First, a little history of Dalat. According to our guide book, Dalat was essentially untouched by the Vietnam War. At the time of the war, Dalat was not easily accessible. Dalat was simply not a strategic location and the only road there was unpaved and windy...not the best for transporting armies. I guess military officers would take leave in Dalat to play golf against each other. Dalat is known throughout Vietnam as a big producer of wine, flowers, and coffee. If that tells you anything, it should tell you that Dalat has some incredibly fertile soil and a rather temperate climate.
Just like Nha Trang, we couldn't book a hotel or hostel before arriving in Dalat. Everything was booked for the days we were coming. Luckily, as soon as we stepped off of the bus, there were representatives/employees of hotels standing there asking us if we needed a place. We confirmed a price with one of them and he led us back to the hotel.
Our first day in Dalat was spent merely walking around the city. Architecturally and structurally, Dalat looked like no other city that we visited in Vietnam. It's back streets twist and turn similar (at least, in my mind) to what you would find in Italy or France. The architecture was a startling contrast to what we were expecting to see, and what we had seen so far in Vietnam.
There is a huge lake southeast from the center of the town. Around the lake, people were selling flowers, having picnics, or playing games. We walked next to the lake for a while, and ended up in a huge garden. By "garden", I mean more like "flower park". I could tell it was marketed a bit more towards couples who wanted to stroll around and be lovey dovey, but it was nice nonetheless. We also walked around a while trying to find this Buddhist temple, and when we finally did, it was a bit underwhelming, so we just went out for dinner and called it a night.
Probably my favorite day we had in Vietnam was a tour that I took from Dalat into the countryside (Daniel wanted to do something else that day, so we split up...so sad). On the tour we stopped in a valley that has hundreds of green houses. I asked our tour guide if there was a monopoly on green houses. She told me that, actually, generally only one family controls one green house. So each green house is owned by a different family. I thought that was great! But then I imagined the families trying to sabotage each others flowers. It probably doesn't happen, but ya know. I must say that the valleys would have looked a lot nicer if they hadn't been covered in green houses, but I know people gotta get paid! As I mentioned before, Dalat is known as the flower capitol of Vietnam, and apparently they ship their flowers all over the country.
After that went to some coffee fields. It was a rustic looking house built above ground on wooden stakes. Behind it was an idyllic scene of hills, a pond, and, of course, fields of coffee plants. As I mentioned in a previous post, before trying Vietnamese coffee, I had never tasted anything like it. It's as thick as syrup, and must be drank with sugar for the faint of heart. It's really bitter and incredibly strong. One of the most infamous coffees that is made in Vietnam (and especially in Dalat) is appropriately called "Weasel Coffee". Literally speaking, weasels are given coffee beans to eat, and what is pooped out by them is the "Weasel Coffee". It sounds disgusting, but apparently people will top dollar for it. That must be some strong shit (pun intended)!
We stopped at a cricket farm. Literally: a farm that raises crickets for human consumption. They had glass cages filled with egg cartons, dirt, and you guess it...crickets. I ended up trying a few fried crickets. Crunchy and not nearly as gross as one might expect. Crickets, like many insects, are incredibly high in protein! I think they said a serving of crickets can account for about 17% of your daily protein intake!
Our next stop was an old, small silk factory. We saw the different steps of silk production all in one room. The machines they had there had to have been at least 30 years old, but apparently everything still works fine. I'm sure there are more modern ways to produce silk, but it was certainly interesting to see how it is done.
After that we went to a waterfall (called "The Elephant Waterfall"), which next to a serene Buddhist Temple that was on top of a hill, and looked over much of the surrounding area.
Our last stop before going to a late lunch was a place that is nicknamed, "The Crazy House". It really looks like a house out of a fairly tale. Some people have called the house itself a work of "expressionist" art. Others have compared it to the work of surrealist artist, Salvador Dali. For me, stepping into the Crazy House was like stepping back into my childhood. The primary structures appeared to be made out of wood, and they twisted and turned as if they had started to melt at some point, but then were frozen in place. The stairs and pathways also twisted and turned, so that it was very easy to lose track of people.
Our tour guide was great, the tour itself was also good, but the late lunch we had at a restaurant was one of the worst meals I've had in recent memory. In fact, the Russian couple on our tour got really really pissed off, because their meat was undercooked, and they had have it taken back not once, not twice, but three times to get it cooked well done. The worst restaurant experience in recent memory. Additionally, the host and servers clearly wanted nothing to do with us.
Up next: Our daring 36 hour bus adventure to Hanoi!
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