Horner travels ... Of all the pages in a book, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport...

Here's the deatils for our day out in Da Lat with Hung, our taxi driver from 10am to 3:30pm ($40). We had a lovely driver who's English was OK. We did a bit of research on what some of the local tors were offering and decided to pick our favourites and make our own little package. We would have liked more ime out but were happy with what we ended up seeing and experiencing for the price. It was great to get out of the city/big town as we just seem to be hopping from one to the other ad not getting to see the real VietNam except from bus windows. It is hard to get out unless you have a motorbike (I'm not keen on learning to ride here and take a child as pillion) or are willing to take the hairy local buses which get run of the road by the non-stop open-tours and trucks. I guess we'll have to do it at some point if we get sick of bumping into the same travellers following the same tourist trail. Back to our taxi day. Driving out of the hilly, French-influenced town of Da Lat we quickly came to the outskirts where the flowers are grown- quite a variety with perfumed roses, lillies, lavender and many English species. In every mounatinous direction all you could see was the shade houses for growing them and the sorters in their shacks by the sides of the narrow road. Everything in Vetnam seems to be in clusters . In the towns/cities all the bag shops are together, all the shoe shops are in a row and so forth. It was the same in the countryside. After passing the flower growing region (with grapes for making wine further afield) we went past coffee plantations as well as vegie and fruit areas. The towns we passed had a mix of architecture of various sizes. The coffee farmers were obviously doing well as they all had three story mansions towering ther properties - this next door to wide timber boarded houses - many quirky, creative, earthy, rustic and absolutely charming while others were a mosaic of collected rusty iron and other recycled found materials. I love the variety - definately something we lack in Australia.  Our first stop was at Elephant Falls - he closest, fairly big waterfall. There were other more spectacular falls further out but we didn't have the time and didn't risk going as the area was dry and we may been disappointed. The falls were lovely and we climbed to the base (with other tourists turning up in mini vans) and climbed through lovely tree roots (see photos) to look up at the cascade. The only disappointment, and not uncommon here, was the ridiculoous amount of rubbish left here which you would think would only be from tourists? Next to the falls was an open hut with some weavers from the local villages selling stunning silk scarves - most were around $6-7 AUD. Of course I skipped buying (because it was tyhe first I saw and thought there'll be more to come)and already regret it. I haven't seen the same style of weaving again -Nepalese looking? The women were very talkative (despite the terrible language barriers) and were interested that I knew a little about weaving. We then drove on to a silk factory - into the quiet edge of a small town, down a narrow,dirt lane. It was Ok for a short stop but because the silk was removed from the cocoons by machine and the silk was woven by machines we all lost interest quickly. We asked Hung where the minority people lived as we anted to drive hrough. There ws just one small area where they were and Hung had to ask directions as he had never been there before. It felt like we were in a Hollywood Western movie driving into their mellow life with a dusty trail. In every flaking doorway someone was gaping out looking at us. Hung dropped us at one end of their community and was going to drive to the other and wait but must have been worried as he followed a few metres behind as walked through. Some children and quite a few dogs came to greet us or stare. We wished we had brought some of our Ossie gifts bt we hadn't expected to come across this scenario. No-one came out but we asked one Mother f we could take a phot, she nodded but didn't smile! The kids on the streets were happy about it. Back on the boundary of their area, we entered a "shop"/house and asked if they had filtered cafe - but they said it would take too long ??? Maybe they had to grind the beans by hand? We were offered beer or instant coffe or tea. Adrian took a beer and we got a very green tea (tasted like spinach to me). The kids culdn;t stomach the tea (although in a miniture  vessel) so carefuly passed it to me in order to avoid offending. We would have stayed longer as we were trying to communicate with the lovely owners, with our driver's help, but a drunk/crazy man (who was married to a minority woman) turned up and ruined the plan. He kept touching the kids skin and reaked of alcohol. The kids felt uneasy and we politely and sadly excused ourselves to move on. We drove back through town to view the closer sights bordering Da Lat. The Crazy House was our first stop - a decrepid architectural structure that is crazy - kangaroos, giraffes and other creatures and mythical features abound all the rooms connected by creeping staircases and glitering walls. The kids loved running arund, like Alice, in this fantasy world. Unfortunately, the owner keeps extending the structures instead of maintaining what is there making yet another tacky touist stop. Despite this, it was the highlight of the kid's day. We then went on to an historical train station built by the French with parts of the line demolished during the "American" war. The line has never been mended though plans are in place to do so. The kids loved hopping in the engine of the steam train though we had to keep hands in pockets as there was a lot of exposed, crumbling asbestos! Then we went on to the flower gardens which had lovely orchids and roses, however, it also had a lot of kitch statues as well as cowboys on horses (which had carts attached covered in fresh flowers)trying to sell us a ride around the unkept, small attraction. We moved on quickly from here and were dropped at our guesthouse. Went out for dinner at recomended restaurant - posh service but not all tyhe food matched the ambience. Adrians meal was as boring as the Sandgate Chinse but I had an overly sweet claypot of fish with rice - a very small serving but but I couldn't have eaten more - I loved it. We enjoyed more local wine with dinner but Adrian wanted to walk out as he thought it was all a bit of joke and surrounded by touristy tourists. The prce was at high end for here, but I didn't feel bad as all up with drinks was under $15 - Adrian wasn't happy! Bye for now - wll write again soon - we don;t have internet in  our cafe and people are waiting for this one (in a sister hotel). Love XXX