Dalat was a pleasant (if relatively uneventful) place. It reminded me a bit of Katoomba, near the Blue Mountains in Australia. A quiet and hilly town in the mountains with some nice old houses and windy streets. Actually, it wasn't really quiet at all due to the summer holidays, which meant that the town was full of Vietnamese tourists. The were out on the streets in force armed with cameras and riding tandem bicycles around the lake in the centre of the city. There were even horse-and-cart rides, which looked a bit out of place, it made the whole thing feel like a bit of a circus.

I met some friends there (Bush and To, uni students from Saigon), who have family there that they were visiting. We rode some old mopeds around the town and surrounding hills to see what there was to see - not much. Just some lakes, a lot of trees, an old abandoned train station and a reservoir with some young lads skinny dipping - in the rain. Oh, and I managed to fall off a motorbike for the first time, driving down a muddy trail. Thats why you shouldn't try to stop in mud using only the front brake. And the engine wasn't even on...

Bush told me it was a bit cold there, but after living in Saigon for like 5 months now, the idea of anywhere around here being 'cold' sounded like one of those Vietnamese things (like following traffic rules for instance). I don't even own a jumper here anyway. As usual, I should have heeded the advice of the locals. It was pretty cold, especially after being in such a hot place for so long. And pretty much the whole time I was there it rained...well, drizzled. And I caught a cold and kept sniffing every two seconds which was quite annoying.

Dalat has a bit of a reputation for ghost sightings, apparently. A friend told me a story of someone who took a photo in a graveyard in Dalat, and noticed a 'ghost' in the background when they checked it afterwards. Two weeks later they were dead (she swears it true!). There was a lot of heavy fighting around there during the war (though you certainly wouldn't notice it visiting now).

Tomorrow I'm driving down to the beachside city of Vung Tau to visit Jesus and chill on the beach. Vung Tau was the home of the Australian Army during the war. The famous battle of Long Tan happened not far from here. This will be my first solo ride out of the city, so if anything goes wrong I'm screwed :)