Final destination - Dalat
Trip Start
Dec 18, 2006
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26
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Trip End
May 04, 2007
Dalat, Vietnam
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
We definitely made the right decision to "cough up" another US$50 per person to ride from BMT to Dalat. It would have been a truly unremarkable and frustrating end to our easy riding had we stopped in BMT.
The sun got brighter and brighter and our final day on the road with Quang and Minh was the perfect end to a fantastic time together. We passed through beautiful bamboo forests, crossed several small passes with alpine forests and spectacular views of the valleys below. It was just like the beginning of our trip - nature, nature, nature. The cruise was rather smooth but our body told us that our tolerance level has been reached. We had to stop more often to stretch our legs and body, relieve our bum from the itch and slowly creeping pain. However, the scenery made up for all the "pain" that we had to suffer on our last leg of the journey!
We headed into Dalat, city of flowers, city of romance and city of kitsch (just to name a few of the names). Since everyone was talking about the city, we had high expectations which were not met. I guess, when you get here first, it is great (after the smog and hussle of Saigon). But having been riding through the Central Highlands for five days, it was a nice but ordinary city.
We bid an emotional farewell to Quang and Minh who headed home to Danang. We had a brilliant time with them as each of them was different. Quang was very lively, told lots of stories and was, in the true positive sense, "full of shit". Minh was more quiet, highly knowledgeable and having been in the war, an invaluable source of information about politics and his own experience. If you ever come to Danang, give them a call (0084-0903579094)and if you have time, do the tour with them (definitely worth every penny we spent!!).
Dalat didn't really suit us having been in the central highlans for such a long time. We just wandered around town, circled the lake (which turned out to be much bigger than we thought) and had a beer at the lakeside. Nevertheless, we booked the bus to HCM City leaving the next morning. (By the way, if you do take a bus in Vietnam, take Sinh Cafe Tours - they are safe, friendly and helpful).
We spent the remaining time in Dalat looking for food, sorting out our stuff and trying to reconstruct all the events, pictures, sights and sounds of the past five days. It seemed like a trip within our trip!
