Left Dalat on the start of our Central Highlands tour. Picked up by our tour guide Tien and driver Mr Dinh who will be looking after us for the next 5 days. Started with a trip to the flower farm where we learnt that 170 million roses are grown in Dalat every year as well as millions of other flowers – no wonder it is called the "city of flowers". Next stop was to visit a coffee plantation where we saw how the coffee got from the tree to the packet. Tanya got to enjoy a cup of their coffee while I had a nice cup of tea. We continued through the countryside and saw how difficult it is to develop anything here. Much of the roadworks we passed were being done by hand.

Next stop was the cricket farm where we saw how they are grown as well as lizards which are considered a delicacy. Crickets sell for 250,000 dong per kilo but lizards sell for 500,000. Then it was time to try fried crickets. The look on Tanya's face was priceless but she did eat one!! I think she was more petrified by the small pig that was hanging around the table obviously waiting for the leftovers.

We then visited a weasel coffee farm. Here the weasels eat the berries which are then excreted and there are piles of weasel poo drying out from which they make the coffee. Rather glad I don’t drink coffee but apparently this is considered one of the best. Had to laugh when we saw another tourist picking up and poo and inspecting ti close to his face until he was told what it was.....he then dropped it promptly!!! We had a weasel follow us around the farm as we watched the process. Everything is done by hand operated machines – nothing high tech here and nothing goes to waste. Even the furniture was made out of old coffee trees.

Rice wine was next on the agenda. Again the processing is all by hand but it makes a potent brew. A couple of sips was enough for me – especially as it was before lunch time!! Then off to a silk factory to see the process from silkworm to actual fabric. Not much worth purchasing here and I am saving my money until we get to Hoi An for shopping.

Stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe and ate with the locals in the middle of nowhere. Can’t recommend the place as we have no idea where it was or what it was called but the food was fine. A definite improvement on yesterday when we were pushed out of the restaurant before we had finished our drinks!!

Visited an interesting temple – Thac Voi – where we saw the First Buddha, Medical Buddha and History Buddha and heard the history associated with all these. Fascinated by the 1000 hand and eye images but I will have to take their word that there was in fact 1000 images as I did not take the time to count them all. Then it was off to the Linh An Pagoda to see an enormous Happy Buddha and the Lam Ty Nj Garden depicting the story of Buddha since birth.

Elephant waterfall was next and it was more impressive than the one we saw yesterday. It was a bit of a hike over rough terrain to get to the base and be able to walk behind it but worth the effort. The natural beauty surrounding the area was delightful.

More driving through the countryside to reach our destination for the night...........a home stay in Jun Village with the M’nong minority group which is located on the banks of Lak Lake. This village is one of a few where foreigners are allowed to visit as the Government do not want us influencing the minority groups and their way of life. I am pleased to see that they are encouraged to maintain their customs and traditions but find it sad that only 30% of children receive a basic education.

Lak Lake, located near Lien Son town in Dak Lak province, is one of the largest natural freshwater lakes in Vietnam. Lak Lake has an area of about 500 hectares, situated at an altitude of over 500m above sea level.

Residents living around the lake are mostly the M'Nong, villages like Le, Jun, M'Lieng still keep their customs and traditions, and live in the traditional long house-on-stilts Surrounded by the primitive forests of the Central Highlands , Lak lake is a highlight of the region, so, when visiting here, tourists can enjoy the diversity of fauna - flora. According to statistics, there are 548 species, in which 118 families of them, 132 species of birds, 61 mammals, 43 reptiles, amphibians, including some endemic and rare. Besides, Lak lake is shelter of numerous species of aquatic life, fish and shellfish which are major economic resource for local residents living in the area around the lake.

WELL.....I have done home stays before but this was something else. Firstly we didn’t even get to see the family let alone spend time with them and see their lifestyle BUT we had to share a long house with our guide and driver.....here we were 2 women sharing a room with 2 men whom we had only known for a day!!! Tanya and I were horrified and this certainly wasn’t what we were expecting. Poor Tanya has never done a home stay before and look where I end up taking her. No dinner was offered so we wandered the village and found a place that sold beer......we figured a few of those was in order to get us through the night but then thought about the fact that the toilet was two houses away and there was no way we wanted to try to get there in the middle of the night with no lighting available!! We went to bed rather early but I do not think either of us slept a wink. Me because I am a light sleeper and could hear everything and Tanya because she was petrified about all the noises she could hear and thinking that something would come inside!!! She can’t wait to tell her parents she spent the night in a “barn”