Dalat - Aah, Fresh Air

May 7-11, 2014

After dealing with the sweltering SE Asian heat for nearly a month... we were excited to visit Da Lat, the vietnamese honeymoon capital, a small city in the highlands where the weather is a bit milder.  While cooler in the evenings, we were still greeted with sizzling sun all day... not that I'm complaining.

Da Lat Historic Train Station

They call this the "Crazy House".  It is designed by a famous Vietnamese architect who lives in a portion of it with her family.  It functions as a museum as well as a mini hotel where each room has it's own whimsical theme.

The Crazy House is connected by a network of elevated walkways that would by no means pass any type of safety code in the US... or anywhere that has safety codes.

View from the top of the Crazy House ... some ominous clouds moving in.  We did get one big storm while we were there.

A perfect place for a rest!

Da Lat is known for its fresh produce, especially strawberries and artichokes, flowers, and beautiful gardens.  We were amazed at how clean and fresh the markets were!

Market Photos

Da Lat Flower Park

Linh Son Pagoda

Buddah at Zen Monastery

During our wanderings around the city, we decided to check out Linh Son Pagoda, a Buddhist temple and monastery.  They were getting ready for their big Vesek celebration (basically Buddah's birth, enlightenment, and death all wrapped up into one), and one of the monestary students invited us in to see his classroom.  This turned into one of the coolest experiences we have had thus far as he proceded to invite us to drink tea with him.  We sat (cross legged on the floor - poor Kevin) for nearly an hour drinking tea by candle light and talking about his life before deciding to become a monk (he had attended university in Ho Chi Minh City, where he learned English and worked on an Italian cruise ship), monestary school, and our lives in the United States.  He then gave us a tour of the pagoda and invited us to try some of the vegetarian food they were grilling up.  He was very kind and made us feel so welcome!

Datanla Falls

We tested out or hiking legs on a trip to Datanla Falls. Most of the falls in this area are fairly well developed for tourists of all activity level.  We took the "coaster-bob" down (kind of like a cross between a roller coaster and bumper cars, where the driver has control of the speed of decention and whether or not they choose to engage the break prior to colliding with the car in front of him.  Don't worry, the sign clearly warns to maintain 25 meter between cars), but hiked it back up rather than take the cable car.

Lang Biang Mountain

With our legs all limbered up, it was time to tackle a summit: Lang Biang Mountain.

Made it!

We took the local bus (always an adventure, but only 50 cents each way) about 45 minutes outside of town to the base of Lang Biang mountain, which is a well established tourist destination including jeep rides up the mountain, visits to an ethnic village, and horses painted like zebras at the base of the mountain (yeah, still not sure about that one).  We bypass the jeeps and tours and start our way up the steep road.  An hour later (did I say it was steep?) we reached the gate to the National Park where we were greeted by a well-groomed trail, hooray!  Nature! We followed the trail through pine trees along a dry creak bed for a half hour.  After the first half hour, the trail got tough! Pine trees gave way to jungle, and the lovely creek bed turned to stairs and vertical climbs.  The whole time we were looking for the wildlife we know is out there - langurs, gibbons, asiatic bears - but all we saw were bird and butterflies, which are still beautiful, don't get me wrong.  But I know those monkeys were out there looking at us!  Finally, we reached the peak... not accessible by jeep, and were greatly rewarded for our efforts!

View from the top

Trail through the coffee farm

On the way back down, we decide to forego the steep road in leu of a trail.  We ended up popping out in a neighboring coffee farm, oops!  We made our way through the farm toward some houses, and were graciously guided back to the road where we caught our bus back to Da Lat.

We're on a beach....in Vietnam!

Local fishing boats scattered the beaches

     After being holed up in in Saigon for more than a week in the sweltering heat, it was rather pleasant to get into the beachside town of Mui Ne. Just a four hour bus ride (in upright seats) Northeast to the coast, we were ready to get some peace and quiet for a few days. We rolled into town on the main road off the highway, past some stunning resorts with grand entrances, tennis courts and even a golf course. It just seemed like there was really nobody around. Kinda sleepy.....no complaints. We checked into our place; a pretty nice little spot, tucked right in the middle of the resorts. With a little exploration, we found that there was a working fishing village within a few Km; so we checked it out, saw some boats, rode back to our spot and hit the beach.

Village shores

     Seeing the main drag littered with fresh seafood restaurants, I figured that this might be a fairly safe place get in on some shellfish or fish ( my belly got burned in Cambodia). In the company of an American solo-traveler that we met, we sat down to dinner at one of these palces, for a bit of a disappointment. The fish and shellfish of all kinds looked really good and fresh in the live tanks up front, but they were getting really high prices for them. It turns out that these resorts fill up with Russian tourists, and they fork over tons of money for anything. So, as the budget travellers that we are learning to be, we ordered what we could, and it was not so great.

