Next! Off to Vietnam.

Jen and I left Cambodia the morning after my graduation, with a slightly sore head. We got the bus from Phomn Penh to Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City...) which was fine and pretty uneventful aside from a lunch stop where i nibbled at what I can only describe as trotters with noodles. delightful. We got to Saigon pretty tired and over a mango shake decided to head straight on out of Saigon and go to Dalat, which is in the mountains. We got the overnight bus that evening. It left at midnight so we had about 7 hours to sample the delight of Saigon, but truth be told we couldn't really be bothered so sat in a restaurant most of the day drinking Saigon beer and using the
free wireless!! Culture vultures we are not! We got to Dalat the following morning at 6 and found ourselves in Eastern Europe. Here began my theory that Vietnam is, in fact, Poland, only with smaller people and more sun. Dalat was lovely although it pretty much rained the two days we were there. It is up in the mountains and its quite cold as
well! Its a bit like a cross between Poland and the Alps. I really liked it there, its really relaxed which was especially nice having just spent a month in the madness of Phomn Penh. The only bad things about Dalat were the rain and the troops of touts trying to sell you 'Easy Rider' motorcycle tours around the mountains. They are everywhere. I even found one under the bed. We had a fantastic room with a balcony overlooking the town - really nice and cheap too. We spent the day wondering about Dalat and went to this insane house/museum called, imaginatively, The Crazy House. That evening we discovered Dalat wine and inadvertently worsened a row between two local Dalat women.

The next day, after much twisting of Jen's arm, we went horse riding!!!! It was all going so well until they brought my horse over...and I nearly legged it in the other direction. Now I know I am slightly obsessive over the whole rabies thing....but you should have seen it!!! It was less a horse and more a rabid cow doing an impression of a horse. Its eyes were white and glazed over, it looked blind...and thinking back it possibly was. All in all despite the foaming at the mouth (cow/horse) and generally whimpering (cow/horse and me) it was really fun and we saw some beautiful scenery going through the forests. Horse and I had a small disagreement when trotting away it fell down a ditch and galloped away trying to throw me off, but obviously I showed him who was boss and this horse riding story thankfully has a happy ending.

We left Dalat the next day having really enjoyed it there - it certainly wasn't what I was expecting of Vietnam but it was a very pleasant surprise!

So far so good in Vietnam!

xxxxxxxx