Silk, Buddha, coffee, and rain on 2 wheels

After our myriad of attempts (hostel, Sinh Tourist, online) all came up full, not going, or expensive for a trip around Dalat. We found we could rent a scooter from our hostel for $7. Perfect. I really had been wanting to rent one since people nearly threw them at us in Hanoi, Cat BA, Hue, and Hoi An. Dalat was calm enough to give it a try. 

Now, maybe the traffic here hasn't been entirely well represented. The horns, we've previously described. But the amount of motorbikes is simply swarming. When crossing the street, we have to look all ways, even on a one-way street. Even the sidewalks aren't safe, as they're common shortcuts. I was excited to drive, but I knew it'd be with a lot of caution. Unfortunately, even my examples came up poor to Meredith. I'd point out some guy on his motorbike going slowly on the right, only to find out he was just texting and driving. Ah!

Thankfully, our route would take us through one fraught filled round-about, and then it would be primarily country roads. We took one more picture, and then were off. 

Our first destination was the farthest out, the Cuong Hoan Silk Factory. It took 45 minutes (at a max speed of 30 km/h or 18 mph) along windy mountain roads to get there. The roads were actually very good, especially the impeccable mountain twists. 

And the scenery was amazing. 

At which point I need to fully declare I've only now seen these pictures for the purposes of this post. I was busy driving, Meredith was responsible for the map (thanks again, Google Maps!) and all the back of the bike pictures. 

Finally, after a very enjoyable ride, we made it to the silk factory. I cannot say it was well suited for visitors, but there were things set up for it. There was a video for us to watch in front of a box of active silk worms. 

The video showed a larger room with even larger worms were workers just spread leaves. Eventually, the larva spin themselves the silk cocoon. 

Then, there was a process (not well explained) where the cocoons were boiled, the threads pulled out, then wound, then into the loom. We only peeked at the factory at work. 

There was a bit of a shop there as well. There were some garments and items for sale, and Mer marveled at $6.20/meter price for the bolt of great silk. "You can't buy synthetic silk at that price in the States!" Unfortunately, we both knew there'd be no hauling that silk the rest of our trip. Then the lady offered us something unusual (that we knew from the guidebook). Roasted silkworm grubs!

We both tried them. 

"Nutty," was the consensus flavor. Not bad, for an insect. 

Just around the corner was our next stop, Elephant Waterfalls. The view from the top wasn't that great. But then there were windy 'stairs' that led down the falls. 

 

Eventually, we clambered down to get a good view of the falls. 

Also, I went behind it. 

At this point, we wandered out and had to wash off our muddy feet. 

Then we wandered around the corner to Linh An pagoda. I may not know my religious symbology very well, but Linh An appeared to combine Hindu and Buddhist elements. We, apparently, took neither seriously. 

It was, perhaps, exactly that disregard that willed the rain clouds to open. We got stuck under canopy where the bike was parked. 

We played a couple rounds of cribbage (who brings cards to a temple?) before the downpour let up. So, we suited up in our ponchos and headed back out on the road. 

Our next destination was a coffee plantation. Mer had never been to one, and I'm always game for coffee. 

Perhaps accordingly, the rain interceded again. As we were nearly at the intended coffee farm, the rain picked up so heavily I had to pull over. I aimed us toward another cafe. 

Well, cafe was misleading. It was a family's home that happened to serve coffee. Most importantly, they had a roof over where to park the bike and a sitting area to remain dry. We ordered the black coffee (avoiding the available weasel coffee). He actually had a glass percolator for filtering. 

Our host spoke no English, but was very interested in our game of cribbage. It's hard enough to explain in English. I certainly wasn't going to try in gestures across Vietnamese. Eventually, the brew was ready. 

We continued our game while he observed. Finally, after one hand, he interrupted us. He motioned us forward and down a set of stairs. He unlocked a metal door and slid it to the side to reveal a dark room with canisters inside. 

I could almost hear the tense music rising. This is where it ends. 

Meredith figured it out before I did. It was the two shot glasses in his hand. He turned on the light and uncovered a spigot. He filled both shot glasses with a clearish liquor. Then handed them to us, and said, "Huim." Maybe I spelled it wrong, maybe I heard it wrong, but we could only assume it was a rice liquor. It was strong without much distinctive flavor (for a guy who prefers wine). We thanked him and returned to our coffee and cribbage. He showed me a bottle of the liquor (in a sales attempt.) I then picked up a bottle that was near us at the table and gesturingly asked if it was the same. He strongly negated it. Meredith then whisperingly suggested it might be the ashes of an ancestor. (Whoops!)

