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22 June: Dalat

The alarm went off at 06h30, neither of us wanting to expose ourselves to the cold air. After 5 minutes we were up and getting ready for the day. We headed down after breakfasts to rent a motorbike for the day. It was bone dry and I was just praying that it would make the gas station, without needing my help to push it up the hill. It made it, I filled it with 3L costing $3 and headed back to pick up Leanne, who had in the meantime completed the paperwork.

Our first stop was the cable car, we had to stop twice to get directions, but we made it. The lonely planet book informed us that it wasn't suitable for people with a fear of heights, they should have mentioned from a ladder! The cable car was barely 20m above the ground, costing far to much in retrospect, but we enjoyed the 10 minute ride up one hill and down the other before returning. At least we enjoyed a ice cream with a solid chocolate inside, watching over the view of the valley below us. Back at the bike we first had to pay parking, before heading to the Datanla Waterfall.

Datanla Waterfall was about 5km from the city, it was filled with busses and disembarking passengers. The amount of people at the waterfall was astounding, even more so was the fact that they were all Vietnamese or other Asian's, we didn't see one foreigner there! After paying entrance, but deciding to take the physical approach walking down to the waterfall, rather than cruise down via their "roller coaster/glorified cool runnings". Little did we know how steep the walk was, at least we got in some good exercise to burn the excess carb's we pack here (rice and noodles everywhere). The waterfall wasn't all that big but did run over 2 tiers. It was surprising to see how touristy they hand made it. First there were the souvenir shops, an American Cowboy, a person dressed as a Tiger and a photographer walking around taking pictures and developing them on plates. Anything that brings in money was there. It was time for the walk up!

Next came Prenn waterfall, this one was quite far off, almost another 10km from Datanla. We drove down the same pass we had driven up two days earlier with Sinh Cafe's suicide bus. The pass was narrow, with buses and cars not keeping to their lanes forcing you to almost drive on the dirt as they pass each other, at least they had the annoying habit of stating the obvious, hooting at you. In all honesty I think they sometimes cause more accidents hooting than not, we received a few pre- cardiac arrest's due to drivers sneaking up behind us and laying on the horn at the last minute. At last we were in the valley and in front of us lay Prenn waterfall, again we had to pay entrance and again it was 3 times what the book said it would be. At least we didn't have to scale another mountain to get to the waterfall and it was an enjoyable stroll to bottom. Again cowboys, target shooting, elephant riding and a boat ride were the main attractions for tourists. At least we saw two Russians here, but that was it.

Prenn to me was by far superior to Datanla, not only was it a beautiful waterfall, but there was a large pool at the bottom with paddle boats crisscrossing it. One could also walk behind the waterfall, where the rocks had been eroded. We took a lengthier path up to the exit walking through the gardens and past a river with a monk bathing in it, or rather washing his orange robe. We headed back up, unfortunately taking the wrong turnoff, at least we realized that 25m later. The drive up was slow, but extremely scenic with pine forests all around and awe inspiring views. We returned home to find something to eat, we headed over to the same restaurant as the prior evening and decided on Pho beef and vegetable soup and a vegetable curry.

From here we drove down to the lake around which the city is built, on our way to the valley of love. I said earlier the other places were made touristy, correction the "valley of love" is their father when it comes to touristy! Upon entering it, one if faced with everything from tacky hearts, statues symbolizing love, vespas filled with flowers and so on. We walked down to the lake below buying a packet of bright red cherries, which tasted awful. Eating half of them while sitting at the foot of the lake, we soon decided this was not the place for us . Heading out we wanted to take a photo at one of the vespa's covered with flowers (we might as well join the crowd, we are here now), but were told it costs foreigners 3000 Dong, this after we paid entrance already! At least we sneaked in one tacky photo (at a huge red heart) before they could ask for money :-)

We had enough of fake for one day and decided to head to the Lat village, 20km to the North of the city, hoping we would have enough "gas" left over. The tank was still at &frac34;, but we had learnt they can't be trusted! It took some time to get the right directions, but once we had them we were off on one of the most enjoyable rides in Vietnam, fair enough it was our first. We drove through the rural parts, with houses alongside the road, farmers at work in the fields and constant displays of affection for Ho Chi Minh (past Viet Cong leader) and communism.

Reaching the Lat Village, we find it's filled yet again by hordes of tourists. We spend only enough time there to take some photos and head to the bathroom. On the way out I spot avo's for sale on the side of the road, buying one and two baguettes, we sit down at a restaurant, ask for a plate and knife and enjoy them. Heading back we enjoy the scenery, before stopping at the market to buy some fruit.

Having some gas left over we headed down to the lake. The lake is the communal area for the city dwellers to meet. Every evening hundreds of people gather round the lake's 7 km circumference, to exercise or spend family time together. We stopped at a clearing where multitudes of people were flying kites, children riding in small carts and food stalls littered everywhere. There were only about 30 minutes of daylight left, we haggled with one lady and purchased a kite for only 40 000 dong, just over $2! We spent another 20 minutes playing with it, before a cute 2 year old riding in a small car and his father passed us. We chatted with him a little and gave his son the kite to play with. Afterwards we purchased a pancake with an egg and chilies, something different. Our last evening in Dalat, we spent the rest of the evening enjoying our fruit and packing for the trip to Nha Trang before going to bed.