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. 

What The Pho...!?

After crossing into Vietnam at the most southerly boarder crossing (Prek Chak/Xi Xia) we continued on a ten minute bus journey to the small riverside town of Ha Tien, our introduction to Vietnam and the Mekong Delta.

At first everything was going swimmingly; we got moto taxis from the bus station and they didn't try to rip us off, and we found a fantastic hotel with a huge balcony overlooking the river for just $10/night (Hotel Gia Phuk). Once we ventured out into the town, however, life got more difficult. Nobody in Ha Tien speaks English, even the tour agents and hotel staff barely speak the basics. We were trying to hire bicycles, which our guide book recommended, but it was impossible; people shook their heads, covered their ears, jabbered at us in Vietnamese and sent us on wild goose chases around the town. There are only so many times you can mine riding a bike before you call it a day.

Ha Tien riverfront, view from floating cafe.

Instead, we walked along the riverfront and stopped at a floating boat-cafe for a refreshing iced lemon juice, and then walked around the huge central market where more miming and unsuccessful haggling eventually enabled me to buy an umbrella. 

Our first meal in Vietnam was Pho, the national dish comprising noodles, meat, broth and herbs. It was delicious, which is more than I can say about the watery, flavourless Saigon beer.

After more exploring of the town we sat down in a dimly lit, roadside bar where the waitress laughed nervously at us and didn't understand anything we said. As there was no menu, we sat for a while watching the locals and realised that we ought to order coffee. Two shots of good, strong espresso arrived, along with two glasses of iced tea, a tea pot full of hot jasmine tea and two more additional glasses of ice. All but the espressos was free. After a little while we met Denise, from Ireland, and we bonded over being the only tourists in town and having nobody understand us. Once thoroughly hydrated with all the free tea, we hit the night market together and drank beers at a shabby plastic table amid prostitutes, cross dressers and pissed up locals.

 

So many fluids.

Ric with his new friends.

The next day the three of us took a local taxi to Mui Nai beach where we were welcomed by the locals like long lost friends. The sand at Mui Nai is just a blackish strip and behind it were bars and cafes where families and groups of friends sat eating fresh seafood picnics, washing it all down with an impressive amount of alcohol considering it was 10:30 in the morning. We were offered crab legs, quail eggs and shots of local rice whiskey. In Asian culture it's seriously disrespectful to refuse something that is offered to you as a gift, so we tucked into our crab and downed our shots with a smile. The local men adored Ric, posing with him for pictures and plying him with so much alcohol that we had to strategically move on before he got too pissed. What a great welcome to Vietnam!

The highlight of the day was the self-controlled rollercoaster! We were towed uphill to a stunning viewpoint with views all the way back to Bokor Mountain in Kampot. Then we got back in our karts and sped around twists and turns back to the bottom of the mountain, it was great fun. 

Towards Cambodia.

From the hill above Mui Nai beach.

Ha Tien is a small boarder town with very few tourists and but it's got a lot of atmosphere and we had a great time, definitely worth a night or two.

Here's Ric on the rollercoaster: