Dan's Travel Log: Vietnam | Kel and I in Dalat

May 16, 2005

Vietnam | Kel and I in Dalat | 22-24 March 2005

Seeing as it was pretty hot in Saigon, Dalat, being a cooler mountain town sounded like a good idea. Upon arrival, I agreed for both of us to stay at the first hotel we were dropped at (I thought we were in the middle of the city, but we weren’t). Unfortunately it was a good 15-20min walk into town, but the room was nice enough for the money.

Dalat is a really chilled out, quiet, mostly uneventful town – it’s been compared to places in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, and it’s not a bad comparison. It’s absolutely filled with Cafes and local-focussed shops. One reason it’s so relatively untouristed is that the area was - until even recently - illegal for non-Vietnamese to visit.

During the one full day we had there we rented a motorbike and drove out to some of the sights – The Valley of Love (a theme-park style grassy and tree-filled valley, named the Valley of Love by the numbers of local University Students that made it their make-out spot!) – unfortunately I didn’t have my camera and Kels’ one wasn’t working, as it was quite a scenic location (even with the theme-park stuff). We also went to Bao Dai’s Summer Palace (a holiday home for the recent ‘playboy’ emperor) which still maintains it’s 70s western feel.

One really interesting spot we visited was the Hang Nga Guesthouse and Gallery (aka the Crazy House). This piece of art (still under construction, but open to tourists, as well as guests wanting to stay in one of the rooms) is being built by an eccentric local artist Hang Nga, and as you can see by the pictures, it really is a crazy house (treehouse to some). I found it to have a magical atmosphere – I really enjoyed the detail of all the rooms and architectural design of the structures! If I were on a holiday with a partner, I’d probably spend the money and stay there a night or two… Each room has a different feel and different price, but considering the uniqueness, the prices aren’t extortionate ($15 upwards a night).

Another place of note was the Stop‘n’Go Café, a very ‘bohemian’ style café run by an old Vietnamese guy who paints and writes poems and is just generally pretty funky and cool. We really enjoyed the atmosphere of the café, Kelly especially so - we even bought a poem for Mum :).

In the afternoon we went all the way out toward the base of Lang Bian Mountain, where the Lat minorities live. We were taken on a short tour of a traditional Lat style home by a shop-seller, we walked up and down one of the main streets of the village and then bought some interesting Lat silk items.

That night we were invited (by a slightly ‘out there’ Cuban guy) to join in a Lat wedding party. Or we were told it was to be a Lat wedding party. It ended up being a well-organised performance of drinking, eating and dancing (mostly by the performers, although after a few of the local rice-wines, they made us dance with them, hehehe). It was quite interesting, seeing the Lat traditional outfits and dances, as well as more than enough rice wine (it was in a big communal ceramic bottle, drunk out of with big straws attached to plastic tubes – we were told to finish the bottle!) – guess what? We even got Kel to take a sip or two! (See the photo!) At the end of the night we were asked to pay a fairly large donation per person – which wouldn’t have been so bad if it WAS a wedding party as promised, but it kind of felt like a bit of a setup, so we gave what we thought it was worth.

Unfortunately the next day I was violently ill. I think it was due to some dodgy meat in the Lat kebabs, mixed with a fair amount of the rice wine. I managed to get on the bus in the morning and make it back to Saigon without incident…

Posted by Dan at May 16, 2005 04:17 AM

Comments

Good one Dan!

Posted by: lozza at May 16, 2005 05:32 PM

I fought in 70 & 71 and went back in 95, I was terrified the whole week. Went back in 96 and had fun. Went back in 96 and had a ball. Since then each year for a week or two. I retire in 5 years and am planing to retire in Bien Hoa.Enjoy.

Posted by: Wayne Newman at July 7, 2005 09:39 PM