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Published: October 4th 2006
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Hundreds of live crabs - yep, you guessed it 'fighting' Arriving in Da Lat late on the 29th of September, the first thing we noticed about this alpine town, is it's actually kind of cold!! Having no warm gear to speak of any more after shedding weight from our packs in Chiang Mai and Vientinne we booked right into the hotel that the bus dropped us at.
Hot showers, a balcony, cable tv, free breakfast daily, right in the centre of town.. $8? Sure sounds great. Just try and ignore, or keep putting them off at reception about doing one of their ridiculoulsy overpriced tours.
So we tramped on up to the third floor and admired the view across the opposite valley - nicely provided by a gap in the tall buildings across the street. The view consists largely of houses perched on all different levels with the outline of a mountain range in the far background and what appears to be a pine forest on the opposite ridge. Quite nice really.
A quiet night in was to be had after 6 hours on the bus, and as mentioned, no appropirate clothing to leave the building, so we had a meal downstairs and headed off to bed.
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Michelle admires the handiwork of Duy Viet at the Stop and Go Cafe DAY TWO - 30th September Right.. first thing's first.. got to pick ourselves up a jumper.
After eating a very average breakfast (it was free right?) we follow our Lonely Planet map and head towards the Markets, only to discover that THIS is actually the centre of town. CRAP. so we wander round, get harrassed by vendours, barter (again, courtesy of Andrew's skills rather than my own) and once more get grossed out by the obligatory meat section. So glad I don't eat meat, except for the occassional snake here and there, but at least these are kept alive within the restaurant and then killed. - sorry for the details mum!
Thanks to Georgie and Nat, we were left a letter at their guesthouse with suggestions of what to do around this crazy city that they had enjoyed so immensely. So we wander off to find their guesthouse - another substantial hike once we had got lost, and quite possibly taken the longer way there - but arrived to find the precious info and decided to hire a motorbike there and then because we were far to lazy, I mean unfit, I mean tired to walk
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The outside of Duy Viet's house - he built and adorned it himself - the man's a genius! all the way back. And hey, the hire here was heaps cheaper than at our own place.
Walking around the city you kind of get the feeling of being in Edinborough, Scotland - with Vietnamese buildings. The streets and lanes are small and windy, and every street means either walking up or down a hill. There is also a lovely lake where you can paddle swan-shaped paddle boats around and a number of restaurants lake-side to indulge in.
Dining at the Lotus Restaurant (recommended by G + N) we returned home to catch the AFL grand finals, only to walk in at the end where West Coast was receiving their trophy. Andrew was not impressed.
Looking up LP again for inspiration we headed to Larry's Bar to squeeze in a few beers during happy hour and discovered a lovely pub complete with ol' english style decor, faux stone walls to match the faux stone fireplace and complimentary ourderves and beer nuts. How can you complain? Really great music and a free pool table to amuse ourselves on (my pool skills may slowly be improving!!) and to finish it off with a game of Yahtzee!! Got to love
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An assortment of live fish and other goodies at Cho Da Lat (Markets) the boardgames that are provided in many of the dining and drinking establishments over here.
Head home for some more cards and a light dinner of baguettes containing strange ingredients served up by two hilarious young girls that laughed coqettishly at everything Andrew said. We also met a bunch of younger girls (11 years old) who again giggled profusely whenever we uttered a word. We continued down the street to the sounds of glee after learning a new hand clapping game demonstrated by Nunny. Such a hit with the kids i tell's ya.
DAY THREE - 1st October We lie in bed for hours listening to the wind howl and the glass shake in our windows - the offshoot from the typhoon hitting the coast of Vietnam. We're safely away from it, but the day was ruined with high winds and lots of rain meaning that motoring any substantial distance to reach the sights outside of Dalat would be pretty miserable.
Never fear, not people to worry too much about getting wet, we still travelled on over to the town centre and tracked down the "Stop and Go Cafe" based in the living room of
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The inside of the market - floor space is at a premium. local artist Duy Viet. It really was a lovely spot. Apart from being a shelter from the storm outside, his house was built by hand himself and the walls are adorned from ceiling to floor with poetry on red scrolls that he has written himself. We are served croissants with cream cheese and a home-made cake straight from his kitchen to accompany our Du Lat grown coffee. mmmm mm.
As we read through his poetry and admire his beautiful greenhouses that sit outside his door, Mimmi the cat takes every opportunity to jump up on the table to polish off the rest of our cake. This is a peaceful setting that Duy Viet opens willingly to strangers in an effort to encourage the sharing of ideas and making of new friends. He proudly shows us his visitors book consisting of people such as our very own Peter Garret, and JFK Jnr. Lovely man, lovely place, beautiful Cherry Tea - do not miss it!!
The other discovery we made today was a great restaurant called "Cafe V" which has a nice little French inspired feel and served up some seriously good vegie curry, and very generous servings of Lemon
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The gang - Us, Duy Viet (artist) and partner (maker of exquisite cherry tea and cinnamon cakes) Meraenge (sp?) Pie. Nice and warm on a cold wet day.
I guess we're kind of stuck here for another day or two till we can establish the damage of the Typhoon and which areas will still be open. They've just evacuated 180,000 people in Hoi An! Crazy.
There are a number of sights in surounding Da Lat that we want to check out, but hey, noone can control the weather. I guess we'll just see what happens.
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