   Needing to see some sights, we decided to rent our own moto for a day and brave the roads here. There was supposed to be a stream up the road from us called the "Fairy Stream". Kind of a nice stroll through some low canyons with red dirt walls, and a waterfall at the end. Well, didn't make that one. We got to the bridge, which was to be our entry point, found it littered with garbage, and not really a trail alongside. It looked as one was supposed to just walk up the shallow streambed to the end; but with the conditions, Katie and I decided that the skin on our feet was not going to touch the water we found flowing downstream. Oh, and the overwhelming stench of  giant tubs of fish sauce fermenting in the yard of an adjacent property was enough to create a 500' perimeter that I was unwilling to breach.

Katie's beach handstand

     We ventured to a tower outside of town, that had been built a long time ago,( how long ago? I don't remember. It's old) by some hindu people that used to live in the region. It made for a cool vantage point for some views of Phan Theit, the next door village. Then we went back to the beach because it was hot. Our evening moto trip took us to the sand dunes, which made for nice sunset viewing.
   
     My highlight was a place we found called Hoa Vien, which was a Czech brewery and restaurant at the north end of the beach. They had two lagers that they brewed on site, a light and a dark. I of course would've done a lot of things for a micro from home by now, so was very excited to have a beer with some color. It was okay, the amber lager was better. Their food looked great, but priced us out of the building. I think that night was capped with some pho from the stall across the street from our palce. The best we have had to this point. And I think was the beginning of us feeling comfortable eating at those kinds of establishments. Now they are a staple of our day, and a life saver to the wallet. I'm just to big for the chairs. One of these days I'm probably gonna break one. 

Mmmmm....beer

     With the heat of these days continuing to beat us down, we were ready for the next destination, the mountain town of Da Lat.

Rockin' the moto

Rockin' the fanny pack

Red dunes at sunset

The benchmark Pho so far

Da Lat Food Adventures

While in the lovely city of Da Lat, visiting the clean and lovely market with fresh fresh food abounding, we decided it was time to venture out, and dig into some local street food!  The following is a sampling of some of our food adventures thus far.

We started out at the market, and decided to try whatever snacks they were selling:

• Bahn cam (one of my favorites): deep fried glutenous rice ball filled with sweet mungbean paste and covered in toasted sesame seeds; like a delicious chewy donut!
• Bahn da: like a vietnamese rice cracker with sesame seeds and a faint coconut essence
• Bahn day: glutenous rice wrapped and steamed in a leaf of some sort (banana maybe)
• Various dried fruit: lemons, olives, sweet potato, strawberries, aloe milk, roses (I think these were actually hibiscus, but that's what the vendor told us...)

First Attempt: Failure

Walking around the first night we were determined to eat like a local, and found a busy Com Tam shop (basically a street side restaurant that serves rice, com, with various proteins in various manners).  I tried to order Com Ga (chicken), but they heard Com Ca, and this is what I got:

I did my best, and it wasn't awful, but I think you were supposed to eat the whole thing, which was not going to happen, and I could only get a couple of flakes of meat to come off.  Then they brought me another selection of Ca (fish)... this one was wiggly, chopped up, and soaking in some putrid sauce.  I took one bite, and have now sworn off ca for the remainder of our time in Vietnam.  Needless to say, Kevin helped out by getting up and pointing to the chicken and ordered that as well.  The cook seemed to get a kick out of the fact that we were there, and we didn't get sick, so all ended well!

Corner Store Staple

Walking back to our hotel we found a little convenience shop selling various snacks, including Bahn Bao (steamed buns stuffed with either pork and quail eggs, or sweet shredded coconut) which filled the rest of the void left by the ca let down. This became our go-to when we needed a snack.

Night Market "Signature Dish"

 The next night we decided to check out the night market and started with a vendor snack that was like a super thin egg crepe with bean sprouts that she grilled, topped with chili sauce, and rolled up for us... tasty!  Then we sat down at the night market (they set these up every night and they are quite elaborate) and had their Dac Biet (special) Artiso Lau Ga -  basically a hot pot with artichoke (artiso) and chicken, and you add your own noodles, lettuce and herbs.  It was okay, but not everything it was cracked up to be.  On the way home we stopped for some Sua Dau Nanh (sweet, warm, soy milk)... a favorite for warming up on a chilly Da Lat evening!

Home Run!

The best luck we had was when we ventured the other way up our street to some bright lights we saw ahead, a crowd of people, and a row of motor bikes.  We thought if this many locals are here, it must be good!

