07/05/2023 From Mui Ne to Da Lat
A new chance for a better bus
When we waited for the bus to Da Lat around noon, I had a bad headache. I’m struggling quite a lot with the heat and humidity here. Since Da Lat lies at 1500m, it usually gets “cooler” temperatures (in the twenties), which we were both excited about.
Not another crazy bus ride
Unfortunately, when we stepped onto the bus, we realized pretty quickly, that this bus was even worse than the last sleeper bus.
Our “seats” were at the very back of the bus – the place that gets the hottest because of the bus’s engine. Furthermore, we were supposed to squeeze onto the top seats and lie down in between three English guys (not even next to each other). However, one of the English guys was sick and “luckily” didn’t want us to sit (or lie) right next to him (understandably). We weren’t too happy about the situation either, so we decided to lie on the beds underneath them at the back of the bus. The sick English guy also changed seats to sit in front of us.
When will this be over?
For the next five hours of driving he kept throwing up so loudly that all those horrible noises even came through our headphones that we had turned on to the loudest volume by now. Blake and I looked at each other and both knew: We are too old for this sh**! I’m not sure if I felt worse for the bloke throwing up or for ourselves being stuck with him on a hot bus like this.
What to expect
- 1 Da Lat
- 1.1 Go canyoning
- 1.2 Join a family dinner
- 1.3 Go to Maze Bar
- 1.4 Have pho for breakfast
- 1.5 Enjoy a Vietnamese coffee
- 1.6 Explore the area on a scooter
- 1.7 See the waterfalls and Buddha statues
- 1.8 Visit the Clay Tunnel
- 1.9 Have a coffee inside the Train Café
- 1.10 Take a look at the Crazy House
- 1.11 Have dinner at the night market
Da Lat
We both made a mental note that we should definitely find a different way of transportation for our next journey.
08/05/2023 Da Lat
A low key day
Usually the rainy season starts in July. However, the weather forecast expected a lot of rain which usually started in Da Lat in the early afternoon.
With our (very late) breakfast at “One more café”, we only made it there before the massive rain hit.
It was nice to have a relaxing day, first at the café, then at a hostel to plan and book activities for the next few days and finally at a restaurant again for dinner. So all we did today was eat – could be worse. But we both knew that we had needed to recharge our batteries for the big activity coming up tomorrow…
09/05/2023 Da Lat
We were going canyoning today! The last time we did canyoning together was in Slovenia in 2020, which was so much fun!
Go canyoning
As always I was a bit nervous doing an adventure sport. Usually, I’m not a big fan of the jumps, but luckily there was only one seven-metre-jump off a cliff today (which Blake and I both did – together with the other younger backpackers 😉).
So much adventure
All in all there were:
- three abseiling parts, one was off a 25-metre-high waterfall where you had to push yourself off backwards at three metres high and let yourself fall into the water (I was doing it very elegantly as usual – not!)
- two water slides down a small waterfall – one forwards, one backwards (where I hurt my back and elbow pretty hard)
- one zip line down a waterfall and into the water
- and the seven-metre-jump off a cliff
The last abseiling part off a waterfall was called “the washing machine”, which definitely swirled us all around quite a lot. But the whole day was so much fun! We had a great group and we all had lunch in a vegetarian restaurant afterwards (poor Blake).
Join a family dinner
In the evening we went to a hostel close by to have a “family dinner” with other backpackers. It is quite common in Da Lat (and in Vietnam in general) that people order many different dishes and everyone gets to share them and eats them in a little bowl with chopsticks. It was so nice getting to know so many other travellers, since we didn’t meet that many other travelers during our camper van time in New Zealand and Australia or our more relaxing hotel time in Bali.
Go to Maze Bar
After the get-together on the rooftop, we all walked to the famous “Maze Bar”. The bar was actually built like a maze and it was so much fun getting lost in there. You know you are not fully grown up yet when you’re wondering about how cool it would be to play hide and seek in here with your friends from back home.
10/05/2023 Da Lat
Have pho for breakfast
We started the day like a local: with a pho soup for breakfast. Together with some locals we sat on small plastic chairs and somehow tried to explain to the old Vietnamese woman that I would like to have mine without beef (it worked, thanks to another Vietnamese guest who helped us).
Enjoy a Vietnamese coffee
Vietnamese coffee is an intensely strong and sweet coffee, that’s sure to dissolve your morning daze and perk you up for the day. Its dark roast coffee and potent condensed milk, slowly dripped through a metal filter (phin) make this a unique coffee.”
www.hungryhuy.com
After the Vietnamese coffee in the café next door we were ready to start our day.
Explore the area on a scooter
For only 3€ for a half-day (we left late as usual) we rented a scooter for today’s exploring.
See the waterfalls and Buddha statues
The area around Da Lat is known for its waterfalls. That’s why we first drove to Elephant Rocks Waterfall, which is a large brownish waterfall (same water colour as the one from the canyoning yesterday) with a big female Buddha statue next to it.
Visit the Clay Tunnel
Afterwards we drove to the Clay Tunnel. Here you can find Da Lat’s famous statues of two big heads amongst lots of other statues.
They even built a “Covid 19 Park” that tells the story of the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic by the Vietnamese Government and people, which was trying to convey the message of solidarity and a strong belief in a final victory over the pandemic.
Have a coffee inside the Train Café
At Da Lat’s train station you can sit inside an old train wagon which had been turned into a café. Next door they have a chocolate café too, where you can taste chocolate for free. Guess what got me more excited 😉.
Take a look at the Crazy House
Next we stopped at the “Crazy House”, which we had heard so much about from other travellers.
[…] The “Crazy House” is an unconventional building designed and constructed by Vietnamese architect Đặng Việt Nga in Đà Lạt, Vietnam. Described as a “fairy tale house, the building’s overall design resembles a giant tree, incorporating sculptured design elements representing natural forms such as animals, mushrooms, spider webs and caves.”
www.en.wikipedia.org/
Walking around all the tight staircases inside and outside and seeing the different parts of the area, that were weirdly connected with each other, was pretty interesting. It was definitely a type of house we had never seen before.
Have dinner at the night market
In the evening we walked over the night market where you can buy lot of different foods and clothes.
It goes without saying that we “had to” try lots of different foods:
- A typical Vietnamese pancake (tasted like an omelette inside a crêpe)
- A coconut bun (a bit dry, but tasty)
- Strawberries
- Vietnamese veggies with noodles
We also bought new socks as ours seem to magically disappear after giving them to the laundry service. Furthermore, I bought a new sweater for less than one euro!! The pricing in Vietnam has definitely been the cheapest one yet on our world trip.
No sleeper bus this time
And with that our time in Da Lat has come to end. Even though it rained every afternoon, it was nice to get out of the heat and humidity for a little while.
Thankfully, tomorrow we won’t be taking a sleeper bus after the last two horrible experiences. Instead, we came up with a more creative and certainly more challenging way to get to Nha Trang…
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