Blogs from Da Lat, Lam Dong, Central Highlands, Vietnam, Asia - page 4

We left Dalat around 1pm, the sun was shining in a bright blue sky and despite being cold overnight it was now a lovely temperature around 26 degrees. Soon into the journey to Na Trang, back on the coast, we were climbing steeply. Before reaching the coast there was a whole mountain range to cross. The higher we climbed the more the clouds moved in and the tops of the mountains were swathed in mist. Before long we were in and out of the mist itself driving along steep narrow roads with deep drops to one side. All around us were towering hillsides covered in rainforest bathed in the mist. We had a brilliant coach driver who stopped constantly and waited while everyone piled out to take photographs and of course the odd cigarette break for ... read more

Dalat Waking at 5:30am to catch a tourist bus is the antithesis of cycletouring and our reasons for travelling by bike were amply demonstrated on this day. The bus refused to take us in the morning stating that that bus was too small, despite having booked WITH BIKES the previous day. The afternoon bus crammed in our bikes causing various niggles over the following rides, and crammed in luggage and people such that to exit my 2' square slot I was required to swing from the overhead storage and stand on the backs of seats. The drive was miserable, poor ventilation, systematic shinning of my knees and the compartment containing the bikes popping open on the journey. Coupled with depressing views of defoliated hills (not Agent Orange this time!) and a bumpy ride. The ordeal was ... read more

6. den, 29.2.2012 - Dalat Bus prijizdi pred hotel vcas - 7:30 nasedame do maleho stareho autobusu bez klimatize, ve kterem mame jet 5h do Dalatu. To bude super. Nakonec zabirame celou zadni lavici a podari se nam si ji uchranit pred nove pristoupivsimi. Takze celkem pohoda. Lenca misty i spi - bus je opet bez tlumicu a cesta je spis necesta, takze vzpominame na Sri Lanskou cestu k pobrezi a misty nechtene opoustime sedadla. Argentinci pred nama nechapou, ale pak se uz taky jen smeji. Konec cesty je jiz super, najizdi se na 4 proudovou dalnici s na mistni pomery (misty i pomery nasi D1) vybornym povrchem a tak ficime snad i 80kou. V Dalatu jsme ve 12. Vita nas mistni kluk v modrem tricku a rovnou sikovne nabizi moznost ubytovani v hotylku hned vedle ... read more

5th november Arrived tired and dirty in nha trang at about 6am. Luckily we had arranged to be picked up by our hotel for free and could check into our room. After a catch up on some sleep we headed out to see nha trang...not much to see really! It was very humid and hot so we went to the beach. In the evening we found a bar showing football. It was full of ex pats and young vietnamese girls serving drinks. Lots of the old eat sweaty men were hugging and touching the girls...grim! Unfortunately we didn.t get to see much of the game because an english woman and her scottish husband living in nha trang decided to tell us all the things they had done in south east asia and what we should do. ... read more

Da Lat was just in from the coast by Mue Ne and was a small province with a small amount of sights to see. We ended up getting a tour of the city and visited coffee, flower, silk & cricket factories, which were all interesting in their own weird way. The coffee & flower ones were basic but I found the silk & cricket more interesting. The cricket farm showed us why, how etc they keep & breed crickets and at what age/size they send them off for food into towns near by. Obviously at the end of the tour we were given a plate to try, with chilli sauce....ofcourse! I had a couple, just tasted like burst bit of chicken or dog or something?! Dalat didn't have much of a night life but nice restaurants ... read more