Dalat

The bus journey from Mui Ne to Dalat was horrendous to say the least. The driver was a Lunatic - overtaking everything on blind bends. Going over bumps flat out making us fall out our seats! The roads was so steep and windy we was literally holding on for dear life. But we made it! We walked around the town for over an hour up and down the same roads trying to find out accommodation. Anne-Marie was so moody lugging her bag around Jake just walked at normal pace and left her behind. Was either that or get earache. The hotel was owned by a family. All of them chipped in with running it. We didn't get much sleep the first night as there were lots of dogs outside all barking one after an other. We asked if we could change rooms to the other side.

Dalat was a very pretty town in the mountains. But being in the mountains it was cold! It was the same temperature in foxhole on Saturday! The town is surrounded by mountains, the streets were clean and street vendors were dotted around everywhere.

We got up at 7:30 on Saturday to go canyoning after Jake persuaded Anne Marie to do it knowing her hatred for water. It was the best day we've had so far! We went with Dalat passion tours who have a Facebook page and our pictures should be on there. It will be under 6.2.16 canyoning with si and gold. I'm writing this blog on the bus so I don't actually know if there on there yet. Just type in on your Facebook search Dalat passion tours. We started the day with a practice going down a hill to make sure we could abseil. After practicing we then trekked through the jungle to the first a sailing point. 18m and the easiest of our task. The next stop of was a water slide. Well made from rocks. Jake went first and the man said head first backwards! We thought he was taking the mick but that was the way he went down. Anne Marie said she wanted to go feet first. As she went down she banged her bum on the rocks. Turns out that headfirst backwards was the safest way. We went down the slide many times. Jake and four more men held onto each other and went down like a train. Then we went down together, facing each other with Anne Marie's legs on top of jakes and her holding onto my harness! Too much fun! We then were able to float down the river for a few minutes. Before getting out and trekking up the mountain again until we reached the biggest waterfall. 25m high and we had to abseil down it. After they explained what we had to do and how to avoid falling against the rocks and having our face smashed by the water we went. Jake went first. When we got 10 metres from the bottom the instructor explained where we had to go, then counted down to three and we just had to let go of the ropes and jump backwards into the water! He then ran and got the go pro to video Anne Marie hoping to get £250 when we get back! She done amazingly well! Jake couldn't believe she done it and was so proud! We then got to a cliff. Only three people at of 9 done the jump. It was 13m and you had to run and jump to make sure you're far enough. Jake and a Canadian guy, Kyle rock, paper scissored to see who went first. Jake won and Kyle jumped. He didn't die so Jake followed! The Instructor called everyone crazy all day and said that no one of crazy enough to backflip off the 7m platform. Up Jake went again and proved he was craaaaaazy. Another float down the river and another climb we reach another waterfall. This one was called the washing machine and they didn't tell us why. You start by abseiling down then the rock kind of comes away from you. So you hang, loosen the rope and slide yourselves down the fall. You then hit the waterfall and it turns you around, when you get the the bottom you let go of the rope, the force of the water pushes you under and pushes you up again 5 seconds later away from the fall. The trip ended by lunch at a vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant where you can try all there best foods - it was nice. As you can tell it was such a good day and we never thought Anne Marie would be jumping off waterfalls when we left St. Dennis on the 6th December!

We went out for food and tried to find a sports bar. The only one that was coming up on trip advisor was closed down so it was an early night ready for the 7:30 bus to Nhe Trang where we have planned to meet three boys we met in Sihanoukville from the Channel Islands. One of them is a Bournemouth fan so we're going to watch the football. Another one is a big Liverpool fan but we won't talk about him much! The temperature is in the 30's in Nhe Trang and after Jake left our trainers on the bus that took us to the station we're glad we can wear flip flops. It also gives Anne Marie the chance to drag Jake around the shops to buy some fake goods!