Bus journey up to Dalat from Nha Trang was very scenic. They obviously have trouble with the buses overheating going into the mountains as they turned the AC off and opened the windows and door on some of the climbs. Not that you needed it the climate here is PERFECT, so cool and clean after the heat and stagnation we felt in the air on the coast.

On arrival in Dalat we found a cheap hotel with massive bedrooms which we were fairly happy with. Next mission was lunch we headed into town and found the central market that Lonely Planet advises cheap eats can be found at. We ventured into a cafe run by a cheeky old man and had a nice meal of fried rice for Tom and a pho bo for Charlie. Following this it was time to explore! We decided we would check out the famous "Crazy House" however a slight error in map reading from Tom lead to us taking a rather long hike round the lake instead.

It wasn't too bad, the cool weather made the walking pretty enjoyable and the scenary was pretty good. It probably took about two hours to walk round the lake stopping for a nice Vietnamese coffee on the far side. Also came across a mass of locals flying kites which was a nice sight. We wandered back to the Hotel for a shower before finding an evening meal.

That evening wondered into town looking for a nice place to eat, here we struggled mightily. We started our search at the central market and had a nice pancake thing from a stall. There were loads of other options for snacky street food things (fried dried squid, meat sticks, eggs, chicken feet etc), but not a proper meal. Then looking at the restaurants all we could find was places offering pasta and pizza and not very cheap at that! We wondered around for about an hour looking at menu after menu and were left feeling pretty uninspired. We eventually found a large Vietnamese eatery serving a massive variety of food. What a disapointment! Charlie ordered some tempura Prawns and Tom ordered Beef French Style which looked like a Steak with Veg. Both were pretty disgusting with the prawns being all flowery and soggy and Toms steak covered in bbq sauce and no veg in sight. It was heartwrenching to actually pay good money for it! Gutted we called it a night.

Next morning was time for a day trip with an Easy Riders (cheaper) imitator, which we had booked the day before. Bin and Ut would be our guides for the day on their motorbikes. We hopped on and set off for a day seeing the sights around Dalat. First stop was a nice hill with a viewpoint which were told to walk up. We then went to a flower farm to see them being grown, was nice since we've barely seen any flowers anywhere else in Vietnam (apparently this is the only place they are grown to suppply the whole country). The temperate climate here in Dalat allows so many other things to grow, like strawberries, broccolli, carrots and it was nice to see things growing other than rice. Surprisingly the cooler weather also allows the growth of coffee, and our next stop was to see a coffee plantation. We were then taken to a silk mill which was cool to see the whole process, starting from silk worms, taking the silk worm cocoons, winding the silk stands into thread, then weaving into fabric and dying and some incredibly intricate embroidery. The gift shop was pretty tempting, but it definitely wasn't factory outlet prices!

Out next stop on the tour was the Elephant Waterfall, it was one of the bigger/wider waterfalls we've seen and was pretty impressive. We're not really sure why it was called the Elephant waterfall, Ut pointed to a grassy mound, or possibly some rocks, and kept saying "elephant, see"...eventully we just nodded and said yes. The coolest part of going to the waterfall was being able to climb down (again, zero health and safety!) the rocks to the bottom of the waterfall, where we could stand behind it...needless to say we got wet. To dry off bit we wandered to a nearby pagoda, it was pretty big, and looked quite new. Peering inside we saw 4 huge statues, but they werent recognisable as buddist, infact two looked very hindu with many arms, and the other two had swastikas on their chests, it would have been interesting to find out more, but we didn't want to go in as there were about 200 people, women and monks, sitting in lines having their lunch! Best not to disturb.

We headed back to the bikes to find out it was time for our lunch and Bin had already ordered lots of things for us the share. It was great. So many dishes! Fish, chicken legs, beef wrapped in vine leaves (my fav), stir fried beef, etc etc... This definitely made up for last night's failed efforts - and cost less than half the price! (golden rule #1 (amendment): eat where the locals eat, and if possible get them to order for you!) VERY full, we heaved ourselves back on the bikes to our next stop, where we got to see how rice wine was made. It's pretty simple by the looks of it (and sustainable, as they use coffee bean pods for fuel), I'm surprised most people don't just have a little distillery in the back garden. It takes about 10 days for the rice to ferment, and then it is evaporated and condensed multiple times (depending on the desired final strength). We got to try a weak and a very strong (50%) version, apparently they will then be mixed together to get about 25% proof for selling. Good little earner that! This family also seemed to have a fair bit of land, growing coffee and a number of other products. Looking around the garden we were shown black pepper, dragon fruit, grapefruit and ginger plants. We stayed a bit longer at their house to have a cup of coffee, it was great, one of the strongest (and cheapest) we've tasted. It was over this coffee that I decided to bring up the mystery of the missing Dalat vineyards (as Dalat is famous for being the main - possibly only - wine producer in Vietnem). Apparently the grapes don't actually grow here, it's too cold. They have them transported from warmer places like Mui Ne and then the wine is made here, this is due to a previous French influence...crazy French!

Back on the bikes our final destination was the famed "Crazy House", and Crazy it is! Some crazed architect designed it in 1990 (presumably acid and Disney's Alice in Wonderland was involved) and it is a 11 roomed boutique hotel (each room themed, bear room, kangaroo room etc) and the architects home. Not sure we'd want to stay there though, bit weird and a bit shabby. It is also being expanded, so much of it was a building site, to be completed by 2015, it would be great to see it finished, and see how much crazier it can get!

We bid farwell to our lovely drivers and decided to chill out with our books by the lake. (And "chill" we did, I'd forgotten how cool it is here and hadn't dressed appropriately...it reminded me of a summer day in the meadows though, too sunny to wrap up but cold enough for goosebumps!)

That evening we succomed to some european food and had pizza and pasta, wasn't too bad but didn't quite scratch the itch for familiar food. Following the meal we took a last wonder round Dalat and took in the lake under moonlight. Quick stop at the bakery for a creamy cake each and off for an early night. 7.15 bus to Mui Ne tomorrow.