From the crazy hustle and bustle of HCMC, I began working my way north through the country. Next stop, Dalat for 4 nights.
A beautiful, small town at an altitude of 4900 feet, Dalat was once a summer escape for the French and was developed as a resort. Many of the old buildings remain and it is very charming. The French even built a small replica of the Eiffel Tower so they wouldn’t get homesick. The temps were cooler and less humid than stifling hot HCMC and felt refreshing.
An agricultural area, Dalat supplies much of the flowers for Vietnam, especially now for all the cities and towns decorating for Tet (New Year, in mid-February) as well as strawberries, potatoes and many more vegetables. Peppers grow by climbing up cotton trees. Chilis, corn, bananas, tomatoes and blackberries were grown in large, well-tended fields along the roads. The area is also known for its prolific coffee production and there were plantations everywhere.
I chose Ron & Neo’s Homestay Hostel for my accommodations, and got a private room. The reviews were very glowing, saying the two best friends and their families were amazing and fun and offered a mystery tour that was a blast. Here’s a picture of my teeny tiny room – basically the size of the twin bed with a bit of space to stash my pack and shoes…
A bit spartan, but…for $7/night, I could manage.
At the hostel that evening, I met a girl from Vancouver, Alysha. She mentioned the Crazy House, the Maze Bar, the market and some other options and said we should leave in the morning so we’d have time to see them all…and that’s how my friendship with Aleysha began. She and I spent the next day – and the following week! – hanging out together.
We really clicked – finishing each other’s sentences, saying “I was just gonna say that!” a million times, and just basically having fun together. She was a hard bargainer – see above for her nogotiating with a fruit seller in the market. She was also good with directions — score!
We started the day at La Viet Coffehouse and tried the siphon coffee. Just like a science experiment but more delicious. Click the link below to see the process in action…
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From there, we walked into the center of town to the marketplace. I do love the market for photo ops…here are a few. The colors! The smells! The noise of the people hawking their wares. The strange and mysterious fruits and vegetables piled up in beautiful symmetrical pyramids. Jackfruit. Dragonfruit. Coconuts. Green-skinned oranges. Pineapples.
After wandering around the market, we headed over to the Crazy House to see what that was all about. And …Wow. Unbelievable! Quirky. Whimsical. Fantastical. Disney meets Gaudi. Or Dali. Built in 1990 by a renowned Vietnamese architect, Hang Nga, the real name of this place, combines elements of nature such as trees, spider webs, animals, mushrooms and flowers. There are rooms in which to stay as well, cleverly built into the structure. Bridges and stairways connect the separate sections, and we spent a couple of hours exploring, exclaiming, adventuring and taking tons of pictures.
The U23 soccer finals game was starting at 3, so we headed back into town to find a bar to watch it. The entire city was planted in front of a TV somewhere! Appliance stores, bars, restaurants, mechanic shops, beauty shops, clothing stores – everyone had their TV tuned to the game of Vietnam vs. Uzbekistan held in snowy China and the spectators and TV viewers spilled out onto the sidewalks. We bought Vietnam headbands and flag stickers for our cheeks and were high-fived all the way to the bar by locals, who were delighted with our support, shouting out “Vi Et Nam!!!” to us as we walked by.
We watched the game, which went into overtime and was finally won by Uzbekistan. Although the home team didn’t win, it didn’t seem to faze them – the party continued with horns beeping, scooters waving the national flag, and people generally celebrating coming in 2nd.
The next day we headed out the door with 2 more people from the hostel to do the Mystery Tour with Neo and Ron. We hopped on their scooters, and Alysha and I agreed to take turns riding the other scooter solo. She went first. (And no, the adorable baby did not go with us!)
Our first stop was a local coffee plantation. Vietnam is the 2nd largest coffee producer in the world, and amazing coffee is grown here in Dalat – Arabica, mocha, cherry — and weasel poop. Yep. Weasels eat the coffee beans and then poop them out in clumps. They are then roasted and enjoyed at a high price per pound and are considered a luxury. We, of course! tried the weasel coffee and it was quite smooth, rich and tasty.
Next, we toured a cricket farm. Crickets are a favorite snack of the Vietnamese – high in protein, cheap/free and easy to pack. Yes. I tried one. No, it wasn’t awful. It was chewier than expected. No, I didn’t eat another. Here’s Neo, our host, demonstrating how to eat a cricket…
At the cricket farm, rice wine was being brewed. Also known as “Happy Water”, the rice is fermented in the contraption shown below and you drink it in shots. It’s pretty smooth, actually!
We stopped at a local market, and Neo explained to us about the custom of burning paper cars, cellphones, money and furniture to “send” these luxury items to the beloved dead. This practice of burning “votive papers” is to ensure the dead are happy in the afterlife. Long ago, items such as paper blankets, pillows and money were burned – now, the latest version of iPhones, computers, designer shoes, fancy watches, luxury cars such as Lexus and other such items are burned. Here’s Neo showing one of the packages you can purchase – loooove the look of the shopkeeper behind him!
We also tried some fruits that were new to me – custard apple, passion fruit, milk apple, persimmon, kumquats.
A trip to a waterfall or two, hiking up, down and around and behind the falls to the cave shown below. After, a stop at a “secret” passion fruit grove where we snuck under the fencing to stoop under the vines and slurp some delicious passion fruit. We may have taken 3 or 10 with us for later…
This was about the time I took a turn driving the scooter. As I pulled out of the gravelly driveway, you guessed it…I spun out and hit the ground. My foot, elbow and knees were pretty cut up but because i was only going a few MPH, the damage to me (and the bike!) was minimal. I let Alysha take the bike back, and embarassedly climbed back on the bike with Ron, too rattled to drive.
(Early in their trip, Jessie and James kept running into tourists posing for photos as if on an important phone call, and for some reason, this cracked me up. I convinced Alysha to join in the silliness.)
Last stop was the lake, and then it began to rain. We headed back to our homestay, grabbed a quick dinner nearby and fell into bed, exhausted.
Is it too much to say I liked Dalat a lat? 😜 Ron and Neo certainly made our stay a great time, and it was fun playing with the baby, Vienne, enjoying Alysha’s company and the mystery tour was a blast.
Onward to Hoi An…I’ve heard it’s spectacular!
The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty “hell yes!” to your adventure. – Joseph Campbell
