Greg

Adventures in Da Lat

Post by Greg!

From Saigon we took a coach to the mountainside town of Da Lat, long a retreat from the Vietnamese summer enjoyed by locals and colonials alike.

The bus itself was somewhat of an experience. We had been booked a ‘sleeper’ coach, which in Vietnam is a normal sized touring bus split into two levels by bunks that can only be raised to 35 degrees, thus forcing travellers into a reclining position for the duration of thrune journey. Any attempt to raise oneself into a seated position will put all but the most diminutive Westerner in touch with the ceiling. This made for a most uncomfortable journey, other than the stroke of luck that allowed Greg to occupy the very back seats, which permitted the stretching of legs and the making of new friends simultaneously.

Ouch my head is on the ceiling!

Our dinners in Da Lat. (its not water its rice wine!)

Weasel coffee – what comes out the other side of the weasel….

The Weasel

We arrived with little difficulty to our homestay, Cam Ly, run by Tri Minh and his wife Ngoc. They opened their guesthouse only 4 months ago and provide simple but welcoming accommodation to passing vagrants such as ourselves. Their sign advertises ‘Food, Bar, Bonsai’, which in Vietnam amounts to the essentials of existence. By evening most of the guests have gathered in the central courtyard at a long table to take part in the communal meal, which also attracted Tri’s various friends from the local tour guiding community. The food was always excellent, and most evenings ended with Greg beating out 70’s classics on an impossible-to-tune acoustic guitar while the others sang along in various states of drunkenness.

Drinking the weasel coffee….hmm

On our first full day in town we decided to take an Easy Rider tour of Da Lat’s surrounds. These are motorcycle tours (tourists riding pillion) around the countryside run traditionally by a bunch of South Vietnam war veterans, such as our sagely Hong. We visited coffee plantations (where we saw the weasels who are fed solely on coffee berries), mushrooms farms, waterfalls, rice wine factories, Hmong villages, flower farms, and miles of pine forest and rice paddies. The highlight was stopping at Ngoc’s parent’s house for lunch, where they prepared a feast most sumptuous and treated us with all the care of family. We finally returned to Da Lat (via the historic railway station and Jade Pagoda), arriving at Cam Ly at 6pm after a full 10 hours of touring.

*Click on the pics below to see a slideshow!

Day 2 was spent on bicycle exploring the town of Da Lat itself. It’s history has left it dotted with gorgeous French architecture, especially the ‘French Quarter’, a neighbourhood of European chalets that now function as restaurants, hotels, or (as we discovered) movie sets. Jade almost scored a starring role in a historical TV series as we wandered into their preparations for a night shoot and made friends with the cameraman, who spoke admirable English.

We cycled around the famous lake, fluorescent green with unmentionable pollutants, and eventually stopped to take a ‘pedalo’ in the form of a swan for an hour. Much hilarity ensued as we found ourselves desperately trying to avoid Vietnamese drivers who were either unable to navigate their unwieldy vehicles, or paying more attention to their phones than the traffic. Nonetheless we passed without incident and spend a romantic hour drifting before heading ashore.

Crazy House

Swan pedelo!

Swanning it up!

Crazy House!

We also visited the ‘Crazy House’, built by a wealthy Vietnamese architect over the past 20 years who wanted to bring architecture closer to nature. Her Gaudiesque construction is a Disneyland of organic forms, themed rooms with plasterwork animals, buildings morphing into tree-trunks, concrete ‘vine’ bridges that defy Western safety standards, and a serene garden filled with plants and water features. It was far more impressive than we had expected, and quite beautiful in its own way. Unfortunately the locals don’t see it that way and are petitioning to have it knocked down. It’s sad that they don’t put the same outrage into cleaning up the lake or providing basic garbage collection to the town.

Finally we visited the Da Lat Flower Gardens, a pretty if strange Disneyland of floral arrangements interspersed with childish concrete sculptures, fountains, and a lake. It was clearly aimed at Vietnamese tourists who flocked en masse to photograph their posing girlfriends amongst the lavender beds. Greg became a minor celebrity as fathers or boyfriends cajoled their womenfolk into having photographs with him.

The following day we left early by bus to make the long trip to Bai Xep fishing village….although who can tell whether we got there? Find out by following this blog – top right hand column – sign up and get this in your inbox!

PS As always we would love to hear from you below!
Jade & Greg