Aside from being the city of love, Da Lat is also known as the city of flowers. Flowers are seen everywhere, not only in botanical gardens but also in private gardens, on the roadsides and in the markets. A special feature about some of these flowers though is that Da Lat is known for its edible flowers. There are many kinds of edible flowers in Vietnam (for instance, artichoke) and many kinds of famous flower dishes such as the Kim Cham flower dish, hot pot of flowering garlic (bong he) or fried nasturtiums. Of course you can find these dishes anywhere in Vietnam but they are that much fresher and sweeter in Da Lat thanks to the good soil and cool weather.
There is a big market at the center of town, with lots of one way streets, where motorbikes actually obey the traffic systems. With wide boulevards and a big lake the city is very tranquil as well as scenic. The people are nice, going about their daily lives, and will greet the foreigners but will not force you into buying or doing anything. It is quite a change from the hectic pace of Saigon where everyone is in your face to buy something from them, go into their restaurant to eat or book a tour.
Since the journey to Da Lat took an entire day, we were quite tired by the day’s travel and booked ourselves into Lam Phung Mini Hotel where we got a killer room for only 80,000 dong a night – equivalent to $6 CDN a night. Yup, you heard right. Although Da Lat is a beautiful town and does get some tourists, it is not yet 100% exposed to tourism and those tourists that do stop by the city do so more as a stopover on their way up north to Nha Trang or down south to Saigon hence the cheaper prices on accommodation. We decided to take it easy the next day and slept in and checked our emails to see if there was any news from Trek Escapes about the Cambodia trip but there was nothing, disappointing yet not surprising! We pretty much spent the rest of the day exploring the city by foot.
We walked around part of the Xuan Huong Lake, a beautiful lake located right in the centre of Da Lat. It was very calm and poetic which attracts tourists and lovers both. I could easily see myself sitting by the lake, leaned up against a tree, reading a book….ahh, the simple things in life I tell ya. What made the lake that much more attractive was that the road surrounding the entire lake was lined with pine trees and greenery, making it that much more appealing.
We continued on our way and found ourselves at Da Lat Market which is one of the most colorful and lively markets in the county. The market was more of a local market and was not the normal “touristy” market selling the “same, same but different” items for tourists. This was an actual market for the locals selling goods the locals needed. The market was set up in sections and in one section you could find tons of old ladies with conical hats sitting by the street with loads and loads of different vegetables, further up you could see the array of different colored fruits that were being sold, a section just on various beautiful flowers, on to the fish market where you could find various kinds of fish in buckets of water, eels and crabs and ending with the meat market where you could buy any kind of meat you want (some that I would think twice about!!). The best part about this city I think is that there’s not TOO many “sights” per se to see and visit. There are a few things of interest but I personally think the best part about the town is that it is small, quaint and you just feel relaxed as soon as you arrive. All of a sudden there is no timetable, no set agenda for the day of what has to be seen; just a very relaxed, slow paced day where you see what you can and soak in everything that is “not” happening around you.
Our last day in Da Lat was a day for ourselves to go off and explore more of the outskirts of town before we had to head back to Saigon to figure out what we had do about my Visa and how we were to deal with our booked tour to Cambodia. We rented a motorbike for the day, grabbed a map from a local free paper and made or way around the town picking and choosing what we wanted to see at our own pace and leisure.
Our first stop was the Valley of Love. This was a beautiful, serene place which had a large lake and the Lang Biang Mountains. Once inside, we were able to walk around quite a bit to explore. We made our way to different parts of the valley, one area we called “Hobbit Land” was a small area which had these small bungalow like huts interspersed with many beautiful different flowers and everything seemed to be “hobbit” size. We were expecting Frodo to hop out at any time. We also were able to go on a very good hike through the forest to the top of the mountain. Although there weren’t too many views from the top, the pure silence of this place was amazing. You could hear a pin drop. It was very nice to be there and not be overwhelmed with so many tourists as this is one of the things “to see” on some of the booked tours you can take in Da Lat. I guess Chris and I were lucky to be able to experience this alone..we felt like the Valley of Love was just for us!! (awwww…sappy I know)
After the valley, we made our way to the Crazy House. The Crazy House is an obscure piece of architecture where the woman architect who built this house had wanted to use nature as her inspiration but Chris found it a little bit Disneyland like. He thought the house was weird for weird sake and not built for a purpose or reason. I, myself, definitely thought the house was “crazy” but think it fit the purpose. The house was obviously built to be different and to not be the norm and the architect accomplished this. Although we would not live in something like this, they actually have rooms available for rent in the Crazy House to the public for $18-$30 US a night. They have been building this house since 1990 and are still continuing. It is estimated that this house will be completely finished in 2010. We walked through the different houses and took a look at the rooms which were for showcase and found each room a little different and a little crazier. The rooms were very small and had mini furniture which again made us feel like we were in a Hobbit house.
Our last stop was the Datanla Waterfalls which was 10km outside of the city center. The ride to the waterfall was very scenic as we rode through winding roads of forest and greenery. For a moment I felt like we were driving to Whistler minus the ocean. The falls themselves I thought were great. There were three waterfalls in the middle of the forest and although there were of no grandeur size, I found myself mesmerized by the water and the mist that could be seen all around. Chris thought they falls were nice but since he has been to the Niagara Falls, he said nothing ever seems to compare. We had a good day of hiking as after taking a few photos at the falls, we had to make the steep trek back up the mountain to get back to the bike. Oh our legs will feel the pain tomorrow.
We continued on our way and basically just went for a bike ride the rest of the time. We spent an hour taking streets we hadn’t taken before, sometimes getting lost but then just turning around and finding our way on the map again. It was nice to just ride and not have somewhere to go. As the sun set though, it got a lot colder on the bike and we decided to head to the hotel and call it a day.
Today is March 1st and is a very important day as it is my niece’s Ashley’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE. We made a phone call to her first thing in the morning on the 1st in Vancouver at 7am and I had a chance to talk to her and my nephew, Devin. I must say today has been the hardest day for me to be away from home than any other day since we have left. It was hard to hear my niece ask why I wasn’t going to be there to celebrate her birthday with her and to hear my nephew ask when I was going to come home as he missed me lots and lots. It was hard for me listening to their voices but at the same time I know I will be seeing them in a couple of months which helps.
Well that’s it for now….we will be posting a blurb on our final thoughts on Vietnam along with a separate post of just pictures which will relay our “Images of Vietnam”.
Enjoy your day/evening, smile and tell someone that you care about them…..
WE LOVE YOU ALL!!
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