Da Lat

We spent the last three days in Da Lat, a small(ish) town in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.  It was cooler and greener in the mountains.  We stayed at a very nice hotel with the most amazing breakfast spread (sorry no picture), a hot tub, and a fancy shower.

Here Jeff is pretending to be Harry Shearer in Spinal Tap

Our first full day we walked around the city and visited a hotel that is locally called The Crazy House.  A mix of Alice in Wonderland and Gaudi, the hotel was super fun to see and walk through.

One of the foot bridges (Jeff Bridges)

One of the rooms you can rent

This photo is for Mason: I'm doing a Mario punch in Mario's Mushroom Kingdom

We also had some great food.  With Buddhism being a strong part of the culture, we have easily found vegetarian restaurants so far that cater to those more strictly following Buddhism.

Pho (soup) is the most common food.  This cost about $1.

Veg spring rolls with peanut sauce.  $0.25 each.

I tried artichoke tea - interesting but nothing worth bringing back to CA

Our next day we hired tour guides known as Easy Riders.  It is an informal group of guys who take tourists on motorbike tours of Da Lat and also on longer trips throughout Vietnam.  We did a day trip to the surrounding countryside as we've heard it is the only way to see more rural parts of Vietnam.  It was also a great way to learn more about the culture.

Jeff with his Easy Rider guide.

Flower growing is a huge export industry - these are Gerber Daisies

 We got a tour of a silk factory and learned how the cocoons of the silk worms are turned into silk.  The women below put the cocoons (with the larvae still inside) into hot water, then the machines pull off the silk and spin it into big spools.

We also got to see some of the natural beauty in the area.

Elephant Waterfall

We got to hike almost all the way under the falls

Some of the countryside

 Our last sight of the day was an abandoned US air strip from the Vietnam War (or the American War as it is called here).

Not so easy riders

It was a great few days.  Today we arrived in Nha Trang, a beach city in the south central coast.  We'll do a post on it in the next few days!  Here is a sneak preview: