Hi all Su here again, so after we dragged ourselves away from the party city that is Saigon we decided a bit of peace and quiet was in order, so where better to head for a bit of R & R than the central highlands and wine making region of Vietnam: Dalat. No we didn't think Vietnam made wine either but surprisingly they do, I can't say it's the best we've ever had but a treat in South East Asia all the same.
During the French reign many would come to Dalat to escape the heat of the cities, resulting in a strong French presence. The town wouldn't look out of place high in the Alps, they even have their own Eiffel Tower.
It is one of the few towns in Vietnam that wasn't bombed during the American/Vietnam war. Reason being, like the French, the high ranking North Vietnamese (Northern Communists) holidayed in the North of the town while the high ranking South Vietnamese and Americans holidayed in the South of the town, so no surprises why no one chose to bomb it. 
Dalat is a slice of heaven in hot and manic Vietnam. It's unusually quiet and the temperature feels like a cool Irish summers evening (in other words I had to wear a fleece and a rain jacket). Along with wine, it also produces fruit and veg more commonly seen in the western world, peas, carrots, spuds, avocados even strawberries.
We took a Cable Car ride over the farms, they have a very impressive set up. Unsurprisingly the towns markets are bursting with tasty treats
and awash with colour...
With our lungs filled with country air we headed back down the mountains to the coastal town of Na Trang. With it's endless beautiful beaches and good weather it's a hit with all visitors and Vietnamese alike. We stayed here for a couple days and were so lazy we didn't even take a photo. Sorry!
It was back on the bus for us and we braced ourselves for a gruelling 12hours over night journey to Hoi An (Where we planned to stay for a week). Much to our delight our bus was a state of the art sleeper bus and even Pete fit (snugly) in the seat as you can see from the pic (yep they're his legs!)
Unfortunately a few hours into the journey the ride was nothing short of a rollercoaster. The potholes on the road where bigger then the width of the bus! No joke, the road looked like the surface of the moon there was that many craters!! So needless to say not much sleep was had....
(continued in part 2)
No comments:
Post a Comment