Hi all,

we are in Da Lat at the moment- the central highlands of veitnam. Such a beaut place...we have fallen in love with it!!! the temperature is perfect, the air clean and fresh and the food is amazing! Has been definatley worth the nightmare of a bus ride to get here- 7hrs on the death bus- a crazy driver a few short of a six pack im sure, a horn that made your ears ring and your teeth buzz (we both had headaches by the and of the trip), a dodgy lunch stop where we all got ripped off, hard seats and the sloooooow sloooooow drive through the mountains. on the bright side- there was amazing scenery through the mountains and we got our first bit of vietnamese rain!! a nice change from the dry dusty cambodia and the smoggy humidity of Ho Chi Minh City.

We are staying at a place called 'Dreams' and it is definatley something true to its name... $20 and we get a beaut room with a hot water 'massage shower' (something similar to a teleporter or soemthing off Dr Who), a balcony, crisp white sheets and top it off the best breakie is included- fresh fruit platters and hot omlettes, baggettes, chese, yoghurt!! its a really prerfect little place- like something out of a drem (lol). Its definatley worth the extra $6 compared to our last place in HCMC- $12 for a room that was not something you would stay in more than a night- i have pics (yes andy is uploading them now) lots of mould in the bathroom and a really hard bed...

So we found our little hideaway yesterday arvo after a $1 taxi ride and settled in. We went for a waslk around town and found a beaut little resturate called 'Resturant De Familie'. The meal was definatley an awesome experience- herbal beef rolls, baked crab with cheese, claypot rice and veggies and to top it off- cream caramel custard- all washed down with a smooth bottle of red Da Lat wine....all this for $15.

Today we have been out exploring- we did the toursity cable car thing between the mountains (stunning) and over to a buddhist temple. We then checked out the 'Crazy House' which was awesome!!! Its something like out of Alice in Wonderland- (wait for the pics)- mindblowing artistic/trippy rooms all with different themes, huge spider webs, massive magic mushies- the lot. You can stay in the rooms for about $60usd which would be awesome if we had more time. We then walked down to the Xuan Huong lake for a sit and marvel at the guys fishing...then treked up to the market to take in all the fresh fresh food (no bioengineering here!!)- every veg and fruit you could think of, live fish, eels, frogs...definatley worth a look. We lunched at a cute little cafe overlooking the town and then headed up hill again to a cafe called '100 roofs' or 'pathway to the moon'. This place is similar to the 'Crazy House' but in the form of a cafe- so many details- everywhere you look there is something to see- carvings, paintings, scuptlures- a true artist's haven. Theres an awesome story behind the architecture... will have to save it for another time tho.

Now we are back at the hotel- we have only two nights here so are off in the morning to Nha Trang for a couple of nights...another sore arse and squished legs 5hrs on a bus.

hope all is well back home- there was vegimite on the breakie table this morning!!! reminded us of home.... miss you guys- hope all is well xxxxxx amy & andrew.