Dalat - Margaritas and Red wine


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Asia » Vietnam » Central Highlands » Lam Dong » Da Lat
September 28th 2010
Published: September 28th 2010
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Another early start, this one with the apprehension that we now feel with any upcoming move from one hostel to another. Mainly due to the unknown quality of the transportation that awaits us, but also to a lesser degree the quality of the accommodation that also awaits in a new place. The start was actually earlier even than we planned in part because of the pain Gregg was experiencing from his right ear. Yesterday lunchtime it started to give him some annoyance which was slowly increasing. As a result he awoke at 6am a full 15 mins before the alarm. We were due to be picked up by the bus company between 7:15 and 7:30 and we also had to get our reception to make sure they were picking our new friends up from their hotel across town, as we had booked all 4 tickets.

After packing we were downstairs at about 7:10 just in time to be told initially that the bus wasn’t until 8:15 as they had it an hour wrong. This was then swiftly changed back to the original plan, as we were told the bus was on its way. We were picked up by a relatively good quality minibus and things were looking up. We were driven to the office of the bus company and then got onto by far the nicest bus we had yet had. We even had reserved seat numbers, and complimentary headrests attached to the seats for our use. The aircon worked well and all looked good. Our friends arrived and boarded and it wasn’t long before we were on the road to Dalat. The only minor irritations of the journey were the very loud Vietnamese music we were subjected to and the person in front reclining his seat so far Gregg barely had enough room for his legs; despite all this, this was by far the best journey on a bus we have taken and arguably better than the train also!

The quality of the bus journey was however surpassed by the stunning scenery we were driving through. We climbed and climbed up through beautiful mountain scenery until we were in the clouds themselves. We then crested the peak and started coming back down a little before traversing the mountain plains to our destination, Dalat, a unique place in Vietnam.

The climate here, due to the altitude of nearly 2km above sea level, is on average about 10C cooler than the rest of the country. This is in part the reason for the settlement itself as the French used it to escape the heat of Saigon. It also lends itself well to growing different crops and on our approach as far as the eye could see were greenhouses. Within them I’m told are strawberries, flowers and all sorts of other crops more associated with our home climate than that of Vietnam.

We arrived at the bus drop off and the quality of the bus ticket again continued to pleasantly surprise as we were then given a lift to our hostel! The hostel was expecting us form the email that Lou had sent, and our rooms were clean and inviting. The icing on the cake being the roof where there is a large spa bath and sauna which is free to guests between 4-7pm.

Needless to say, after a short break we made a plan to take advantage of this facility but we had a few hours to kill first. Lunch was first on the agenda, and a nice shared lunch in the restaurant across the road form the hostel was shortly followed by a walk around town.

By this point the early morning was starting to catch-up with us and we decided to head back to the hostel to chill before heading to the spa. Gregg used this time to find a pharmacy to try to get something to treat his worsening ear problem which he was starting to fear was an infection rather than just water which he had previously thought. A quick purchase of some ear drops later and 20 minutes laid on the bed with cold liquid in his ear passed and we then ventured up to the spa. Scott and Sarah were already there along with another American couple. We chewed the fat for a bit with a beer before heading back to our rooms with a plan for the 6 of us to head out for dinner.

We met in the lobby and ventured into town to look for a restaurant in the guidebook. After about 15 minutes unsuccessful searching we decided the book was out of date (for a change) and went to the restaurant that Daniel and his girlfriend had eaten at the night before.

We ordered a couple of bottles of the local red wine as Dalat is the one place here that produces its own, we thought it would be a good idea. The wine arrived and whilst it was the “superior” rather than standard bottle I have to say it was not bad.

At this point I should point out that Dalat being so much cooler than everywhere else in Vietnam we had all decided independently to wear trousers and long sleeves (probably in part as they hadn’t been worn yet so were clean) Gregg’s longsleeve t-shirt was a white one.

When the waiter came around to distribute crockery, he managed to tip Lou's nearly full glass over both the table and Gregg staining his pristine white top with a load of red wine. Not impressed, despite the profuse apologies Gregg went to the toilet armed with a couple of cans of Soda water in an attempt to get the wine out. 10-15mins later and whilst it had reduced the intensity it was pretty clear that it was a lost cause. The owner’s wife then came down and offered to attempt to clean the top and supplied a t-shirt of her husbands. This was a little on the small side given the small proportions of the Vietnamese race.
Feeling a little stupid Gregg returned upstairs to a few giggles and a table that had food on.

We had ordered 4 mains between 6 with rice and this was ample and tasty, although we all agreed the fish was the least good of our dishes. Over dinner we discovered that our newest friends were from San Francisco, California and Daniel is a fire-fighter who prior to this worked on the beach as a lifeguard for 7 years, and his girlfriend is waiting for her bar exam results. It seems everyone we meet has some similarity to us in their life story.

We got up to leave with Gregg checking that he should return tomorrow to collect his t-shirt in exchange for the one he was wearing. At this point the was motioned into the back room where the lady from the restaurant presented him with an absolutely spotless white t-shirt!

Slightly amazed but nonetheless grateful t-shirts were once again exchanged. We did ask how she had got the stains out so effectively but we didn’t fully understand the answer (in part as Gregg could still hear out of only one ear) Lou thinks that it may have involved rice in some way but we aren’t sure. it’s a real shame as stain treatment that effective is a rare thing.

We decided to continue the evening by going for a drink in bar nearer to the hotel. A few beers later and we retired for the evening at a reasonable time just before 11pm. On getting to the hotel the metal shutter was down and the doors locked. We rang the doorbell and were let in by the night desk boy who was asleep on the floor, all feeling a little naughty that we had stayed out too late despite the hour being far from unreasonable in our eyes.

We awoke the next day a descended the stairs for breakfast to be greeted by a large kitchen table covered in a variety of plates of different ingredients, including the first bacon that we have seen in Vietnam. Needless to say a fair bit was consumed. This didn’t make Gregg feel any better however as he had woken many times in the night in pain from his deteriorating condition. Another visit to the pharmacy for some antibiotics and a day resting in front of the TV followed. Not very rock and roll and not very interesting to write about but sometimes necessary, especially when not feeling well.

Dinner consisted of a pizza delivered to the hotel, although even that didn't manage to be 100% smooth. We ordered a margarita and a pepperoni, and after much language issues we thought we had it all sorted. When it arrived we had a peperroni pizza and a margarita cocktail! On reflection, an easy mistake to make but luckily the pizza was a decent enough size we could share it. This was followed by an early night, after a bit more TV. Here’s to feeling better by the next entry!

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28th September 2010

Dalat
Cheers Again. Great memories, lovely writing.

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