Blogs from Da Lat, Lam Dong, Central Highlands, Vietnam, Asia - page 15

After Saigon I chose to go to Da Lat based almost completely on its weather. Its in the central highlands and much cooler than any place I have been since leaving the states in January. I have been sweating for four months. Luckily Da Lat is fantastic; there is no other city like it in Vietnam. The city of about 100,000 is centered around a lake surrounded by hills and mountains. In the center everything looks stacked upon each other. The French built a lot of villas here and used it as a vacation spot to get out of the heat. Some say it is a little remiscent of the French Alps. A clean, colorful city surrounded by pine forests in the mountains. There is not a straight road here. I kept getting lost while riding ... read more

A Few Days in the Highlands 6 April 09 - DA LAT We decided to fly to Da Lat, instead of an 8 hour bus ride. The flight from Saigon to Da Lat was very easy and again we were surprised at how empty the airport was; both the international side when we arrived and the domestic when we left. It took us all of about 20 minutes to get checked in, zip through security and get to our gate. They had a nice café at the gate area so we staked out a table and had some iced coffee and a hearty meal. For once the airport food was not a total rip-off. We spent less than $10 USD for plenty of food and drink. It has been difficult to spend more than $10 ... read more

Da Lat ist ein kleines vietnamesisches Städtchen in den Bergen von Zentralvietnam. Das Klima dort ist das ganze Jahr über frühlingshafte 20-25 Grad. Der erste Europäer, der Da Lat entdeckt hatte, war Dr. Alexandre Yersin im Jahre 1893. Die Franzosen fühlten sich schnell heimisch dort, denn es erinnert sehr an die Landschaft in der Bretagne. Und so bauten sie ihre Sommervillen und Cafés in die Berge und bildeten ein zweites kleines Paris. Vom 2. - 5. April habe ich dieses kleine Paris besucht und war begeistert. Doch ich erzähle mal von Anfang an: Der Bus von Saigon nach Da Lat fuhr um 7.30. Ich stand also sehr früh auf und wartete auf Kate, die Irin, die eigentlich mit mir kommen wollte. Sie ging am Abend zuvor noch in ein Pub und war um 7 Uhr immer ... read more

We made our way to Dalat on the open tour bus, this is basically an open ticket that stops at all the main towns on the way from Saigon to Hanoi. We had only booked it on the way up to Hue though because we wanted the freedom to visit the smaller towns there which are not included on the open tour bus but for our journey up to Hue it suited us perfectly and is pretty cheap too. We arrived in Dalat at around 3pm and found a good guesthouse opposite the tour agency office where our bus dropped us off. The difference in the weather here compared to Saigon is dramatic. This is because Dalat sits at 1000m above sea level so is much cooler and cloudier than the lowlands we'd been used to, ... read more

Wohoo-my turn again-apparently more people read the blog when I wrote it than when Gaz does so he's letting me have another chance! We travelled to Dalat from Saigon on a horrendous 9 hour bus journey where the driver insisted on stopping every 10 minutes to pick up or drop off his friends/ local people but refused to stop for us to go to the toilet. The journey was so bumpy you could not even read however it was very scenic as we travelled into the highlands. Actually this road is so crazy that one week previously a bus carrying russian tourists plunged over a cliff killing 10 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7943757.stm We eventually arrived in Dalat late in the afternoon feeling a little shell shocked from the bus journey and found 'Peace hotel' which was recommended in ... read more