Da Lat, Day 1

I was looking forward to Dalat for a couple of reasons. 1) is that its 1500m above sea level, meaning lower temps and giving some temporary relief from the intense heat! 2) I was planning to take an Easy rider tour.

I ran into Ben and Juan on the bust from Nha Trang, and the bus was struggling to make it up the mountain. We had to stop a couple of times to let the engine cool down! We couldn’t understand how the inside of the bus was so hot when the outside air was so cool, anyways we got there eventually and checked into one of the random hotels, all very same-same.

We walked around town and got the last Gondola (cable car / ropeway) for a bit of a view over Da Lat, then off to Hang Nga’s guesthouse! Also called Crazy House (gee can you guess why?), the designer Hang Nga has a PHD in Architecture from Moscow University. Still, you can’t help but think the only reason she was allowed to build this thing (or start – it’s still far from finished) was because she is the daughter to the Second Seat of Ho Chi Minh..or something.. There is strict control on buildings in Vietnam so it really is out of the norm.

The place itself is…welll crazy. Described as Gaudi Meets Alice in Wonderland, it kinda fits. The place is actually a Guesthouse and you can even stay in some of the rooms if you book ahead, it wasn’t even that unreasonable. One of the rooms has a Kangaroo with red LEDs for eyes, another a bear and eagle etc. Totally bazaar.

I can’t remember the name of the place we went for dinner, but it was really nice. The staff were very friendly, if somewhat shy, nice calm atmosphere and the food was great, and of course cheap! We even went back the next day. – UPDATE – I think It was on Bui Thi Xuan, just down from Peace Cafe where the riders hang out, on the bend at the bottom of the hill.

Walking back at night there were a bunch of people standing around a fountain so we walked up. A poor puppy was swimming in it and couldn’t get out. The treatment of dogs in Vietnam is.. well I’m not going to say, so we tried to suss out the situation. There was one guy with a lead so we expect was the owner, but even he was being an idiot. They were all screaming at the dog trying to get it to go to the side but just scaring the shit out of it. We tried to tell them but of course wouldn’t listen and in the end we just had to leave and hope others did too. As soon as people walked away he would calm down and go to the side himself but the locals are too stupid to realise that. I hate walking away from this kinda situation but it was probably the best thing to do. Grrr.

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