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We enjoyed the rest of our Christmas in Nha Trang. After having a lovely massage and facial in the hotel spa we got showered and ready and caught a cable car over to 'Vinpearl Island'... a luxury resort island that had a waterpark (that was closed by the time we got there) and an amusement park that was so quiet (as we got there about 5:30pm) we didn't have to queue for any of the rides! We also saw the most incredible dancing water fountain show and looked around the aquarium. We caught a cable car back to the mainland at around 9:30pm and stopped at an italian restaurant for pizza before going back to the hotel. We certainly managed to have the most un-christmassy day possible so we didn't get homesick and still managed to enjoy ourselves. We'll certainly never forget this Christmas!
So boxing day we caught an early sleeper bus over to Dalat and headed straight to the hostel that Benny & Tim were staying at as we'd decided to stay at the same one, considering it was our last 24 hours with them. They had arranged to hire mopeds for the day and they took Louisa to get hers too. I hopped on the back of Tim's bike and Low hopped on the back of Louisa's. Benny had a faster, fancier bike as he was used to riding one back home. We stopped for some lunch at a kind of fast-food BBQ restaurant then set off for 'Elephant Falls'.
After about an hour we came to a coffee farm where we stopped for a nice fresh iced-coffee while overlooking the coffee bean fields. It was so beautiful there. After a little while of soaking up the scenery we hopped back on the bikes and continued on to the waterfalls, which weren't much further. We went to the top of the waterfalls then had a little trek down through the forest pathways to get further down and a bit closer. We found a kind of cave behind the falls where there was sort of a vortex of water blowing around, it sounded crazy loud and powerful so we kept our distance... except for Benny who wanted to get up close and personal with the water. He made it out alive though so no harm done! After leaving the cave the girls headed back up to the top, the boys went adventuring down further through mud sludge and slippery rocks. So I kind of stood in the middle of the forrest on my own watching the boys' bags/shoes like a lemming. I was beginning to wonder how long I should leave it until I go and get help, but they eventually came back up... and in one piece too. We all headed back up to the bikes and made our way back to the hostel which we arrived at just in time for the free evening meal.
In the evening we had decided to go out for a drink and the boys were being very secretive about where they were taking us for some reason. When we walked through the door of the bar we understood why they had kept it a surprise. It was unlike anything we had ever seen before. The bar was made of hundreds of tunnels and caves and coves and stairways. We were in there for a couple of hours and probably only saw a fraction of the wonder they had created. We found a cool area with a table and enough seats/rocks for us all to sit down so sat in the dark playing music and having our own little party for a while. Occasionally other people would walk past our hiding spot, often asking if we'd seen certain members of their party. We even tried having a game of hide and seek right at the end before the bar closed but they shut all the lights off early making it pretty impossible for Benny to find us all before they locked up. It was seriously the coolest bar we've ever seen!
We had such a nice time in Dalat that I think we all agreed we'd like to have spent more time here, but as we were flying home on 28th we had to make our way back to Ho Chi Minh the next day. We said our goodbyes to Tim and Benny and left early in the morning for our last sleeper bus back to the big city!
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