christovietnam: Vietnam at 4500 feet

No not from an airplane, this is the elevation of Dalat, or Đà Lạt as it's spelled in the proper Vietnamese, one of Vietnam's most popular central highlands destinations, as much with Vietnamese as with foreigners. My friend Greg, who's here for a few weeks, and I spent 4 nights there last week. The guidebook states that it's unlike anywhere else most tourists go in Vietnam and I agree. For the only time in my 4 months of total time in Vietnam I felt a little cold! And I wore long pants and didn't stand out.

Getting in and out of Dalat by bus was a bit tedious because there's a lot of highway work going on on both main highways that go there. We came in from Nha Trang to the east and left via the Saigon highway to the south and there were substantial delays on both along with long stretches of unpaved road. But these sections of highway under construction provide a glimpse of the new Vietnam that's being forged from the old. Wider lanes and modern construction techniques are being employed with an eye to the future and it's not a future of reduced traffic volume that's being envisioned.

While in Nha Trang we rented motorbikes and took a little trip down to Bai Dai or Long Beach about 20 km south of Nha Trang. In Dalat, we again rented motorbikes and got a little more adventurous with a trip of over 30 km south out into the real Vietnam countryside to visit a pagoda and a waterfall called Elephant Falls. Again I have to say the roads here are in generally very good condition with almost no potholes. Again I imagine this has more to do with Vietnam's temperate weather than any sort of special diligence on the part of Vietnam's public works towards road maintenance, but maybe not. They allot a lot of resources towards park maintenance and public celebrations so maybe they do likewise towards the public road system. Anyway the pagoda, the Linh An pagoda, was very beautiful and peaceful. We were there during the afternoon gong sounding which went on for about 10 minutes. In the garden behind the pagoda was an extremely jolly giant Buddha (see pic below). We stopped for a refreshment at a little cafe where I doubt many foreigners have ever plopped themselves down and got by with my limited ability to understand numbers. Then we noticed that had a sugarcane juice machine and Greg said he'd like to try it so I astonished the owner and his daughter by ordering 2 glasses of this sweet (naturally of course it's sugarcane!) drink in Vietnamese. I think they were as astonished that I could say the 3 Vietnamese words as they were that we wanted to drink it! It was good. It's a pure drink of nothing but squeezed out sugarcane juice and ice.

On the bus ride into Dalat from Nha Trang we saw a few 1/30 scale Golden Gate Bridges meaning small suspension bridges spanning small rivers. It's a great idea I think and very aesthetically pleasing. Maybe it's overkill to use a suspension design for a small bridge, but as the French say it's all about 'the art of life'. And in addition to suspension bridges there many small scale Eiffel Towers in the Dalat area in the form of radio towers with that distinctive shape we all know and love.

There is a large lake right in the center of town that unfortunately was drained while we were there so it was a big ugly mud puddle but there are many other nice lakes in the area. All in all it's a pretty city with a definite artsy feel and I can see why so many Vietnamese like to visit there. Apparently it's big with the honeymoon set, you know those people who just got married.

I leave tomorrow for Cambodia to spend some time there (I've never been) and to renew my Vietnam tourist visa because I've already been here 3 months. Hopefully I can get another 3 month visa. That will have to suffice for now. I'm hoping to make it to Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh.