Cooling Off In The Highlands - Da Lat

At 1,500m above sea level, the cooler climate of Da Lat was a welcome change from the stifling heat and humidity in Ho Chi Min. The city was established in the central highlands of Vietnam at the end of the nineteenth century by the French. Today the French legacy lives on and its colourful wooden buildings would be more at home in the Alps than in the middle of Vietnam. 

'Chalets' of Da Lat.

The city is surrounded by mountains, with a large lake in the middle. It is a favoured holiday spot among the upper class Vietnamese, particularly honeymooners, and the classy lakeside bars and restaurants reflect this. We stopped for coffee at one such bar and were devastated to have to pay two thirds of our room rate for a terrible salty brew. Money doesn't buy quality.

We spent a pleasant three days walking around the city, taking in the many tourist attractions and enjoying the weather, with the temperature in the early twenties it was like a British summer for us. The Vietnamese, however, weren't quite so accustomed to the colder climate and provided us with much amusement in their thick coats, hats and scarves! 

You can take a horse drawn cart around the lake, hire a tandem bicycle, or (as we did) take a swan shaped pedalo out onto the water.

A short walk from the city center are the Da Lat Flower Gardens, a pretty and shadey place to walk around and pass the time. Tour buses full of domestic tourists stop here briefly and we found ourselves stuck having our photos taken with several families who were more interested in us than the flowers.

National flag and a giant teapot shaped bush at Da Lat Flower Gardens.

The train station in Da Lat is the oldest one in the country and now only serves a tourist service which travels 30 minutes out to the village of Trai Lat and then back. Although at first I only agreed to the journey to indulge Ric's love of trains, the scenery we passed on the train was stunning and well worth the $6.50 each. Even better, the temple we stopped to visit at the end of the line is by far one of the most beautiful and unique temples I have seen during my 18 months in Asia. Here are lots of pictures:

Da Lat Station; oldest train station in Vietnam.

A large percent of the countries fruit, vegetables and fresh flowers are grown in Da Lat.

Stunning, colourful Chinese pagoda at Trai Lat.

Made entirely from mosaic porcelin. Can you spot Ric?

Another of Da Lat's gems is the hotel/architectural wonder nicknamed 'Crazy House'. Built by Russian-educated Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga, the ever-expanding hotel is designed to show how man must learn to live in harmony with nature, instead of destroying it. Giant concrete tree trunks house several unique grotto-esque rooms, surrounded by vivid purple flowers, fairly light cobwebs and toadstool tables and chairs. Narrow, winding, stair cases lead you around, up and over the structures and cute little hidey-holes provide miniature seating areas for guests. It is an amazing place to spend an afternoon, I could have spent forever exploring the secret nooks and crannies of the Alice In Wonderland meets Gaudi hotel.

The roof of Crazy House has an impressive 360 degree view of the city.

A ten minute bus ride from Da Lat centre is Dalanta Waterfalls, stunning natural waterfalls that have been turned almost into a theme park in the way that only Asia knows how. The bus drops you on the road at the top of the falls where you pay an entrance and then take a self controlled roller coaster down to the first level where you get your first glimpse of the waterfalls. This is pretty much as far as anybody goes as most visitors are on a whistle stop organised tour. 

At the top of Dalanta Falls.

From the busy top level we took a cable car down over the next waterfall, and then a glass lift down even further, where there were no other people. In dry season there are all sorts of activities to do at the falls, from swimming to abseiling. However, as were we visiting in the rainy season is was very quiet and as if on cue, as soon as we reached the bottom of the falls, the heavens opened.

How To Get To...
Dalanta Falls: Take the number 1 bus from the town centre, ask for the falls. 
Cost: Bus = 5,000VND each way. Entrance = 10,000VND. Roller coaster = 45,000VND (round trip). Cable car = 40,000VND (round trip).

We Stayed At...
Hang Nga Hotel opposite the Sinh Tourist Office. $8 (£4.80) got us a large, new, shiny room with a balcony, hot water and a fridge. 

Lunar New Year in Seoraksan National Park

Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year, is a public holiday in Korea, meaning a lovely long weekend for Ric and I to explore somewhere new.

We went to Sokcho, a small coastal town on the north-east coast of Korea, and from there on to Seoraksan National Park.

Sokcho, view of the lake and the National Park in the background.

Undeterred by the forecast -25°C wind chill, or the fresh layer of snow that had been falling for two days, we set off early Saturday morning for the long ride to Sokcho. We arrived just before lunch and went straight to the beach (which is just a 5 minute walk from the bus terminal) to look out over what Koreans call the East Sea (the Sea of Japan). 

Sokcho beach.

For lunch Ric tried the local speciality dish, Ojingo-sundae (오징어 순대) - flavoured rice mixed with spices, vegetables and other mystery ingredients, all wrapped up in squid. I stuck to the safe option, stir fried beef and rice (불고기).

The bus ride to the National Park was nice, we followed the coast for a while and saw the harbour and the sea wall, then turned inland and followed a river into the valley. The further we went the more remote the scenery got, and the more imposing the mountains were.

