Da Lat, Vietnam

We arrived in Dalat around 5.30 in the morning on an interesting night bus. We accidently sat in the wrong seats and were shouted at ‘you, move’ from the staff. We were eventually put in the back next to a Vietnemese man. It was probably one of the worst night bus journeys for me but Chris enjoyed his cuddles with the Vietnemese man and a little more leg room. When I went to put my seatbelt on, there was chewing gum (I think) everywhere and I was convinced that I would be woken up by a lovely rat licking my face. Thankfully, this did not happen and we arrived safely.

Luckily, we were allowed to check in early to our hotel and had a rest and freshened up before we went exploring. We headed to a local bakery for some food and sat in a park to eat it. Unlike the the UK, their parks had old rusty exercise equipment and lots of litter. It’s really sad how much litter is on the streets, beaches and in the sea. While in Quy Nhon, we saw some locals throw glass bottles in the sea. It makes me so sad when local people don’t take care of the environment around them.

We were walking towards the lake when we passed a cute little coffee shop and so had a smoothie/milkshake to cool down.

Afterwards, we headed to the lake, rented a pedalo and walked around. 

I don’t think we quite realised how big the lake was and it took us a while to get to the supermarket on the other end. However, on our long walk we did pass a flower garden and explored in there for an hour or so. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

We weren't feeling great so we decided to get some food at the hotel and watch some netflix. The following day, we booked a countyside tour of Da Lat. It seemed to visit a lot of places including the crazy house that we wanted to see. We started off at a flower village. It was basically a few fields growing roses. It was ok but nothing exciting. 

Next was the weasel poo coffee farm. I was a little concerned about all of this as the weasels digest the coffee. But after this, they clean the poo and then grind and roast the coffee. I did try some but I’m not sure if it’s worth all of that effort as it just tasted like normal coffee. 

After this, we headed to an insect farm and rice wine making place. We saw how they produced the rice wine as well as saw some random animals. They were also kind enough to supply us with some tasty crickets as a snack. There was an animal that I had not seen before there called a bamboo rat which was a little like a hedgehog - weird. 

After this, we headed to the silk worm factory. I have to be honest, I had no idea that silk was made from animals. They told us from one worm, they can make 300-900 metres. I am still a little confused about the whole thing even after being there and seeing it all. 

The next stop was the happy buddha and pagoda. It was cool to see.

The main attraction on the tour was the elephant falls. The walkway to the falls was dangerous. Stupidly, I was in sandals and they did not provide quite enough grip. The waterfall was nice enough but the fear of slipping and falling took away from it all. Next, we had lunch. I feel as if this was Chris’ favourite part of the tour as he looked so happy eating. 

Then, we headed back towards the city to have a look at the crazy house. The crazy house was great. It was much bigger than I expected and with some narrow and high stairs it was a little scary. 

As well as the crazy house, the designer also designed a maze bar in the town. We visited the bar in the evening after heading to the markets. It had loads of stairs and was a lot of fun. There was no entrance fee but they ask you to buy a drink.  A nice way to finish the evening before we head to Mui Ne.