Dalat

The biggest rush job I have ever done traveling was sadly Vietnam, but Dalat especially. Since we were going to be away for two months, I did a lot of research and planning for the first month but never had time for the second, and by the time it came up, we were too busy with the actual traveling to properly map out the trip. As a combination of that, too much time in Thailand (most significantly Koh Phangan which we could have drastically shortened if we'd known the Full Moon Party was cancelled), and Lewis being sick for two days in Siem Reap, we were way too short on time in Vietnam.

Sleeper Buses

One of the biggest issues was underestimating the size of the country. Overland travel took a lot longer than we had expected. We went the entire way by sleeper buses, and I was blown away when we boarded our first one in Ho Chi Minh City. It had reclining seats that went so far back you could actually rest comfortably! The bed seats were placed three across, two high all the way down the bus and each came with a comfy blanket and a space cut under your tray table for your feet. Why has this phenomenon not reached the western world?!

The buses didn't vary too much by company. Two of them had free, fast wifi which put them above the others, one of which was paid only and the other which was free but didn't work at all. Two had small pillows and two didn't. Two had bathrooms, the other two stopped for breaks. On all of them you removed your shoes once getting on and were given a plastic bag to keep them in. Bus drivers were almost uniformly rude and unfriendly, but you'll get that anywhere. Overall though, the travel experience was a vast improvement on what I'd encountered in the past. You could actually sleep, for one thing.

Dalat Backpackers

After about 8 hours of travel from Ho Chi Minh, we arrived in Dalat at 9 PM. We got a free shuttle from the bus station to our hostel, Dalat Backpackers. We were tired out from travel and just wanted to check in, book a canyoning trip and overnight bus for the following day, and go to sleep. However, when we told the guy at reception we needed an overnight bus to Hoi An the next night, he laughed and told us that wasn't a thing. The only way to get to Hoi An by bus was to take a day bus to Nha Trang followed by a connecting night bus from there. We were not pleased to hear this. He suggested we fly instead, but after taking a quick look online and seeing the price being around 80 pounds, we had to rule that out.

Instead of getting straight to bed and catching up on sleep I desperately needed, I sat up for an hour or two drawing calendars and mapping out our options. There was a small window of time up in Phong Nha where we might be able to stay the full day in Dalat and still make it to Hanoi on time, but there was also a chance that something might go wrong or we'd find out similarly distressing information about the buses and be screwed. As a result, we decided the practical decision had to be leaving Dalat again the next afternoon.

We were in a cozy four bed dorm for the night and at least got a good sleep in a real bed there, had free breakfast on the roof in the morning, and then had to go tell reception we needed to cancel our canyoning trip and book a bus for 12:30. To their credit, the reception staff, especially the guy we spoke to who I think was named Vu, were probably the best and most helpful hostel staff we have met so far. He immediately did all of that for us, gave us a map showing us what we could see in three hours that morning, and showed us where we could rent a motorbike. He also arranged for us to be picked up by his brother and in-laws when we arrived in Hoi An, but more on that later. Normally you also get a free dinner the night you arrive as well, but since we were so late we were invited to do the welcome dinner the following evening. Obviously we ended up leaving and weren't able to, but Dalat Backpackers was a nice little hostel.

The 3 Hour Tour of Dalat

Crazy House

We rented our bike and set off to see Dalat in three hours. I'm so upset we didn't have more time here. The town is so pretty and has this perfect cool but sunny weather as it's located in the mountains. I wore long sleeves but could still get by with shorts and flip flops (all the Vietnamese people seemed bundled up in jeans and coats, but that was wholly unnecessary). Dalat is a popular spot for Vietnamese honeymoons and I can see why.

We first headed down the road to the Crazy House, a weird novelty tourist attraction. It was right up my alley being totally eccentric, and it reminded me of a Disney World fun house.

What I didn't realize is that you can totally stay there and the accommodation is not even expensive! The rooms are so cool with different themes- Ant Room, Bear Room, Tiger Room, Gourd Room, Honeymoon Suite. I suppose the downside would be that tourists would be trying to look through your windows and open your door all day.

There are winding, hilly staircases criss-crossing each other, vine themed railings, tree houses, plants, ponds, and more.

We also stopped in a small shop with crazy hats. I tried on some long striped ones for fun, declared that buying something so silly would be the most ridiculous purchase I made in Asia, and 15 minutes later paid for three.

Scenic Roads & Datanla Falls

We headed south of town then and took some winding roads through the mountains in search of some sights on the map. It was all so pretty and I was enjoying the weather, although it was actually a little chilly with the wind on the bike! We stopped a few times to ask really friendly locals for directions, and we also hit a small cafe with an impressive tiered canal.

We finally got to Tuyen Lam Lake, a big clear lake surrounded by trees that reminded me a lot of the kind of scenery at home.

We backtracked then and managed to find the parking lot for Datanla Falls. Just to provide some information on Dalat, there are quite a few gorgeous and large waterfalls outside of the town. The activity we had really wanted to do and had to cancel because we didn't have time was to abseil down these waterfalls. It's meant to be pretty amazing and is the exact kind of outdoorsy adventure activity that I love, so out of everything we had to miss in Vietnam, this is the one I'm most bummed about. If I can make it back to do it one day, I will. There was also a pretty awesome looking high ropes course in the trees near Datanla, so there's another incentive to return.

Datanla is the smallest of the waterfalls on the canyoning trip we would have done, but it was still beautiful and I'm glad we got to see it. The coolest thing was that as an alternative to walking down, you could take a manual controlled rollercoaster to the bottom. It was only 50,000 dong for a round-trip ticket... about $2.

The rollercoaster was really fun. The track went all through the trees and you could go as fast as you wanted just pushing forward the hand brake. You could see the waterfall appear as you got closer to the bottom.

Datanla Falls was still quite large for being the smallest of the canyoning waterfalls. It's all surrounded by forest and is really gorgeous. Dalat in general does not look like the rest of Asia. After we'd seen the waterfall, we just hopped back on the rollercoaster and were pulled right back up the hill. I'm glad we at least had the chance to explore a little bit!

That brought us to the end of our short time in Dalat. We had to rush back, take a quick look at the town center near Xuon Huong Lake and grab some lunch, then return the bike and catch our long bus on to Nha Trang and Hoi An. Of all the places I feel like I need to return to in Vietnam, Dalat is at the top of the list, because one morning didn't at all do the place justice.