• 

Banh Xeo
Just up from our hotel we found a busy street stall with tons of people sitting on tiny stools eating the only thing being served: Banh Xeo.  Basically, it's like a fried crepe with shrimp, pork, bean sprouts and green onions and they give you a basket full of goodies to go with.  (Please note that what you see the lady pouring in is indeed oil... I never said this was the healthiest thing we ate in Dalat.)

After you cut your bahn xeo into managable peices (scissors included) you wrap it up in rice paper with lettuce and herbs and dip it into their sauce.  They just keep bringing you more until you say you're done... Amazing!  At about a dollar a piece we couldn't beat it, and came back again two days later!

 

Che

I had been seeing these every night, and finally had to try one!  They looked like grilled rice balls... but what I got was Oh So Much More!  After pointing to one, the lady grabbed it, cut it up (it turns out the rice balls are filled with pineapple and banana) and put it in a cup, then poured coconut cream sweet soup with tapioca balls on it, added a small scoop of passion fruit and topped it off with some crushed peanuts.

My delicious variation of Che - a sweet soup that seems to be made from anything (beans, corn, tapioca, coconut cream...).  I have yet to find another as good at this one!

Refreshments

Da Lat is also famous for some of it's refreshments, namely Tra artiso (artichoke tea), and Weasel Coffee... so naturally we had to try both!  The tea was easy, it was everywhere, but the coffee was a bit trickier.  We figured if we were going to try such a delicasy we should taste it from the source.  So, we hiked our way to Trai Ham Da Lat, the weasel coffee farm and took a little tour.  The coffee farm itself was beautiful.  It is all organic and shade grown coffee and they only pick only the best berries to feed to their weasels...

This little weasel ate some berries. He only ate the berries he wanted, we were assured that they are not force fed, which is why their annual coffee yield is so low (only about 40 kilos/year).  Then he pooped them out, somebody cleaned and roasted them, and put them on display.  Then we came along and bought them, ground them, brewed them, and drank them.

I know we mentioned earlier that Starbucks was the most expensive coffee we had consumed on this trip, but actually this was.  It ended up being about $5/ tiny cup, and honestly, it tasted like coffee.  Give me a frappucino any day!

 

Good Morning Vietnam!

     So, enter four tired travelers, weary from another crappy overnight bus onto the bustling streets of a Thursday morning in Ho Chi Minh City. We have no cash, or any real grasp of the currency in Vietnam, and are hustled off the bus into the waiting arms of taxi drivers crawling over each other to get any traveler coaxed into a ride to their lodging, at the expense of a zig-zagging, unsuspecting, meter-running, city street tour. We come to a stop, asked to get out, reassured that our hotel is a 2-minute walk down a one-way street, told our fare, and on our way. Once checked in, and cooled down with some A/C, I realize that I paid this guy $25 US, for a 10 minute cab ride, when our bus had dropped us off 1 1/2 blocks behind our hotel. ***Urgghh*** I had a bitterness for that taxi driver for the rest of our stay....maybe still I do. 

     

     Saigon, which is what most people still call it, had a lot to offer right out of the gate for us. The streets with large trees lining both sides provided much needed shade, and added to the beauty of the city. Parks and statues, cafes and restaurants filled every block, and city workers cleaning the streets! It really was a nice change from the Cambodian countryside from where we had come. We were staying along the road that was a true "backpackers haunt", so we were seeing more tourists than we had yet, and with them are the people haggling and pushing whatever they have to sell on you. We had all been so exicted to get into Vietnam for the food, and had been craving Pho, banh mi, and vietnamese coffee. So we set out to fulfill those needs. 

     Staying near the city center, most of the sights to be seen were within walking distance for us. With Eric and Michelle only having one full day left before they travelled home, we set out to tackle it all. By this time we are all no strangers to walking, for there has been many miles under foot so far, but it was hot. Really hot! We made our way through the "American War" museum ( a visit that was cut short due to their closing for a two hour lunch....Really? Katie and I finished this visit another day), the Notre Dame Cathedral, Post Office, Reunification Palace, Saigon Square, Bitexco Tower, and the main market at night for dinner. Unfortunatley for our travel companions, it was rushed, and was a very limited experience of Vietnam. 

     The next morning, they were off to the airport, and destined for the comforts of home; which at times I already catch myself wanting for. I couldn't have been happier to have our friends be part of this experience with us, and was saddened to see them leave. Thanks you E and Chelle!

     We were on our own now, like it or not, for the long haul! We finished up some sight seeing, and were making plans to move on from Saigon. Just to find out we were in the midst of another national holiday! They seem to be following us. This was Vietnam's "Reunification Day", or "Independance Day". The day in 1975, that tanks of the Communist North stormed the gates of the palace in Saigon, for the purpose of uniting the country. Hmmmm. Anyway, everyone is off work, and locals travel all week, so hotels are all booked up, and travel prices are at least doubled. So we stayed put for the week. We took in a few more sights;went to the zoo, Chinatown, saw fireworks at the riverfront, went to the market a few times, napped in the afternoons......yep, that's it.

