Da Lat

Crazy Times in Crazy Town

10.03.2008 27 °C

We have arrived in Dalat…finally! What a process to get us here. From China beach we took a very short/cheap cab ride into Da Nang where we searched endlessly for a way to get to Dalat. We originally wanted to take the bus although after hearing that it is a difficult 16 hours, we decided to fly. There were no direct flights to Dalat from Da Nang so we took an hour long flight with Vietnam Airlines (http://www.vietnamairlines.com/wps/portal/vn/welcome/) to Nha Trang. The flight only cost 680 000 VND which is just under $50CAD. Since we still had to take a bus for five hours to Dalat (only $5USD) we decided to spend some time in Nha Trang.

Sheena spent the whole flight consulting her Lonely Planet book to search for activities in Nha Trang. We also entertained ourselves with drinks although were a little upset that they were $5CAD when just an hour later on ground they were less than a dollar. We decided to visit the large Buddha statue as well as have a mud bath.

Nha Trang was absolutely stunning, the beaches were almost better than China Beach. We started out by heading to the Buddha. It was right behind the Long Son Pagoda which we did stop to look at, although we were started to get pagoda-ed out. Although it was amazing, the Buddha is what really caught our attention. The Buddha sits on a lotus flower and has breathtaking views. There were so many people trying to take pictures of it and pose beside it so we actually had to wait quite a while before we could get a good shot but it was well worth it.

Buddha

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the Mineral Mud Baths. Although the idea seemed gross at first, it is a must when in Nha Trang. I fell asleep for a little while in the bath and Sheena kindly woke me up by throwing mud at me. When we were finished in the mud, we scrubbed it off in the hot thermal pools. We felt totally fresh and relaxed (well worth the $15USD) and were ready to continue on with our five hour bus ride to Dalat.

The bus ride was pretty standard for an Asian country, not very comfortable and very few amenities. We arrived in Dalat at night so we couldn’t explore much of the city although we mainly wanted to get to our hotel, Hang Nga Guesthouse and Gallery, best known as the “crazy house”. This was definitely the most unique type of accommodation either of us had stayed in. From the outside, it looked like something out of a Tim Burton movie. All the rooms were in little caves which you had to get to on little bridges and there were little inlets and themed rooms everywhere! Our room was very basic (we only paid $19 for it) which had pretty much just a “bed”, no tv, and a small bathroom. The cool part about it though was the tiger theme! There was a large tiger coming down the wall and was neatly decorated. Being late, we decided to call it a night and good thing we did. As soon as the sun came up in the morning the hotel was swarmed with tourists. It was too loud to sleep so we figured we might as well get up and explore Dalat.

Crazy House

Inside the Crazy House!

Our room

We learned that Dalat is actually on a plateau that is 5000 feet above sea level and is known as “the city of eternal spring” with its mild temperatures year round. Much like Hoi An, Dalat has a strong French inspired feeling with many villas and colonial structures. We spent the day walking around exploring the city while admiring the architecture and landmarks.

We visited the Lam Dong Museum, which houses archeological artifacts from the 7th to 10th centuries. The museum itself was really unique and interesting and even had marble for the flooring brought in from Italy. The rest of the day was spent exploring waterfalls and lakes surrounding Dalat. The most memorable was definitely Prenn Waterfall which holds a crocodile pool and oddly….couples dressed up like bunny rabbits… We were unaware that it is known for the dressed up couples and were speechless when we got there. Sheena kept cracking jokes so we had to snap a couple of pictures and get out of there.

Prenn Waterfall