Dalat is known as the city of eternal spring. Nestled in South Vietnam’s highlands, it has its own temperate climate which makes for pleasurable non-sweaty daytime strolls.
It’s a very laid back, lovely city and has become a place for Vietnamese couples to come and take romantic photographs before an engagement.
Our mornings always started local style, what makes a more suitable breakfast in a chilly foggy mountain city than a delicious steaming bowl of beef noodle soup, Pho Bo.
My mum always said that I would look good on a motorbike, she wasn’t wrong, it’s a shame that I wasn’t driving it though… We booked a city tour with a group called Easy Riders, who were willing to take a day out of their busy schedule to show us around the region at 80mph.
We agreed to skip the usual boring tourist stops like strawberry and butterfly farms and instead packed our day with waterfalls, scenic lake trails, a chicken village and a magnificent mountain range viewpoint. Our first visit was to a cable car ride up a pine mountain to reach a well-groomed pagoda with plenty of funky decorations.
The creme-de-la-creme of the bike ride were the waterfalls. One was large and majestic, a weekend picnic spot for locals with plenty of pre-engagement photo opportunities. The second was Elephant Waterfall, your standard Southeast Asian waterfall on the outside but the real treat was it’s “secret” cave; edge through a tight corridor, slide down a muddy slope and you’re treated to an inner torential shower with small rainbows, stand at the rocky opening for 5 seconds and you’ll be soaked to the skin.
Our final destination was called the Crazy House, it’s a strange blend of hotel and Salvador Dali paintings which was built by a wealthy local entrepreneur. Describing Crazy House as ‘Offbeat’ does not do this place justice, there are several distinct psychedelic sections which melt into one property with twisting ladders and staircases moving over and under the different floors, words cannot really describe it so I took some photos.
The next day we headed to Datanla Waterfall park and to our pleasant surprise we found an Alpine Coaster at the entrance, a self-controlled coaster toboggan you can use to enter the park (or use the boring stairs), the question is can I really trust myself not to derail the toboggan whilst hurtling down sharp corners? Apparently I can but Alena was screaming down most of the track.
I would class this waterfall park as… interesting. Aside from some cascading waterfalls the park was peppered with some weird golden Mayan statues depicting warriors, eagles and bare-breasted women. An intricate looping path which the park wardens couldn’t even navigate, a novelty cable car ride and an elevator?!?
To finish off the day we hit the city lake in a tacky swan boat and turned it into a romantic picnic with wine and cheese, it had been so long since we’ve had any real cheese that we were literally taking bites out of a block of rubbery cheddar and glugging it down with cheap Dalat wine. Perfect whilst watching the sky change from a bright blue to a kaleidoscope of yellows, oranges and purples.
The next morning we left Dalat on one of our favourite ever bus rides, a Sleeper bus with bunk-bed style fully reclinable seats. You’re lucky if you can sleep with the blaring tv and the twisting mountain corners though.
*post written by Anton Crowson
Lasagne for breakfast 