As we finished our coffee, the rain was letting up. We decided we'd done enough here and we needed to head back to town. We paid the bill, suited back up, and got going. 

It continued raining lightly, but it was much easier to see. We made it back to the windy parts where the fun began again. We even got to a great photo shot we had passed on the way out. 

We even de-ponchoed for some shots. 

(Photo credit: Jade, who patiently timed this pic)

Then it was back into town. We actually worked up our courage to ride in town a bit to go to Sinh Tourist to book our bus out in the morning. We successfully negotiated traffic to the office, only to find seats were sold out. Back to our hostel we went. 

Bike Riding Summary - it was so much fun to have the wind whipping at us and seeing that countryside on the back of a bike. I had a bike when I lived in Honduras, so I had some experience. Meredith was apprehensive at first, but then really enjoyed it. She was super helpful with maps and surroundings and negotiating within the city. Rule of thumb: While locals go every which way, with and against traffic, green light or red, road or sidewalk, they really don't want to hit anyone. So at long as you're straightforward with where you're going and don't pull out in front of anyone, you can avoid others and they can avoid you. 

We returned the bike back to our hostel and then headed out once more for an ATM, bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), and got some snacks. We only got the tickets before rain and traffic sent us back. 

We showered up for family dinner. Being our third dinner here, we had gotten to know several of our fellow hostelers. They are traveling in the opposite direction & were able to pass along great travel advice for our next destinations. They were intrigued when they found out we have a blog of our daily adventures. So this is our official shout-out to Jade, Chloe, Gemma, and Georgie. Now you're famous. You're welcome. 

After dinner, we made our way back to the Super C grocery store with Gemma for our aforementioned money and snacks. Our treat was the icy pops for 1¢. 

And then it was back and off to bed. We all had early 7 am busses to our next destination. For us, it was the dizzying city of Ho Chi Minh City. Or as it's still known locally, Saigon. 

Oh what a Ride (to Da Lat) #1

We had a 13 hour bus ride in a sleeper bus to Nha Trang & then a transfer for a 5 hour ride to Da Lat. And what a ride it was. Thankfully we had back bottom seats on the sleeper bus to Nha Trang-which translates into extra foot room & the ability to stretch out into the aisles. 

We had beautiful views of the full moon as we traveled. 

The bad news-this night bus also contained a toddler. For a good two hours he would yell out-on & off, just enough that no one slept. Finally one of our Korean bus mates told them "Be quiet." I could elaborate, but I fear that someday I'll have the yelling child on public transport. 

On top of it all, the bus arrived in to Nha Trang early, at 5:30am & we then had a 2 hour wait as opposed to the scheduled 1hour. Needless to say it was a short & sleepless night. I used the restroom & kept nodding off in my chair as we waited in the Sinh tourist office. 

The Sinh tourist bus station in Nha Trang had a real bathroom, toilet paper, sinks, and multiple stalls. Historically the Sinh tourist bathrooms at the agencies have been some of the worst we've seen. We later realized this bathroom was so nice because it was connected to a high-rise hotel. I took full advantage of it. 

Chris ventured out in search of breakfast & coffee. He noticed that signage was in Russian as well as Vietnamese. As our bus left the Nha Trang station for the first time while in Vietnam, I could read the signs!! 

Our bus to Da Lat was a traditional bus & our driver was on a mission to get us there as quickly as possible. The road was incredibly windy & required a horn-and he laid it on. We braced ourselves around every turn to keep from falling out of our seats. We arrived into Da Lat 5 hours later & quite exhausted. 

We found a taxi-again we were fortunate enough to find an honest one with a meter & paid $1.50 to get to our hostel. We were so exhausted we didn't even get a photo before we climbed into bed. What was supposed to be a 90 minute rest turned into a 3 hour nap. I took my first warm shower of the trip & we headed out to see the city. 

Fun fact: during the war, both sides agreed not to bomb Da Lat and leaders from both sides would come to rest & play golf at the gift course. (The difference in temperature is about 30 degrees and it's lovely.) I didn't notice anything different about the structure or buildings city, having not been rebuilt after the war except that the city is quite spread out-and there were some massive hotels. 

We headed out about 4pm to see our first sight. It was sprinkling but we'd only allotted two days-and we'd slept away most of one. We got caught in a torrential downpour. We hid under a tree with our umbrella until the storm let up. Then we retreated back to the hostel after getting soaked. 

