Sunday, March 14, 2010

A break in the weather in Dalat


Travelling solo once more with time ticking away I decided to skip the Mekong Delta and head to the hills. I wish I'd had time for both but alas this was not to be. Jumping on the early bus it was just me and the locals for the 6 1/2 hour drive. The bus pulled in at a local station and I spent a bit of time hiking up hills with my pack to search out a place. After finding a few full I found one that was completely empty as a tour group had left that day. I thought Dalat was going to be more chilled after the madness of HCMC but how wrong was I? The never ending drone of motos - hundreds of motos. Traffic aside Dalat is a pretty quiet place tourist wise - well us westerners, its huge with the locals. But the best thing about Dalat is the weather - deliciously cool compared to stifling heat of HCMC. I could walk all day and not be bathed in sweat. And walk I did. 7 kms around the currently drained lake taking detours to interesting looking buildings. I checked out the small train station that these days only does a tourist train to a small town down the line. But what a journey. Dalat grows much of Vietnam's fruit and veg and the train rattled past hundreds of greenhouses. Artichokes are a big crop and the tea they make from it is ... interesting. At the end of the line is a crazy temple completely covered in mosiac. There was also a 3 story high deity covered in marigold flowers obviously left over from Tet. My other favourite place in Dalat was Crazy House, the pet project of a woman who studied architecture in Russia and is the daughter of a high up party official. As the name suggests its crazy - like the bastard child of Antonio Gaudi and Salvador Dali writ in concrete. Its also a hotel and a couple I met had stayed there and said it was the freakiest experience. The mirrors above the beds were slighty disconcerting! But before too long (and a night on the not entirely undrinkable Dalat red wine) it was time to head back to the big smoke for my flight to Laos.

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