Tuesday morning I was up early for the bus to Dalat, and it all went without a hitch. In fact, the bus was the nicest bus I have been on in South East Asia with free water and neck pillows. Added to that it was half empty so I wasn't squashed up against another person.The further north we drove, the nicer and more mountainous the scenery, and the more clean and modern the towns. Arriving at Dalat bus station was akin to arriving in one in Britain - it was so modern! I took a moto from the bus station to the centre and the drive was lovely because, like the towns we had driven through, Dalat was clean and it looked like its residents take care of the city as the houses are mostly freshly painted and there are flowers and trees lining all the roads. Once I found a guesthouse I had a wander around the town, and then decided I really needed to buy a map as the town is a lot larger than I had initially expected!

Yesterday I had my longest lie in of my travels so far, and I got up at 9am, which was probably a mistake as I had a lot to see. After breakfast of pancake and coffee (the Vietnamese coffee is particulary nice, and there's one type they serve with condensed milk either hot or over ice which is so good!) I walked a couple of kilometres out to Hang Nga Crazy House. Built by the daughter of former Vietnamese president Truong Chinh (Ho Chi Minh's successor), it is an architectural masterpiece, which although very weird, seems to defy all normal architectural rules and hence is amazing to see. It is also a guesthouse, and as you walk around the various structures you can look in at the themed rooms. Although I'm sure the rooms would be closed off if there were people staying there, I still don't think I'd be too keen on sleeping at a tourist attraction!

From there I walked to Dalat Cathedral and then along Xuan Huong Lake. I visited Dalat Flower Gardens which are really beautiful. Some parts are quite kitsch, for example a display of Snow White and her dwarfs, but on the whole it was really enjoyable. I made my way to Dalat Univeristy by going alongside Dalat Golf Course but there wasn't really anything to see so I carried on to Linh Son Pagoda. I took a moto to the train station and bought a ticket for the 2pm train to Trai Mat. The train station is quite old fashioned and although there was a steam train engine there, they used an electric engine to pull quaint little carriages. After a 20 minute ride through crops of tea and coffee we arrived at the village and everyone walked over to Linh Phuoc Pagoda, an ornate and brightly painted monstrosity. There were some stalls selling local produce, and because of Dalat's mild climate, normal fruit and vegetables grown in Britain thrive here so I bought some strawberry juice but it just tasted like watered down jam and was horrible sickly. After the train ride I got a moto to Dalat's Cable car and bought a return ticket to the top where there are some pagodas and views over Quang Trung Reservoir. It's funny because I'm really not a fan of heights but I've always found cable cars really exciting so I really enjoyed the ride. Once at the top I had a look around the pagoda, but they really don't interest me very much so I walked down to the lake, and then got the cable car back. Dalat is the most popular honeymoon destination for Vietnamese so there were lots of couples walking around together.

Today I booked a day trip to hike up Lang Bian Mountain. I was the only person who had booked the tour and so I had the guide all to myself which was actually really good because I could go at my own pace. The highest peak is 2400m high and it was actually a pretty tough climb! It was definitely a lot harder than the trekking I did in Kampot, but the temperature today was much better which made it slightly easier. At the top my guide told me some stories about the region, including how the mountain got its name. Apparantly a girl and a boy from rival minority villages fell in love but their fathers did not approve so they ran away together and lived in this mountain, and I think the name is a combination of the two hill tribes. Once we had made our descent my guide took me to see Lat, a minority village, but to be honest it didn't look any different to any other villages I've seen so it wasn't of great interest to me. I was dropped off a couple of hours earlier than I had expected so I took advantage of the extra time by seeing the remaining places on my "To See" list that I'd not managed yesterday. First up was the Domaine de Marie Convent which was really lovely, and the nuns were all very friendly and attempted to speak English, after they realised that I could only speak "un peu" of French. Next I went to Bao Dai's Summer Palace which was really interesting as it has pretty much been kept intact of how it was when the King used it. By having the extra time today I managed to do everything I wanted to do in Dalat which I'm really pleased about, but I've had such an action packed two days that I am definitely going to be sleeping well tonight!