Dalat

FIrstly we need to apologise for getting so far behind with our blog. As most of you know we are now in Paris so I think I will just do an overview of our 4 weeks in Vietnam in order to bring us up to date. DALAT. As I mentioned in the last post Dalat is high in the mountains of Vietnam and very much an alpine looking township in its architecture and lower in temperature to what we have been used to. It has a lake and extrememly beautiful surrounding countryside. The town is hilly with lowlying streams running deep in the interior of the township. In fact it is almost as though each road is fronted with a business/shop facade and between each road is a whole new world of domesticity with connecting bridges over these streams and walkways for access to homes which are in deep gullys between the roads. The houses are all beautifully built and of different soft colours reminding us very much of Austria. Amazing use of non friendly, undulating land. It was here in Dalat that I bought a blue tooth keyboard for my Samsung tablet, with a swivel style case as well, all for $28NZ!!!!!!! In Dalat it rains a lot and having discovered a huge local market we emerged to heavy rain. Buying plastic raincoats for 50c each we wandered the streets surprised to see that the main pastime for a majority of men was drinking coffee, smoking and playing checkers in "cafes" whilst being waited on hand a foot by women. These were real dens of iniguity but we decided to "have a coffee" whilst we waited for the rain to stop. Mmmmmm - coffee? This turned out to be a complete surprise and our introduction to Vietnamese "shot coffee". Very strong, very black and very small and more like chicory. We were given a shot glass of this and also a shot glass of cold water which I assume was designed to follow the coffee to cleanse the palate. For us it was undrinkable but with lots of gesticulation on both sides I managed to get some milk and Gary some hot water. This coffee was soooooo strong that watered and milked down we probably drank a latte bowls worth. Very good value for money. Returning to our gorgeous family hotel we stumbled across a shoe shop selling good quality leather shoes made in Vietnam and a pair of boat shoes caught Garys eye - his size too. $17NZ later he walked away with a real bargain and has been extremely happy with them. We did not venture too far into the Dalat countryside even though it is a major wine producing area. We had decided to spend our time in the quaint township and venture into the countryside during our next stop. At our hotel we had a little balcony off our room and it was wonderful sitting there in the evening with a beer - Dalat wine was awful - listening and watching the hubbub of Vietnamese life. GIve them a motorbike, a horn and a cellphone and they are very happy. Our last night in Dalat we were treated to a procession of floats which was breathtaking. The floats were adorned with fresh flowers and lights and seemed to go on forever. There was no police presence and everything worked out fine on its own even if it was a little hairy at times. We were told it was in celebration of Buddah's birthday. Time to pack and move on early the next morning to fly to Da Nang. Dalat airport is three quarters of an hour outside of Dalat so this meant a very early start. Low and behold when we came down the stairs with our luggage at 6am a beautiful breakfast spread was set before us. "Cannot have our guests leaving hungry, plenty of time for breakfast" said our hosts who had got up early especially to prepare breakfast for us before our departure. The taxi driver was left to wait!!! Our trip to the airport was uneventful as was our flight. Vietnam airlines are wonderful and we can thoroughly recommend them. Next stop Hoi An - thirty minutes outside of Da Nang.