Inside the park everything was snow covered and extremely slippery. We set off on our first hike of the weekend, to Biryong Falls. The walk follows a stream up a mountain, passing by three waterfalls. It was difficult to walk some parts of the trail and we slipped a lot! At one point I was sliding down the mountainside on my bum, luckily I had Ric to crash into at the bottom, saving me from an icy grave! It helps to have a sturdy boyfriend!

The stream and the waterfalls were frozen a bright blue colour. I'm sure they're very beautiful in summer, but in the winter they were fascinating; it looked as if they had been instantly frozen in time. Under the ice we could hear the water still gurgling and bubbling. I've never seen anything like that before.

This is what it looks like in the summer....

And this is what we saw!

As we headed back down the valley a Korean couple took pity on us (well, me, sliding around like Bambi on ice) and the man insisted that I take one of his crampons. It was very helpful but I felt terrible taking it, especially as he was quite old and I could see that he was struggling ahead of us, with only one remaining crampon. I eventually caught up with them and tried to give it back to the old man but he refused, and in the end I had to force him to take it. I think he was quite offended, as honour and pride are very important in Korean culture. Then I was tormented by what would have been the better thing to do; let an old man fall on the ice, or disrespect him and damage his pride. 

In the evening we went to see the Buddha statue and ate in the 'Tourist Restaurant', the food was neither good quality nor reasonably priced.

Buddha looks out over Seoraksan National Park.

The view from our hotel balcony!

The next day we woke up at 7 to see the sunrise, only to decide it was cloudy and we'd prefer another hour in bed! When we finally got moving we set off on another hike. The objective looked a little like this: 

Our destination was Ulsanbawi (above). According to the legend, a rock came to Seoraksan from Ulsan (south coast), fell in love with the mountain, and stayed there, which is why it is known as Ulsanbawi. 

We set off along a very nice, icy path, which gradually got steeper and steeper. Somewhere along the way we found a restaurant-come-shop where a lady very kindly rented us some crampons. They weren't glacier grade crampons, more like a belt that tied around our boots and had metal spikes on the bottom to provide some grip on the ice. A very wise move as at certain points during the hike they were the only things keeping me attached to the side of the mountain!

At the start of the hike.

2.1km into our hike we arrived at a temple built onto the mountainside. There was a rock (Heundeulbawi) that apparently can be rocked from side to side [by a small group of people]. From there we got a good view of the summit, another 1.5km up!

Heundeulbawi (Ric not quite able to get it moving)

To climb the sheer face of the rock someone had kindly built an enormous metal staircase. As the daughter of a welder I couldn't help but admire the structure, and ponder at how on earth they'd attached it to the rock face!

Killer stairs.

Needless to say, from the summit the views were breathtaking:

Dangling....

At the summit we did shots of soju with a Korean man. It made me want to puke and I worried that I might fall off the edge, but I'd already offended one bloke's honour that weekend so I feebly accepted.

Ric braving the -20 wind chill. The man in front gave us apples and oranges, the man in yellow gave us shots of soju. Korean people are so kind!

We made it down to the bottom in one piece, only for me to slip and fall flat on my back on the easiest stretch of path! Then we went to look at Sinheungsa temple.

Tranquil. You can do temple stays here.

After lunch we took the cable car to Gwongeumseong. It was the longest, steepest cable car I've ever been on. Worse still, it rocked from side to side due to the force of the wind!

From the cable car through the valley towards the sea.

LOOK HOW STEEP!

Gwongeumseong is a rock where once stood a fortress/castle. According to the legend, the fortress was built over night by two strong men. 

The wind on top of the rock was so strong that it knocked me over twice! There were no railings around the edge, and it would NEVER have been open in those conditions in England. It was thrilling (scary!).
Just look at how the trees grow, battered on one side by the wind:

We left the National Park on Sunday evening and gorged on pizza back in Sokcho, before getting the bus home the next morning.

Accommodation
When we arrived at the entrance to Seoraksan National Park we were surprised to find that we'd already passed all the motels, hotels and pensions further down the valley. The only options were the Edwardian Stars Hotel, a five star 'English style' hotel, and the Tourist Hotel. The Tourist Hotel is the only hotel within the actual park, so we decided the stay there, for convenience sake. The benefits of staying in the park are that you can be the first to set off on the hikes in the morning, beating the crowds of Korean tourists and the annoying smart phones. The hotel also has THE COMFIEST beds I have slept in since I left England, and balconies with an amazing view of the mountains. As we checked in at the end of the day, as the park was closing, and as it is low season, the owner agreed to give us discount on our room, so it wasn't even that expensive. On the downside everything in the park shuts by about 6pm, so make sure you eat your dinner early!

Seoraksan Tourist Hotel; cosy room, great view.

Back in Sokcho we stay in A PINK CASTLE!! The Rocustel is located right behind the express bus terminal, it's cheap (40,000w) and it has round beds! We fell out of bed in the morning and landed right on our bus! Perfect.

Rocustel, hard to miss!

Transport
Cheonan - Sokcho
~Express bus to Seoul Gangnam station  (1 hour)
~Bus from Seoul - Sokcho (3 hours depending on traffic)

Sokcho - Seoraksan National Park
~ Take the number 7 or 7-1 bus from opposite the express bus terminal, the last stop is the park entrance.