Dec 7 - 9
5 hours Bus to Dalat (in the mountains).....It isnt actually advertised as Dalat (in the mountains), just it is in the mountains & happens to be called Da Lat (which probably means 'In the mountains' but I dont want to even start going into the idiosyncracities of the Vietnamese language in its various forms (or the whats & ifs of whether that word actually exists, or is a fabrication of my very tired & very limited imagination).
I like Dalat. Walked 7 K's round the Xuan Huong Lake.
Kam ern .........is 'Thanks!'
Vietnamese coffee.......is Tar!
What is a Carronetto? - It's like a cornetto, but it's a carrot.
Acting like a typical tourist who's command of the local dialect is tetchy at best, I asked for directions this evening. The partially deaf local kept on pointing at his ear (which I thought meant he wished me to keep repeating what I had asked; & again; & again etc)......suffice to say that when he eventually motioned with his hand what could only be described as a 'vague' direction (or, F*** off (maybe)), I then walked in the complete opposite direction & found where I needed to be in about 5 minutes.
'V' cafe is run by a vet & his wife. I expected the place to be a mess of operating tables & strange coloured stools, with flaps of skin and shaven hair, a few syringes & maybe one of those plastic skeletons of a dog, but it was actually clear of any traces of dead or dying or even slightly ill animals......We were welcomed by an American chap called Mike who wore combat gear, was in his mid-50's and seemed to run the place......Lonely planet recommended the food & I have to say it was indeed lush!
Dalat is Vietnam's premiere wine producing region. In fact, It is the only wine producing town in the country. That is why we came here.....red......wine.......I expected the wine to taste like vinegary sap........
& It did!........
Have now developed a taste for red coloured vinegary sap.
I havent shaved for a bit because we are out on the bikes with a couple a 'easy riders' today and I want to try + look the part. If you look at the shot above of our guide 'Buddha' you will see that he is a bit of a hairy-arsed monster (not!!! - so I let Ali ride with him hahaha!). We toured round Dalat & the surrounding mountains + saw:
a decrepit railway station.
a chinese buddhist temple.
some pine trees on a walk where we managed to get lost because I didnt listen to our guides clear instructions about not leaving the obvious path to where they would be picking us up.
a hill tribe called the 'chopsticks' who live on the edge of elephant mountain. They are aka the elephant tribe but as they were all really skinny, had very small noses & didnt resemble the beasts in any way, nor even had any lying around that i could randomly photo I opted for the 'other' name. I dont know why they are called the chopsticks.....in fact that might be something our guide made up to stop me asking so many stupid questions about elephants that werent there.
A waterfall called Datanla.
A Buddhist monastery.
A house that is known to local folk as 'The Crazy House' but it is in fact a hotel that has been designed by the owner to look & feel like something out of a slightly twisted nursery rhyme...... it wasnt finished, & actually reminded me of a cross between a building site that should defo be roped off with lots of signs akin to 'dont come in - unsafe', and something that any designer should have kept locked at the back of their mind in a folder obviously labelled 'stupid ideas that'll never work and will prob ruin my reputation & maybe, just maybe, earn me a trip to funny farm........I think kids would like it, but they will sleep uneasily for a bit afterwards.
