Strange and Beautiful

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First things first, I have to apologise for a lot of these photos being blurry. Our crap camera has struck again!

After yet another early start of around 7am, we boarded our bus to Da Lat, which is a small town in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The bus was surprisingly empty so we claimed the back seat and assumed the 4 hour journey was going to be a pleasant one. After 4 hours we arrived at an unknown destination where we picked up a number of locals.....and their families......and their pets.....and their motorbikes! Nah it wasn't that bad, but still a squeeze. Although, I have seen buses drive past with mopeds and bicycles attached precariously to the roof! We asked our driver how far we were from Da Lat, who told us that we had another 3 hours until we arrived! It turned out we took a 2 hour detour to pick up the extra people. After initially thinking that we were in the hands of professionals, I am beginning to loose faith in Vietnamese travel agencies!

The journey along the coastal road was a very beautiful one. On the right was the coast and the left the mountains. The landscape almost reminded me of Greece, only with a bit more greenery. We approached the highlands and could see the road snake off up a steep mountainside, cutting through the forest as it went. We began our ascent along a road that was barely two-way, with the danger of falling rocks on one side and a sheer drop with no barrier on the other.

The weather in the Highlands is quite interesting. It is more like that of an English summer. The daytime is really quite hot and sunny, however in the evening it cools right down, making for a pleasant night’s sleep. It must have been the first night’s sleep I’ve had without sweating my bollocks off for about 3 months! It was funny to see all of the Vietnamese walking around in coats and hats on a day that we would call a scorcher in England. The last day that we were there was actually really shite. It was quite cold and there was steady drizzle throughout the day, much like England. I actually really enjoyed it - quite a refreshing change.

After a drive through a number of remote villages, we arrived in Da Lat. We met an English girl called Eleanor and an Irish girl called Doireann on the bus so decided to go with them to get some dinner and introduce them to the local Vodka!! A few games of ring of fire and a couple of bottles later we were all well and truly plastered. Also met a couple of guys from London called Mustafa and Sang who joined in the fun and games, so we all booked up a tour of the surrounding countryside the next day.

Woke up the next day and the vodka hadn't quite worn off from the night before. I’m sure you’re all aware of being at that stage where you are still drunk and having a laugh, but you can tell that it's short lived and you'll have a stinker of a headache in about an hour? We met our mini bus and set off on our strange and beautiful tour. The day ahead of us held some very beautiful, but also very strange sights. Vietnam is fast becoming one of the most random places I have been to so far! The first place we visited was Datlana Waterfall. It is quite a small waterfall set in a steep valley in the mountains banked with thick rainforest. It was a very relaxing place, and also very beautiful, so we were quite surprised when we turned around to see a bloke dressed up in a bear costume standing next to us! Why on earth would a guy be dressed in a bear costume, in sweltering heat, standing next to a waterfall, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam I hear you ask, well I was hoping somebody could tell me that! One of the girls asked for a photo and the guy had the cheek to ask for a payment of 5000 dong! Any way they can make money here, they will try it! There was also a large concrete eagle positioned on top of a rock (?!), which myself and James (in our semi drunken state) took great pleasure in riding!

We moved onto the Chicken Village, which is a remote village just outside of Da Lat. We were left to wander for a while and it was very interesting to see how these people live. A far cry from back home. You’ll see from the pictures that the houses are no more than sheds, the village shop a wooden hut and being a farming village, most of the inhabitants live entirely to their means. I couldn’t help but feel ashamed of us English. People generally complaining about the fact that they can’t afford the latest pair of Gucci sunglasses, or a flat screen TV etc etc. These people have pretty much nothing, but still have smiles on their faces.

The random theme of the day was continued thus: When you visit a place called ‘The Chicken Minority Village’ you would expect them to maybe be a farming community who’s main source of income is through the breeding of chickens, right? Certainly not! The reason for the name is the enormous concrete chicken standing in the middle of the village. We were told that it is to commemorate a famous love story (basically Romeo & Juliet, but with a Vietnamese twist). The thing is, why would you commemorate a romantic love story, that doesn’t involve livestock at all, with a massive cock.........? come to think of it I suppose it could be quite apt!!!

