DALAT

21st - 23rd July 2015

We left Vinh Long bus station round 9pm on a bright orange sleeper bus, complete with a small bottle of complimentary water and an even smaller reclining chair. H had loads of room and dozed off in an instant. For me however being a tad taller than your average Vietnamese bloke, it was like fitting a giraffe into a hoody.

Nine hours later, three hours earlier than we were expecting we arrived in the pretty hillside town of Dalat 2000m above sea level. It's where the French would retreat to in the hot summers back when they were in charge. There is even a telecoms mast in the shape of the Eiffel Tower giving the sky line a certain je ne sais quoi. It was nice to be surrounded by some hills again but it was damn early and we were banking on an early check in. Unfortunately 5:30 in the morning is a tad too early for such things, so we left our bags in the reception of the hostel and went off in search of a bakery.

After a disappointing introduction to Vietnamese baked goods we decided to kick off our day of being tourists early and opened the guide book to see what we should do here. Our first stop of the day was a place called "Crazy House" it is the creation of Hang Nga, a pretty out there architect who really wanted to shake up the French colonial architecture of the area with her crazy vision.

It really was a bonkers place with a crooked house straight out of a children's story book in the centre, surrounded by a sprawling hollow tree and mountain (mostly man made) it was like walking through a fairy tale. As unusual as it was, the finishing felt very plastic and cheap, kinda like a ride at a travelling fair. Would I say she had created the next big architectural movement... Probably not. Some have described her style as Antoni Gaudí on acid, I think that's a little unfair on Gaudí. However it was pretty fun to wander the snaking walkways and tunnels. The local residents campaigned heavily against the Hang Nga's vision, but being the daughter of Ho Chi Minh's successor gets you some benefits. 

Next we walked across to the surrounding hillside to an Art Deco summer palace built in the 30's for Bao Dai (the last emperor of the Nguyen dynasty). It was a tired place but an amazing time warp. The geometric building along with the stylish 30's interior was brilliant. It felt like the residents had just upped and left. This must have been a pretty cool place in its hey day. 

We returned to the hotel to finally check in and have a ziz. We clambered up to the top floor with our heavy bags which pretty much finished us off. The room was pretty basic however the view over the town and hills was cracking. Just before we could finally dozed off, Helen managed to break the curtains. This was then followed by more trips up and down the stairs along with a ladder wielding handy man.

Hunger woke us a few hours later and we ventured out in search or sustenance. A smiling little lady won us over with trays packed full of meat and veg skewers. They were the perfect starter! But now we wanted a main. We ended up at Goc Ha Thanh restaurant. It's run by a lovely lady from Hanoi. We were spoilt for choice on the menu and ended up sharing a clay pot full off caramelised pork and a mango chicken dish. This was all washed down by a few glasses of local Dalat wine. Suitably bursting we went to sink a few beers and balls in a pool bar just down the street. 

Once we were fully digested and walking longer distances was possible again we explored the twinkling night market in the heart of town next to the lake. It was crazy busy with everything and anything on offer. All kinds of street food, clothes, souvenirs, chickens, fruit and veg, etc. There was a real holiday atmosphere in the air and we wondered around the main stretch just taking it all in. Apparently a lot of Vietnamese tourists come here for cooler climes escaping the hot summer sun further up the coast. 

We ended up in a blues bar called Escape Bar run by Curtis King. Curtis is a blues musician who has gigged all over the world and now runs a few business here in Dalat with his Vietnamese wife. There was a pretty good Vietnamese band on stage with an excellent singer, however Curtis kept walking on stage at various points with various instruments and joining in. This would have been fine and really added to the performance, however his instruments were all turned up to 11 drowning out everyone else. It felt a but awkward so we left after a beer. To give Curtis his due though he was a fantastic musician. 

On route home we drank a couple of shots of rice wine with a group of friends hanging out by the lake. I wish every time I met someone new at home I'd automatically have a drink with them.

Over our time in India we met a lot of people that had bought motorbikes and were riding across the country into the mountains. This too seems to be the case in Vietnam with a lot of people buying bikes in Hanoi in the north and riding to Saigon in the south or vice versa. We didn't particularly want to spend our whole time here on the back of a bike but there was something very captivating about getting on a bike and riding out of town, without having to bring it back later that day or incur a large rental charge. We found out that we could rent a bike at the hotel here in Dalat and drop it off in the costal town of Nha Trang 130km to the east. This sounded like a great plan, plus the new road connecting the two towns is in relatively good knick and runs through some of the most breathing scenery in the country. We decided we should rent the bike for the day and pootle around town on it just to make sure we were confident enough to make the journey to the coast. 

Our first stop was a cable car a few kilometres out of town. This runs to the Tuyen Lam Lake and Truc Lam Pagoda. It view was incredible as we skimmed over the tops of the rolling pine forest like a glass pebble on a green ocean. The pagoda on the far side was a very peaceful place, even though it was super busy. Everyone was very quiet and respectful so that the main sounds dominating the wooded hillside was the vibrations of the large wind chimes in the trees and the long mesmerising tones of the monks hitting musical bowls in the temples. We sat in the corner of one temple for quite a while just listening. It was very peaceful.

To wake up a bit we hiked down the through the woods to the lakeside and headed for a characterful little cafe on the far edge. Whilst in the pool bar the previous evening an Ozzy mum and daughter tipped us off about a shit hot coffee that they had tried earlier in the week, and we should keep an eye out for it. The coffee was called Civet Coffee and shit hot is what it was. The beans are eaten by weasels, digested and pooped back out. They are then cleaned, dried, roasted and ground. It happened to be on the menu but at 10$ a cup, it is apparently the worlds most expensive cup of coffee. We thought fuck it, why not. A contraption to brew the coffee that looked like something out of Frankenstein's kitchen was wheeled over on its own private trolley. The coffee was then boiled and filtered three times until we were left with a tiny cup. The taste was pretty smooth and flavoursome, but if I'm totally honest, it was just another cup of coffee. A small one at that. 

We cabled it back to where we left the bike, then cruised off to the near by Datanla waterfall. We were not too fussed about seeing the waterfall, it was they way you get there that caught our eye. A twisting turning roller coaster snakes its way through the rocks and trees down to the waters edge. At times it went pretty quick and I remembered why I don't like rollercoasters. Helen seemed to be loving it enough for the both of us.

On our way back into town a snake slithered out from the undergrowth into the road. As I am new to motorbiking, and swerving at speed didn't seem like a clever thing to do, I guiltily condemned it to death. However just at the last second it reared up about a foot off the ground and lent back out of our way, before disappearing into the road side at the speed of light. I had no idea they moved so fast.

Before riding back to the hotel we thought we would swing by the Dalat Train Cafe just down the road from Dalat's colonial old train station. The cafe is in a converted vintage train carriage and is even parked up on a small section of track. We ordered a beer and a bite and chilled playing cards for a while. We were about to pay up and leave when Curtis (the blues player from Escape Bar) wondered in. Not only does he own two bars in town but he also owns this little beauty! I started chatting to him and soon me and H were sitting with him at the bar guzzling red wine, olives and other bar snacks on the house. He turned out to be a really nice guy and was a massive train fanatic. We spoke about all kinds of things from the war and American politics to traveling stories as he had toured many places with his band, that's how he ended up here. He kept insisting on filling our glasses even though we were on the bike. To solve the booze situation he gave us a bottle of water each and ordered us some pizza. On leaving he also insisted that our earlier tab was also on the house, what a generous guy. As a parting gift, he gave us his new album Steam Train Blues. 

The ride home was a complete success, we even made a stop by the lake to watch the sunset.