Da Lat, Vietnam: Days 27, 28

Day 26: Arrival

I arrived to Da Lat via sleeper bus around 9 in the evening. Mr. Peace Backpackers emailed saying to take a free shuttle conviently to their location, which worked out perfectly. Problem arose when I arrived to the hostel: they overbooked. Apologetic and accommodating, Mr. Peace and his wife Strawberry offered to put me up on a mattress in the lounge, free of charge that night. I think at the beginning of this journey, I would have gotten upset; however, this didn't phase me at all and a free night is always a good thing, so no problem at all.



Dropping my bag behind the desk, I wandered out to get some food. I ended up at a large place around the corner, Nuong PocPoc, and ordered Spicy Frog. What has gotten into me? I'd never tried it, but it sounded good. And it was okay - tastes like chicken. In wouldn't order it again from thibs place and probably wouldn't recommend that restaurant again unless you're ordering g hot pot, which looked really tasty.

Returning to the hostel, I waited for the lounge to clear, which didn't take long as Mr. Peace enforces strict quiet time curfew, before Strawberry made up my bed.

While I'm talking about the hostel, should you travel to Da Lat, you couldn't ask for better hosts than Strawberry and Mr. Peace. In addition to the quiet hours, they also enforce a strict no shoes past the doorway policy, so the floors through remain extremely clean. Mr. Peace is constantly cleaning the floors. And he'll probably sing for you, whether you want him to or not.

I will say that there were only 2 bathrooms (1 toilet shower combo each) for maybe 30 people to share. Since I'm an early morning person, I didn't have issues in the morning, but the rest of the day it seems that you are constantly waiting for someone to be finished or walking on a wet floor. One more improvement they need are fans or air conditioning in the rooms. It get quite stuffy at night.

They do offer a family meal, where you go to the market with Strawberry and watch her work her magic to get the best prices and produce to cook dinner. Then, you can help prepare the meal with the cook and enjoy about an hour later :)

Day 27: Canyoning, Bingo Pizza

I woke up, not feeling like doing much. It rained outside, discouraging me from going for a jog (gotta balance out all this eating at some point!). However, I finally made myself go for a long walk to see the town. It feels like you could be in Europe somewhere, from all of the French influence. A little canal runs through town, lined with expensive looking homes. This is perhaps the first time I've seen free standing, single family homes on this entire trip. Although, the space between each building is miniscule. Everywhere has vibrant colors and is up kept better than Ho Chi Minh. Turn down an alleyway, and you remember you're in Vietnam with all the produce and meat being sold from blankets on the ground.

Returning after about an hour, someone mentioned over breakfast that I still might be able to get on a canyoning tour that day. Sure enough, they had room for one more for $29, $6 less than other hostels offered. At 10:30 ish, a van picked us up with adventurers from another hostel to set out towards Datanla Waterfalls.

After roadside training, our guide encouraged us to be crrrrrrazy (imagine that with an Asian accent rolling the 'R') every time he yelled 'PHOTO!' We trekked down the steep hillside with our harnesses fastened and helmets secure. Having rained this morning, the mud made for a slippery slope. I may have fallen once. The guides had all sped ahead of us to secure the ropes for our rappel next to the waterfall. Strapped in and 'PHOTO!' and down you go, landing in the water at the bottom.

The day continued on with abseiling down the middle of two waterfalls, one of them called the washing machine because it spins you around in the water. At another point, you had the option to jump either 7 or 11 meters off of a cliff next to a watefall. Oh - and from 11 meters, be sure to jump outwards far enough so that you don't land on the rocks..... of course I had to do 11 meters.

About halfway through the day, we played on a rock water slide while the guides set up our sandwich lunch. Complete with fresh mango, watermelon, pineapple, and bananas. The day ended with a long trek up the cliff, where the van waited to collect us.

Dalat Adventure Tours took photos throughout the day with both a GoPro and a waterproof camera. That evening, they had uploaded all the pictures to their Facebook page, so you could tag yourself and have memories from the day.

That night, I sought out "Da Lat Pizza," which apparently is a sought out street food here. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it, but ended up at the #1 Pizza place in Da Lat, according to TripAdvisor: Bingo Pizza. Not only did they have excellent pizza, topped with sweet potato  (amazing), but they have a mouth watering potato appetizer. It's an entire potato cut up into a swirl around a skewer and cooked (fried perhaps?!) And topped with a salty parmesean cheese. And their wifi rocks.

While I ate, a 3 year old girl said hello to me. She had a Mini-Mouse backpack on, reminding me of the little girl I babysat for in SF and also that kids everywhere are the same, curious, Disney loving creatures.

Day 28: Easyrider Countryside Tour, Elephant Waterfall, Family Dinner

This morning, my tour guide for the day arrived at 9am by motorbike to show me around Da Lat countryside. Helmet on, we took off, leaving the town behind. First stop was a photo op on the side of the road. Second stop: hike up a hill for a better view.

