through the clouds made it bearable. Climate-wise, Da Lat felt like a completely different country. It's several degrees cooler than the lower ground, and far more humid and gets regular rain. The locals were all wearing their warmest winter coats and bobble hats- much more like home!

Our first task upon arrival was to get ourselves a room - the problem was that, as it was a Vietnamese holiday, half of the country were doing the same thing. We eventually got lucky at our 13th attempt, and managed to get a room for one night only. This meant an early start the following day to find ourselves a more permanent residence.

This was achieved far more easily than I anticipated, however this was balanced out by how difficult it turned out to be to get some money. Everywhere that could exchange travellers cheques was closed for the public holiday, and none of the ATMs would accept any of my cards. We scraped together enough loose change to afford some lunch and, thankfully, after searching the whole city we eventually found an ATM that worked by mid afternoon.

On our second day we decided to take a DIY tour of the surrounding area. We were going to rent a motorbike until the lady at reception thought better of it after we asked her how it worked! We ended up with a couple of questionable looking mountainbikes instead. Riding through the town was interesting as the general concensus is that the bigger vehicle always has right of way, so being right at the bottom of the food chain (combined with driving on the wrong side of the road) lead to some dodgy moments.

Once through the town though it was plain sailing coasting down the mountain roads to one of the waterfalls about 5km outside of the town. The waterfall wasn't exactly breathtaking, but made for a pleasant hour or so. Only as we embarked on the return trip did the reality finally sink in, that 5km downhill meant 5km up steep mountain roads on the way back. A combination of riding along the shallow inclines and pushing the bikes up the steeper sections finally got us back to the guesthouse thoroughly exhausted and slightly damp. The upside was that for once I felt like I deserved dinner and a beer that night.

The next day we made a more sensible decision to hire a moto driver - one of Da Lat's infamous Easy Riders - to take us on a tour of the area. The full day tour included stops at the Cathederal, the main Pagoda, a silk farm and factory and another waterfall amongst others. The travelling in between stops was almost better than the stops themselves as the landscape is amazing and the cool wet climate is perfect for growing vegetables and coffee. Our guides also stopped to point out areas where defoliants were used during the war, and where only pine trees can grow now.

The highlight of the day was a stop at one of ther nearby minority villages. Our guide was friends with the village chief and so is the only guide allowed to take visitors to that particular village. We watched the locals working and saw inside their huts. The children were amusing as they clearly wanted to see what we were upto (nothing to do with the sweets we handed out to them) but were seemingly too afraid of us to get closer than a safe distance without being coaxed. It was pretty clear that they have only ever seen a handful of white faces and didn't know what to make of us.

Our last day in Da Lat was a relaxed one, with only a trip to the local market worthy of note. The market is literally unbelievable - you've never seen so much crap in all your life! If it's either knitted or made of plastic and incredibly tacky then it's there. If you ever want a glow-in-the-dark Buddha or a patterned bobble hat the next time your in Vietnam, then Da Lat is the place to go.

After a few days of the cold, wet weather we headed to the sun, sea and sand of the coast.

---