Dalat - City of Eternal Spring

For two nights I came to Dalat to cool down. Here the weather is spring-like instead of tropically hot. The daily temperatures hover between 15℃ and 24℃. For this climate the colonial French came here, fleeing the heat of Saigon. They left behind their holiday homes and a resort vibe, which the Vietnamese have added to with their own unique touches. Dalat is Vietnam's honeymoon capital and extremely popular with domestic tourists.

From Hoi An I was thinking to go to Nha Trang first, and then here. From Danang to Nha Trang there was only one early morning flight and to Dalat there were more options, so I booked the flight to Dalat.

The city itself doesn't have too many sights, the area around has more to offer, but I didn't organize myself to book a tour to explore the sights around.

Although in the first day I arrived early I didn't see much because after I had lunch I fall asleep and woke up in the evening to go for dinner.

Yellow noodles salad with tofu and mushrooms @Le Chalet Dalat

Room view

I noticed that in the afternoon it gets cloudy.

Street under the moonlight

Coconut curry tofu @Goc ha thanh

Coconut curry is a Southern Vietnam comfort food. For the first time in 2 weeks I had to put a jacket in the evening. This creamy coconut curry was heartful.

Night market

The second day I didn't rush to do anything. I started with breakfast at An Cafe.

Street view from the cafe

After breakfast I headed to Da Lat Cable Car station. I've read that from there I can get really nice views with the city and the cable car ride takes you to Truc Lam Pagoda, a buddhist temple next to Tuyen Lam Lake.

Le Petit Paris - A telephone company has built a replica of Eiffel Tower

Dalat central lake

View from Robin Hill

The views from the Robin Hill where the cable car station is, didn't disappoint me. The return ticket for the cable car was 100000₫. The ride takes about 10 minutes and soars over majestic pine forests.

View from the cable car

Pine forest

At the other end of the cable car ride it's the Truc Lam Pagoda. This is an active monastery and it has immaculately tended flowers and bonsai gardens.

Did I mention that Dalat is also the land of beautiful flowers? Around the city a multitude of colourful flowers can be spotted: azaleas, hibiscus, angel's trumpet and many others that I haven't taken a photo of.

Fish and vegetables market

For dinner I have returned to the restaurant from first night to try another speciality from the menu.

Caramelised fish clay pot

From here I'm taking the bus to get to Nha Trang to chill on the beach for a few days.

Comments

Stories from Hamburg

Lately I've heard a lot about Hamburg, how awesome it is and I was curious to see it with my own eyes. Being in Berlin these days, was the perfect moment to do it. I bought train tickets and here I am in a train going to Hamburg. With my book, enjoying a 2h train ride The weather was not favorable to me, but I still have all my fingers. I must say, the rainy day enhanced the colors of this city. I was not kidding about the cold It took me a few time to get used with the temperature, but after that I forgot it was cold. I had set in mind to see the canals. I came here for that. I read some articles about this and I was impressed. It's said that it has more than Venice or Amsterdam. From what I've seen, it looks a lot with both of them, but on a different scale. If in the two cities mentioned the buildings are not so tall, here we find massive constructions. #wanderlust #urbanphotography #enthusiastictraveller A post shared by Madalina G. (@gmadalina92)

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My 3 weeks itinerary through Vietnam ends in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) or Saigon (as the locals know it). I had 2 days and a half to spend here. Here I met again with Leroy, who got to the city one day before me and left one day before I. From Mui Ne I took another bus to reach the big city. As I mentioned before, buses are the most convenient way to travel. If you arrange it through your hotel/hostel the bus will come and pick you up from there. Usually I prefer traveling by train because I can read and stretch my legs whenever I want, but during my stay in Vietnam I got to enjoy the conversations that you can have in the bus. On the bus to HCMC I met a woman who is teaching English to staff of a resort in Mui Ne. She wasn't a teacher but she did this for the past years, traveling around and teaching locals basic English. She was finding these opportunities through https://www.workaway.info/ , a website who connects travellers who like to travel and do volunteer work in the place

Beach life: Nha Trang & Mui Ne

Leaving behind Da Lat, the city of eternal spring, I went to Nha Trang, a high-rise, high-energy beach resort. The city enjoys a stunning setting: it's ringed by a necklace of hills with a turquoise bay dotted by tropical islands. From Da Lat to Nha Trang I took a bus and it took me ~4h to get to my destination. Buses are the most convenient way of moving around. Most of the times they pick you up from your hotel and drop you off to the next one. The road from Da Lat to Nha Trang meanders through the hills. The scenery is quite spectacular. I'm happy I didn't have any breakfast before this ride. Beside the zigzag road, the Vietnamese drive like crazy, overtaking cars in forbidden spots. On the minibus I met two women who were stopping in Nha Trang for a couple of hours on their way to Hoi An. We started chatting and spent the afternoon together. When travelling solo it's easy to meet other people, although I'm an introvert and for me it's not that easy as it

An Enthusiastic Traveller

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