After arriving in Dalat we decided to explore the city. It was an amazing place; a strange mix of French, Vietnamese, and modern Western architecture that seemed jumbled from the macro view, but when looked at more closely worked quite well to keep the city interesting. We explored the huge, 4 story tall behemoth of a market that dominated the city center, selling clothes and household appliances and food and everything imaginable. We walked from there to the lake that the city surrounds and walked around it, amazed by the amount of modern amenities it contained.
Up to this point most of Vietnam had been quite similar to what I can only assume the 80s were like in terms of technology and architecture. We had heard that the further south we traveled the more modern the country got, but we hadn’t seen that until now. Situated next to the lake in the center of Dalat was the most amazing shopping mall I had seen (up to that point). Crazy, colorful glass buildings shaped nearly like fruit contained hidden staircases that brought us underground to a beautiful mall full of foliage and enormous skylights. It was quite surreal after spending so much time surrounded by old, derelict buildings.
We walked around the lake, ate some delicious food, and got to bed early after a long day of not planes, but trains and automobiles. We watched a show (Game of Thrones) while the room service in our hotel delivered pizza and ice cream, excited for the next days adventures.
The next day we set out to explore some of the area’s jaw-droopingly beautiful waterfalls. We set out early on bikes we had rented. The sun was peeking out behind the clouds, the roads were safe and dry, and we were very excited to explore. We headed down a beautiful, winding road that led us though pine forests and next to a river, and then proceeded to a large highway that would bring us to our waterfalls. We picked up speed, and were enjoying ourselves until I felt my bike drop a few inches, and start making a very loud noise. I slowed down, drove to a safe spot, and started to inspect my bike, thinking that a spark plug had popped out.
I inspected my bike only to see that the pipe leading from the engine to the muffler had cracked in half. I pushed the bike to a sugar cane juice stand close by (they are everywhere) and then further inspected my bike. After looking closer at it I discovered that the bike’s rear triangle had completely sheared off, meaning the rear wheel was only being supported by one metal rod. More inspection led to the realization that the bike’s rear triangle had cracked previously (no clue how that happened; these bikes are built like tanks) and the repair had been done incorrectly. After calling the person I had rented the bike from, and passing the phone to the owner of the sugar cane juice stand (who was able to explain the situation to the renter in Vietnamese) I was informed that I would be picked up, so I waited and drank a few cups of juice. After about an hour of waiting nobody showed up, so we called the rental place and told them we would just ride back on one bike. We drove back and amazingly they had a new bike prepared for me. After hearing so many horror stories I was worried that this bike breaking would end with me having to pay hundreds of dollars to replace the bike and satisfy those who we rented from, but we lucked out and ended up with absolutely no troubles.
With the day half over, we didn’t have time to attempt our trip south to the waterfalls again that day, so instead we headed north to the pine forests and smooth empty roads we had heard about, and wow were we amazed.
We headed north on the smoothest and emptiest roads I have ever seen, driving through picturesque forests that would occasionally thin to reveal valleys and hills around us. We drove north for a few hours, constantly amazed, and eventually found a dirt road forking off of the main highway. We decided that we were at a good turn around point, so we took the dirt road up a very, very steep and rutted hill, laughing at our miserable attempt to use these scooters as dirt bikes. The road brought us up a small hill, which was covered in thin pine trees, revealing a beautiful shielded view of the forested valleys below. The adventure we faced with the broken bike worked out to our advantage, as we may have missed this amazing excursion if it hadn’t happened. We rode back to Dalat thrilled with how cool the pine forest had been, and agreed that if we were to live anywhere in Vietnam it would be there. That was mostly because of the amazing scenery, but also because it was the first place cool enough to let us wear a sweater in the evening. It was a great change of temperature.
The next day we rented bikes again. I decided that I was finally comfortable enough biking to rent a Honda Win, the typical bulletproof loud manual bike you envy over whenever you pass one, not because they are more powerful or faster or more efficient (they aren’t) but because they look super badass. I got a military green one with a red star printed on its tank, and Bryden and I headed south to attempt our waterfall seeking adventure once again. This time we made it, after a fairly long ride.
We visited a few waterfalls, and the beauty can only be expressed by seeing them in person, although the photos I will post below should do a decent job summarizing them. We visited Elephant Falls, and had a truly amazing day. The photos below will do a better job summarizing this day than I could, so I will let them do the talking.
We returned to Dalat amazed by the waterfalls and happy that we were able to finally make that journey and decided to find some food. Dalat has a really interesting food culture, consisting of a lot of French-inspired cuisine left by the french inhabitants that controlled Vietnam and developed Dalat, as well as plenty of international food. We ended up at a very hip Marin-esque restaurant which sat on a small terraced hill, with swings as chairs and absolutely delicious Vietnamese (and French influenced) food. We then finished the night by ordering a small pizza and ice cream from the hotel again and watching some more Game of Thrones.
The next day we slept in and then made our way to the bus station to leave Dalat. We had reserved tickets through Vietnam’s most reputable bus line (My Dinh) online, and arrived at the bus station, sat in the bus, and then immediately got kicked off. We had made sure to select the correct departure date online, but due to an error in the system (or maybe it was an error in me…) our tickets were for a completely different day… We were stuck in Dalat. We were told with certainty that there were no other busses leaving Dalat that day, so we sat down in a cafe and ordered some of the most aesthetic looking milkshakes I have ever encountered and thought about what to do. After research confirmed that we would be in Dalat until the next morning, we proceeded to spend the rest of the day in the city. We had a great time walking around and seeing more of the area. It ended up being very relaxing having an extra day and we appreciated getting to know Dalat even better.
We had heard that there was a restaurant named ‘Quan Nuong Da Lat - BBQ No. 1’ that allows us to grill our own exotic meat, so we set out to find it, and after a small bit of confusion and seemingly aimless walking we came across it in an unlabeled and nondescript alley. This restaurant ended up being one of the culinary highlights of the trip, and after a self grilled meal of beef, ostrich, and porcupine we returned to a new hotel full, and very happy we had spent an extra day in Dalat. The next morning we awoke to a bus that would successfully take us to our next destination; the coastal town of Mui Ne.