Afterwards we moved on to Pongour falls. This is the largest waterfall in the Dalat area and is pretty spectacular. It is a lot larger than Datlana and the rock has formed into steps that the water flows over. It was a really nice place and I would have liked to spend a lot longer there, but our next destination awaited. I don't know how I managed to contain my excitement with this one……. a coffee plantation. Really not too much to report here and unfortunately the camera had run out of battery by then so sadly I'm going have to rely on my memory to re-live the breathtaking images of coffee beans.

Anyway, moving on. After going back to town for a lunch break and a chance to get some charge in the camera we took a cable car for a 10 minute journey over pine forests and farmland. The views from up here were really nice and it was a pleasant, peaceful way to admire the scenery. The cable car deposited us conveniently at our next port of call which was the Truc Lam Meditation Centre set on the banks of Tuyen Lam Lake. This was again very peaceful and the views out across the lake were very beautiful.

I think we chose the wrong night to get drunk as every place we were taken was very relaxing and oozed tranquility. Well, until myself and James descended on each spot, still half drunk, talking loudly, laughing loudly, clambering on rocks and riding eagles!!

Then, to our utter delight, we arrived at the crazy house! This place is insane! It is called 'The Crazy House' due to its architecture. It's just like Alice in Wonderland. It is full of weird and wonderful ladders, staircases, walkways and bridges. It's just so obscure, as it is located in the middle of an everyday Vietnamese neighbourhood and sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the local architecture. This was just what we needed, we all ran off in different directions and left it to our inner-child to explore this crazy place. The best thing was that it was OK to act the fool, so we felt nicely at home! The Crazy House is actually a guesthouse where you can stay for about $20 a night! My god that would be cool, but just a tad too expensive for us unfortunately.

Our last stop was the King's summer palace. This summer residence has been left exactly as it was when King Bao Dai left it when he disappeared into exile in France and Monaco after the Second World War We all donned leprechaun shoes and went for a wander. It was very interesting to see how the other half lived, but to me, the 30’s architectural style was not the most beautiful and I wouldn't put it high on the 'Things to do Before You're 30 List'. There was however another very random moment. Wandering around the grounds of the Palace was a guy dressed in a ridiculous costume in the form of some very obscure orange-skinned creature (see pic). Very surreal, and quite a fitting end to a very strange day.

Arrived back at the hotel and tried to book our bus to Nha Trang. The guys at the hotel told us that it was full so we'd have to wait until the following day (the girls caught the same bus and we later found out that it was in fact half empty, they just blatantly lied to us in order to get us to stay another night!!!). Due to the fact that we weren't leaving early the next day we met up with a couple of Belgian Legends called Sim and Jens and had another good night on the booze. Woke up and spent a well deserved day in bed watching films on cable (I know, sheer luxury at $3 a night baby!!) and had an early night in preparation for our bus journey the following day.

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Photos

Mr. Miagi
What a legend

Comments

[mum]

ANOTHER BLOG! it was a lovely surprise, I'm sitting in my classroom, absolutely STEAMING (its a real heatwave here - I can't remember a Summer like it in years...)and with a throbbing toothache (which isn't pleasant), waiting for the bell to go for the final time this school year...feeling washed out and very tired...and I see mail from Pete!!!! Thanks for cheering me up, that stepped waterful looked so beautiful and cool I'd like to have walked in it. The Crazy House was - well - CRAZY! I suppose its for tourists, but do they get that many up there? Or is the person who made it just a wierd eccentric who did it for his own pleasure/interest? There's a man in France I think who has built his complete home out of rubbish... Oh well, there goes the bell! School's out for Summer! Like you, I'm finding myself actually wishing for drizzle, (and you know what a sun worshipper I am!) BYE xxxxxxx