I got lost on the second stop.

He made it sound very simple, climb up, enjoy the view, come down the other side. There will be several paths, take the one furthest to the left. Circling the hilltop, I chose a path to the left and gleefully skipped along singing "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music," (not kidding) thoroughly enjoying the view and being surrounded by nothing but grass and trees. The path split into two, so I stayed to the left. Then the path ended. Okay.... maybe I'm in the wrong spot.

Backtracking, I took the other direction where it had split. Eventually I ran into a man wearing camouflage cutting down tree branches. He pointed in the opposite direction, without a word of English, and of course I don't speak Vietnamese. Getting the message, I turned around towards the hill I started on, deciding that I would just fund the road he dropped me off on if I couldn't find the correct path. Reaching the top of the hill, I decided to go back to the road. Turned out, the path I chose this time was the correct path I should have taken from the start....about an hour ago.

My driver was not in sight. Another local waited with his passengers telling me to sit and wait - my driver had gone looking for me. Every person that had come down the hill, he'd asked "Have you seen my tourist? I lost my tourist!" Finally he decided to go after me, asking a friend to wait in case I showed up. Oh boy.... I'm good at getting lost.

We continued on the tour,  stopping at a flower greenhouse (Da Lat is also known as 'the City of Flowers'), a potato farm, and a coffee farm. Jack (my driver and I exchanged names since I'd been lost) showed me the two different types of coffee beans they grow in Vietnam. He then showed me where the weasels eat the coffee fruit and poop out the bean. It's separated into baskets before cleaned and roasted to make a more expensive coffee. I don't drink coffee, but the view from this place is breathtaking. Others enjoyed a cup of weasel coffee, taking in the scene.

We continued further into the countryside, stopping next at Lin An Tu Pagoda to see the big Happy Buddha. Just down the road, you'll find the entrance to Elephant Waterfall. Whereas at the pagoda Jack let me explore on my on, here he climbed down the narrow stone "steps" to see the falls. He showed me that you can actually stand behind the waterfall - and get soaked. Then he took me back out to the front. It gets its name because it looks like a herd of elephants are walking towards the falls.

Back at the top, some locals weaved scarves and shawls from silk, and I caved and bought one. You are probably supposed to bargain the price down, but when it's already cheap in terms of USD, I have a hard time getting these people to give it to me for less. Across the street, we ate lunch while stray dogs begged at the table and a puppy gnawed at the heel of my shoe.

On the way back towards Da Lat, we stopped at a silk factory. Jack took me inside to show me the silk worms and how the machines harvested the silk into lines. Then how they remaining worms are separated: those that are 'bad' become animal feed, those that are 'good' get cooked and consumed by people. Outside, silk hangs to dry before getting cleaned and shipped off.

The conditions in the factory by US standards would break every code in the book, however, by their standards, the conditions are good. Meaning to say, even though there are no doors, only fans for airconditioning, and unclean floors, it's not different from any other business or even many homes.

Back on the motorbike, our next stop brought us to where the locals live. True locals - meaning the indigenous. For some reason there was a monkey tied up next to their little village, but I'm not sure why. Anyways, their little shacks are built off the ground, using thing supplies of bamboo or wood. They do have electricity free from the government. Three or four generations live in a one room house. A separate, opem, 'kitchen' with embers slightly burning leans on the side of the house. The elders care for the grandchildren while the middle aged work. For the rest of the Vietnamese, the government restricts families to having only two children. These people can have as many as they want.

Moving on to our last stop in the countryside, rice wine. I got to see how it was made and then was given a shot.... soooo strong. I didn't expect it. And hot! Fresh from the barrel. Jack also showed me snake wine.... meant to make a man "strong." (Cue hand motion with a firm fist at the end). In other words... Viagra.

Back in Da Lat, Jack dropped me off at Crazy House, where I happened to run into a girl from Spain who was in the canyoning group yesterday. We decided to go through together. The house was designed by an old woman who wanted to bring nature into architecture and also was inspired by Guadi in Barcelona. She lives today in the middle of the house, with a shrine to her father there as well.

The house is bizarre - there is no direct passageway to see the whole thing. One minute you are going up some stairs the next you are walking over the rooftop of another building or criss crossing over other pathways in the air. Random hotel rooms pop out of no where, which you can actually stay in, although during business hours you'll have to keep your shades drawn tight.

Spain and I said 'Adios', as I hopped back on the bike to return to Mr. Peace Backpackers. I signed up for family dinner, booked a flight for the following morning, just in time to see Strawberry work her magic at the market. I already described this, so I won't do it again, but the chicken and quail egg curry they made was delicious. Mr. Peace broke out into Celine Dion, remixing a little Miley Cyrus 'Wrecking Ball' into the end. They are a couple to remember.