Da Lat

Da Lat is the start of an area known as the Central Highlands. It is quite high up and considerably cooler.  I love it as soon as we get out of the minibus. It is very reminiscent of Ooty in India and Tanah Rata in Malaysia. It was a French hill station, a retreat from the heat of the city.  The main feature of Da Lat is a huge lake which we reckon is about 3km round.  Top little hotel is found and a bar - what more can you ask for.

Just up from our hotel is a bakery that does us for breakfast for the duration of our stay here. For 40,000VND I have a cup of coffee, a croissant, half a baguette, Adrian has two eggs cooked to his preference, toast, half a baguette and we share a pineapple tart - how about that for VFM. Oh I should mention there are 31,000VND to the £.

We have a walk around the lake and en route visit the Da Lat Flower Garden. This is beautiful there are just flowers (mainly orchids) everywhere - there's a lot of plastic giraffes and tigers too but you get used to it. It is here that we meet our new travelling companion, Norman Amelie Gnome.

Next stop is a Pagoda presided over by an old lady bent over and with a humped back.  It's beautifully ornate with a pretty garden.  Just before we leave the lady asks Adrian to rub her back for her.

The next day in Da Lat we decide is a motorbike day. Off we head to see the last King of Vietnam's palace number 3 in Da Lat. It's a great

place built and furnished in the 1920's and still same same.  Here we team up with a Vietnamese couple called Ti and Wifey (we're fairly sure that's not her name but it's all the information we get) and decide to carry on touring together. Next stop is Palace number 2 which is now an hotel but very similar to number 3.

 

Datania Waterfall and Preen Waterfall are visited which are both beautiful but the parks are a little kitsch with the ubiquitous plastic giraffes and tigers and giant swans in the pools. After this we go our separate ways and Adrian and I head off to the old train station back in Da Lat town, where we run out of petrol! Adrian freewheels off down the hill and I have a look round. This is another 1920's building that hasn't changed at all and it's lovely.

Refuelled we head off to see, yes you guessed it, palace number 1.  This is the golf club house, apparently the King of Vietnam liked to practice his golf so he built a palace with a course - and why not.

On the way back we call for bus tickets we need to move on through the highlands and northwards towards Hanoi. Tet (New Year) starts soon and we may well get stuck somewhere.