     We got travels booked up, and were looking forward to our next beach destination, Mui Ne,  North up the coast. Final thoughts on Saigon. Huge city, we saw a lot but at the same time nothing. Very modern, as far as Vietnam goes. Moto crazy! It takes a few tries, and some guts to learn how to cross the street. Best coffee so far, still in search of the best Pho! Bring me the beach.

Bird's eye view from the AltoBar

Reunification Palace today ( No tanks at the gates.)

Evening storm rolling in 

Infamous Hotel Continental

Most expensive cup of cofee in town, but still a taste of home.

The good stuff

Night lights, and Uncle Ho (everywhere!)

***giggles***

Possible future endeavors

Wait....but my crosswalk says go

We're on a beach!.....In Cambodia.

     After some struggles to survive in Siem Reap, and an overnight bus trip (accommodations for small people only), we made our arrival to the beach town of Sihanoukville. Even at seven o'clock in the morning, the tuk-tuk hounds are ready and willing to sell four weary, sweaty and sticky travelers an overpriced, 5 mph ride to our secluded end of town. Alas! The beach that we had all been waiting for. We send out our laundry, put on some suits, pour up some beach cocktails and make the 50 foot journey from our bungalow to the waters of The Gulf of Thailand. The rest of the day is history.

     

    The next day we had arranged an island hopping day trip with the folks at our place. Wil, our host, had set us up with a couple of young local dudes with their own boat, and got just the four of us out on the water. The same morning, the place next door was loading two longtail boats with 15-18 people each. They ran us out to a spot just off of a small island and hooked us up with some snorkles and we dove in. The waters in this gulf by the way, are incredibly warm. In the deeper waters, probably around 75 degrees, and then walking out of the surf, the water on your ankles is almost too hot to stand in. Michelle stayed on board minding the beer cooler while Katie, Eric and I swam around a bit, checking out the schools of fish, sea urchin, coral and the likes. I tried to get Katie to get a good underwater picture pose for me, and not realizing how shallow we were, she shot right down onto some coral. Skinned up her precious little toes and ruined one hell of a toe paint job! After a few itches and burns, we figured out that we were swimming in jellyfish infested waters. Not ones that we could really notice, but these dudes were like transparent 5" strips just floating by and rubbing up on us as they passed. With a few stings and some skinned toes, our snorkle experience was done. 

     We headed further out to an island called Ko Ta Kiev. One of a few islands that has any accommodations on it. The extent of this was a few tree houses, some hammocks and an open-air bar/restaurant/lounge. We found a spot on the beach to chill out for awhile. Wil had told us of a local guy that had an absinthe distillery on the beach and that if he was around, would be happy to show it off to us. We headed up a path into the jungle a couple hundred feet, and  what we found was a little bungalow on stilts about 15' high, and an open door to a room with all sorts of cool equipment. The chemist in Eric was fascinated with it all and began admiring the condensers, and gauges and pipes. The rest of us, were just content with a peek. Dude was nowhere to be found, so we headed off to the bar for a drink and some grub. At the bar, everyone was lounging on floor mats, playing games, telling stories, maybe some just soul searching, I don't know. We had stepped into what had all the feel of an opium den on the beach. For these souls, I think the world was on pause. We attempted to have a talk with the girl behind the bar, she spoke about 5 words a minute, and I almost fell asleep by the time we got a drink menu from her. She was a nice enough girl, just in a world with everyone else, and not us. Eric was the only one that ordered the stuff (absinthe), and the girl served it up in a glass with a fire lit spoon and some sugar. I think we all were a lil sketchy on what we were getting. Oh well, we all took a sip, not my favorite. It seemed the real deal to all the other patrons, but I guess a few sips wasn't enough to get that fairy flying. We got our boat captain and headed back. We needed to get back to town and pick up our visas from the consulate if we wanted to get into Vietnam. 

     The next few days involved little more than some lounging, swimming, sweating, drinking, eating and Eric and Michelle's epic battle with their house rat. 

     Another overnight bus ride, again not my favorite thing, and we arrive into the bustling, sprawling, moto-crazy city of Saigon.

  

Makes for a pretty good day

Maybe a few beers

Snorkle selfie

Some spiny friends

Ouch! Coral!

The aftermath

O Captain, My Captain

Pictures just won't do the sunsets justice

Only manly men on this island!

Absinthe on a remote island in Cambodia.........sure it's safe

What day is it? Who cares

The end of another grueling day at the office

Cool shot huh?