Hello all!
We managed another bus! But this time it was during the day...which we found out is even worse!!! The journey took seven hours and seemed to last forever. At times, we were crawling up mountainsides with no tarmac road to speak of and a sheer drop below. We arrived in Dalat in the rain. However, we found this was normal because as it is so high up, they get daily rain at 3pm on the dot. Tired and hungry we stumbled around up and down small winding roads, trying to find a hotel. We soon discovered that it was nothing other than the first day of the Vietnamese holidays and as a result every mna, woman and child had come to Dalat for a long weekend. Just our luck. We spent an exhausting hour lugging our bags around and walking in and out of hotel receptions. We found the people to be VERY rude too which only added to our mood! It was only until a nice girl saved us from sleeping on the streets that we perked up a bit. We were taken to the 'Peace Hotel' which was nice enough but full of holes for mozzies to get through! Luckily we had a big net. Our first impression of Dalat had not been a great one. As we have said, the people were not exactly the friendliest we have encountered and the town itself was nothing to shout about either. Despite this, the night market gave us some hope for the next morning. Dalat seemed to come alive when we stepped out in the evening! We had a lovely dinner and the restaurants were definately something to rave about. The night market was HUUUUUGE! Although not offering anything we needed (such as fur coats and reed baskets)it was a good bustling atmosphere.
In the morning, we decided to seize the day and hire some mountain bikes and explore. Elodie was not happy when all the bikes seemed to be man-size with a 'man saddle' and was very uncomfortable. Especially when half way across a busy road, her saddle twisted round sideways and she nearly fell into all the bikes. We got completely lost instantly! It was quite nice cycling into little roads that seemed like they hadn't been found by tourists yet and we felt as if we were in a mountain village. The babies all wore little ski hats and people we walking around in big coats and boots- very weird! Our excursion was cut short by the torrential rain which even forced the hardy locals inside- it had come early! We therefore took our bikes back- grr- and had lunch inside a cosy little cafe which we really enjoyed. The rain continued to fall so we took refuge in the 'Hangout' had some drinks, played pool and various board games which was actually a lot more fun than we thought! The guy at the Hangout told us that due to the rain, the Easy Riders or anyone for that matter would be mad to try and brave the weather (the roads were trecherous). Our plan to do a half-day excursion higher into the mountains was therefore not possible! He also told us that the best way for us to look at the mountains was to use the cog railway. We got a little taxi there only to find that there wern't any seats left! NOOO! Whats more, a stormy looking bunch of clouds kept rumbling and were getting nearer and nearer and we were stranded outside the town and lost. Many of you may be thinking, 'Why didn't you bring your raincoats?' BUT we did think of this however, from Hoi An after our monsoon we shoved them in a plastic bag at the bottom of ELodie's bag and when we got them out again in Dalat we literally gagged. They STANK! We threw them out onto our little balcony immediately. Zack even threw his away eventually. Elodie has saved hers because it is Margaux's but wouldn't dare touch it again. We jumped in a taxi just as the rain started to pour...again. We made the joint decision that the best way to spend the rest of our afternoon would be in our lovely new hotel room (we fell out with the the woman at the other one) and had been recommeded this one. It was the same price and SOOOOOO NICE! We watched Cartoon Network for ages and the end of Quantom of Solace (james Bond). Cartoon Network was pulling out all the stops with Elodie's favourites such as Ed, Edd and Eddy and The Grim Tales of Billy and Mandy (Edith and Margaux you'll know what i mean- don't deny it). It was good just to relax for a bit actually and we both loved it as we knew that Ho Chi Minh city, our next stop would be very hectic and non-stop. We ate at what we thought was cool and cosy cafe ( it was playing some French rap) but it soon turned out that the French chef was an absolute psycho and was also very drunk. It would have been funnier if we weren't so hungry and if everything we had ordered off the menu had actually been available. We had some noodles and we were told that the Vietnamese chef was on holiday (the French guy did the pizza and stuff) so he was going to 'give it a go'... However, it was suprisingly good so we'll give him that. Another trip to the night market was once again cut short by the firework display. Oh no it wasn't, it was cut short by the rain again. We ran back to our hotel accepting defeat. That's how travelling goes sometimes we guess. Hopefully our luck will improve for Ho Chi Minh which we are very excited about. Report from there soon!
Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
