Jan 25-26 – Dalat Vietnam – 2023 Travels of Pat and Dirk in Vietnam and other S.E. Asia countries

On Thursday we had a 7 AM flight to the city of Dalat and went to check out in the lobby at around 5:30. We were surprised to find the lobby quite dark. I said a few words and a man jumped up from his cot over by the piano, moved quickly to the desk and turned on the lights. That’s a first!

After arriving at the airport nearest to Dalat we quickly found a bus to take us the next 20 miles to Dalat – an hour trip! Why? -Up and down some curvy mountain roads (beautiful views) and traffic when close to Dalat. My impression of Dalat as a peaceful mountain town was changed pretty quickly. The town in densely packed with over 3,000 small hotels and numerous other lodgings with very little green space.

There is a small lake at the center of all of this which is quite lovely but the traffic!! Even more insane than we have experienced so far. The idea was to get a hotel close to the pretty lake but it turns out to be very noisy here what with contact beeping of traffic and Tet partying people chatting in the hallway at midnight!

OK – that’s the grumpy me, but salvation came from a great countryside tour yesterday run by Happy Day Travel.

Today we joined an van tour that I might have skipped in another area but we really wanted to get out of town and into the hills. After picking up everyone we headed south, happily out of the traffic of Dalat and did the following interesting, beautiful and relaxing things. It sounds like a lot but the trip lasted seven hours, we had a great guide and it was just what we needed.

Visit coffee farm where weasel coffee is made ( and enjoy some)
Visited a bee farm – enjoyed relearning about bee behaviors and tasting fresh honey
Relaxed at the beautiful Pongour Waterfall
Ate a family style Vietnamese lunch with everyone
Enjoyed the beauty around the Goddess of Merci statue – The Linh An Pagoda
Viewed the nearby Elephant Waterfull.
Took in a cricket farm on our way back to Dalat.
Finally we had 45 minutes at Me Linh Coffee Gardens which is actually like an low-key adventure farm and photo opportunity besides offering coffee. There’s so much there we never had coffee.