We stayed at Backpacker's Paradise which includes family style dinner. At 6pm everyone comes downstairs for dinner at long tables and there are communial dishes to pass (we paid $13 a night for a private room with bath). At first, we felt a bit old as we watched people flirt & compete about who was on the road longer, but then we settled into dinner and got some really great travel advice as well as great laughs with some really cool people. Family dinner ended up being a highlight. 

Dinner was always rice, a salad vegetable, soup, and a meat/potato dish. 

This dinner included quail eggs and fish balls. The fish balls are the round bits in the soup. The fish balls were my favorite part-and I thought they were mozzarella balls until our last night. Clearly I have a developed palate. 

Dinner ended with a shot of a digestive-sorry for the label of photos in this post. 

We headed up for an early night. The bad part about this hostel is that it is loud. Our room is right next to the stairwell & with all the stone & concrete-there isn't much to absorb the sound. We're on the 3rd floor (American 4th) and we can hear the communial space on the ground floor. We also shared the floor with a group of guys who played rap-finally at 11:00pm I asked them to close their door & turn it down. Thankfully they were sweet & apologtic about the noise-because at this point I just needed a good nights sleep!! (Chris was asleep by 8:30pm. I have a love-hate relationship with his ability to sleep.)

It's a post with a whole lotta nothing as the day was a whole lotta nothing. Best of all is the cool Da Lat weather. We went to bed snuggled in blankets, listening to the rain. After sweating profusely for the past week, we joyfully welcomed the cooler temperatures, even if it means enduring rain. 

A cool reprieve of Da Lat #2

We woke up this morning with no AC, windows open, birds chirping, and snuggled under heavy blankets. A chilly morning at 64 degrees was a wonderful change up from the crippling heat index we had been in. 

We got up for breakfast and then set off for where our rain interrupted yesterday, the Hang Nha Crazy House. 

And, my, was it crazy in more than just design. This whole area is the brainchild of the daughter of the former right-hand man of Ho Chi Minh who studied architecture in Moscow. Her idea was to build a home that returned to nature, the trees. The paths throughout wound like branches. 

Not only does Hang Nga live here, but we counted over 10 available bed rooms of a hotel, plus more under construction. 

About halfway through our visit (climb) the tour groups arrived, namely Russian and Korean groups. I hate to name names, but unfortunately they paint the picture well. Between one group's affinity for photos and the other's disregard for rules and courtesy, the tight, high passageways got crowded quickly and ability to navigate fell to the more aggressive. 

Let's just say Mer's Russian commands came out as well as my elbows. These tour groups put the 'crazy' in Crazy House. (And heaven forbid there was anyone actually staying in the rooms of this madness!)

Afterward, we headed off to the center point of Dalat, Xuan Huong Lake. We knew there was a flower garden around there, but not exactly where. We headed to the obvious large glass structures. 

Perhaps you, like we did, noticed the dark, gray clouds around. And, yes, it did begin to rain. Luckily for us, those glass structures had doors. And inside those doors were stairs that led to … a mall?

So while it rained outside we wandered inside where there was a grocery store for catching your own fish and squid. 

And a Korean-style McDonalds where we got some comfort food. 

And where Mer could bemoan the small ketchup portions. 

But we weren't above a little treat. 

Finally, the rain cleared and we set off for the (now known location of the) flower gardens. Now, many review sites had panned this place, but we enjoyed it. Think drunk Disney meets the fruit farmer lobby with a skilled horticulturist or two. Selfie-stick required. 

As we neared the exit, the familiar gray clouds returned, and we knew we had to hustle. On our way back to our place, we passed the large cathedral in town (there are notably more churches in the Dalat specifically, and the South generally)

And we found an almost Eiffel Tower (since Dalat is billed as the Paris of Vietnam). 

We made it back to cement our near future plans. I wanted to relish the coolness of Dalat for one more day while exploring the extremities (but there were no tours we could get to go to the areas we wanted, so we'd do it ourselves). 

At family dinner that night, there were some new dishes, plus I tried a new Fanta flavor. 

(But it mostly tasted like black jelly beans)

I absolutely loved this city. Yes, it's cool temperatures were a wonderful reprieve. But I also thought there was a lot more to see and do. I convinced Meredith with a little Phil Collins serenade, to "please give me one more night."

Let's just say it was Phil for the win.