Blogs from Lam Dong, Central Highlands, Vietnam, Asia - page 30

Vietnam sa mi paci stale viac a viac :-) Vcera som zabludila do jednej cestovky tu v meste Dalat a na stene mali obrazky ludi zliezajucich vodopady - zavolala som chalanov a do 5 minut sme vyberali peniaze na zaplatenie Extreme Adventure Tourism tour. Bol to dost narocny den - chalani doma v Kanade lezu po skalach tak raz za tyzden a ja som to v zivote nerobila. Zvladla som to na jednotku - a ani som nebola nejak extra nervozna. Cely den sme sa predierali hustou dzunglou, liezli rebrikmi, prebrodili nespocetne mnostvo vodopadov a potocikov - neprijemne smyklave kamene ale nikomu sa nic nestalo az na mensie odreniny sme sa cely dostali spat do hotela. Bol to fakt super den - v zivote som nieco take nerobila a strasne sa mi to pacilo. Na zaciatku ... read more

After another breakfast feast we hired an "easy driver" named "Happy" to drive us around in his van and take us to some sites. His cost was $30. Our first stop was the Vietnamses Linh Phuoc Pagoda. It was an IMPRESSIVE masterpiece in mosaics. The walls and pillars area all done in ceramic and glass mosaics and there were 3-d mosaic dragons all over. I get such a great feeling inside when I am surrounded by such art. It both inspires me and makes me smile from ear to ear. I am sure to have a bunch of photos to bore you all with when we get back to you know where ;) We then visited the Thien Vuong Chinese Pagoda. It had 3 huge sandalwood statues in it. Behind this pagoda and up on the ... read more

Dalat is in the central highlands of Vietnam, this is a densely forested mountainous region in the south west of the country. Another slow but spectacular scenic bus journey brought us here from Mui Ne, we would not recommend the Hanh Cafe open bus company as they take forever to get around, loads of faffing and not much driving. Dalat doesn't see half as many tourists as Saigon and for this it has a totally different atmosphere, much more local. We were only here two nights so we took a city tour which was a bit naff really but we got to see some of the local scenery such as lakes, waterfalls (for which the area is famous), and we took a cable car ride over the hills. Not much else to add, just check out ... read more

Took our first open tour bus this AM to Da Lat. On the 6 hour trip we drove through agricultural areas where oxen were pulling carts and produce was being grown. Open Tour buses are much more comfortable that the local buses but at the same time alot more expensive - $27 for us all as compared to $8 on the local bus. Our bus driver was horn crazy too and these horns are loud! We were switched to another bus later on and the new driver did not use his horn near as much - thank goodness. The ride across the coastal flatlands changed and we began the trip up into the mountains on narrow curvy roads. I coped quite well until about the last 50 kms at which point naseau set in so I ... read more

well yesterday we spent a whole day wasted on the bus winding up and down the biggest mountains and going 25km/h. Only a 300 km journey that took us 7 hours...ohh it was sooo much fun!..our ipods ran out of battery after being fully charged thats how fun it was!! So dalat is up in the mountains and its cold again...uniforms are back!. We did our first bit of 'backpacking' as we decided to walk to our hotel instead of getting a taxi despite a million eager offers..our bags are definately getting heavier!! so found our hotel then off to explore the city and meet up with our uni friend dave and his girlfriend Kristy...it was so exciting to see someone from home!! Had a few drinks in the dodgiest place dim lighting, corny music and ... read more