Day 116 -

Today we left HCM to head to Dalat. We didn't know much about the place and only planned to go here after we had talked to so many other people who said that they loved it and we shouldn't miss out on it.

The bus ride to Dalat wasn't too bad as the road from HCM to Dalat was relatively new so for once (and actually the only time in Vietnam) the roads were laid out in such a way that you can't overtake.

The road at one point went right through a huge mountain so we were inside a tunnel for about half an hour before we came out of the other side. Once we had emerged, we were taken back by the absolute beautiful view that is the city of Dalat. We honestly thought that we had left Vietnam and gone somewhere completely different. It looked like a little toy town in a valley set between to big mountains.

The bus stopped outside a guesthouse which was part of the same company and it suited us just fine. The rooms were really inviting and capacious with a fridge, television and a sumptuously clean bathroom all for under GBP10.00 per night!

Evening time was approaching by now so we just had a walk around for a while. The temperature had plummeted and it was really cold - freezing actually! We had to wrap up warm which is the first time we had done so in ages! It really made us think of home but it was nice, we liked the fact that we were naturally cold rather than getting cold through air conditioning.

Dalat is a really hilly place with lots of different roads and alleyways leading off from one another. We thought we were lost but then realised that we had actually just done a loop and ended up in the same place that we'd started. After a nice meal in a restaurant on the top of a hill we headed back to the guesthouse and a had a really nice sleep.

Day 117 -

We had a tour booked for today called the Dalat City Tour. First thing in the morning we were picked up by a little Vietnamese guy who ended up being really friendly and funny.

Our first stop of the day was a visit to a cable car ride which went over a forest. The drive up to the pick up point took about half an hour. We drove through lots of narrow streets and up very steep, windy hills. We didn't go on the ride (Anth was too chicken! It was very high!) but we did see a spectacular view of Dalat from on top of the hill. You could see for miles! The weather was in our favour too, not too hot and not too cold.

After this we went tobogganing through a forest which was really good fun apart from the Japenese girls who were in front of Anth and I were such wusses they wouldn't put their bloody foot down on their sledge so we kept having to stop!! At the bottom of the ride was a big waterfall and a random Vietnamese feller dressed as a cowboy with a horse, odd?

The next stop was the Dalat Meditation Centre which is the biggest meditation centre in the whole of Vietnam. The place was the most tranquil and relaxing place that you could ever imagine. It was surrounded by beautiful gardens with weird statues and funny looking trees. There were lots of Buddha statues and the buildings all had different dragon designs carved into the wood. We felt at one with ourselves and nature just from walking around the place!

This was really like nowhere we'd been in the whole of Asia, nobody trying to sell you anything and everything on each corner, no zigzagging between motorbikes and nobody trying to get you to go in their bloody tuk tuk!

The next place that we visited was another one of those funky churches. The whole building this time looked like an acid trip! Loads of mad colours all meshed together and lots of dragon designs all over it. We walked up the tower in the church and each level to the top had a different Buddha on it. At the very top there was a huge laughing Buddha surrounded by lots of candles. The views from this tower let you see for miles and miles over stretches of paddy fields and distant hills. It really was breathtaking.

We had lunch next which made us wonder if we really were in Vietnam again as the restaurant was just lovely. Such good service and a really good menu to choose from - fresh spring rolls, my new favourite food - very different to the usual eateries that these tours take you to!

We went to see a steam train next, the last one in South Vietnam I think (or I could be making that up, this was a bit boring and I was doing a Homer Simpson when the tour guide was talking). Anyway we took a picture of it with Anth standing in the drivers bit of it, as you do.

After here we headed to the Golden Palace where the old King of Vietnam used to live and now it has been converted into a museum. It reminded me of the Grove Museum really only a lot bigger.

Next was my most favourite place of the tour, The Valley of Love. Oooh it was so romantic!! A huge area with a great big lake in the middle and lots of symbols of Love (like big love hearts) haphazardly scattered around. Again it was all a bit trippy like there were giant mushrooms here and there and giant flowers all over the place. We took a walk around the lake and you could have gone on little love boats if you wanted to (how cute!), but we didn't. There was a little funfair too and we went on the dodgems!

We spent about 2 hours here just walking around, oh it was so nice I felt all lovey-dovey, kept trying to grab Anth's hand and kept asking me what am I doing haha!

Our final stop was the Silk Tapestry Museum. Sounds quite boring but was actually quite interesting (well for about 10 minutes). We saw lots of artwork here and possibly could have bought a couple of mad pictures if it didn't cost our entire bank balance to buy!

We had a really nice day to day and Dalat has been one of our favourite places so far, unless you have ever seen the views that they have here you really can't understand just how beautiful they are.

Tomorrow we head further north to Nha Trang. We booked an open bus ticket which stops at all of the points that we want to go from Dalat to Hanoi which works out to be a lot cheaper than buying the tickets individually. Roll on tomorrow...