We had an hour after breakfast before our pickup, so we went for a wander. Discovered the main local market, but escaped without buying anything. The flower stalls and the fresh produce were pretty impressive. Our guide (Mai Anh - we called her Annie) and driver (Tom) showed up right on time, she suggested that we put on sunscreen, as the rays were stronger than we've been in, again due to the latitude. We left the hotel and drove for maybe 20 minutes, half city and half in the pine forest, before we got to Datanla Falls. Here we had an option, we could hike about a kilometre to the falls or we could ride a self-operated roller coaster car (for a couple of bucks). That sounded like a no brainer. The ride down was fun, you had braking control of your car by pulling back on the two levers along the side of the car.
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| Preparing to head down the hill |
It took maybe two minutes to get to the bottom, where the lower section of the falls were, the upper falls required rock climbing, and an all day excursion. Very pretty waterfall in a beautiful setting. It's dry season right now, so the water is relatively low. To get back to the parking lot, we got back in the cars and they were basically pulled back up on a more or less straight path to the top.
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| Datanla waterfall |
After the waterfalls, we made another short trip to the Truc Lam Zen monastery, a very well groomed property in another forested setting with a nice distant view of a calm lake.
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| We should have written the name of this flower down - very unique blue orchid |
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| A small portion of the grounds at the monastery |
Next, we did a tour of the summer palace of King Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam. Then we made an unplanned stop at an optometrist office that Annie recommended. Eileen had an eye exam, and ordered a new pair of glasses. They will be dropped off at the reception desk tonight.
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| Eileen and Annie at the optometrist - she is sitting about 6 feet from the sidewalk here |
Here Annie diverged from the planned itinerary, suggesting that some of the planned stops were a bit touristy, and that she would like to take us to a greenhouse operation. We certainly were up for that. We didn't have to go far before we got out at one of the thousands of greenhouses. I can see how this city can be so well groomed with all of the local product available.
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| Roses growing in a greenhouse |
A short distance away, we stopped at a small place at the side of the road. These people buy the flowers from the farmers and prepare them for shipment all over Vietnam.
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| Preparing flowers for shipment |
Before lunch we stopped at a place called the crazy house. It is an eccentric house or maybe collection of structures that is about as odd as you can imagine. I can just imagine Ellyce on the loose in here.
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| A small portion of the crazy house |
After a nice lunch neat the crazy house, we stopped at a coffee place where we tried a couple of different brews, and came away with a couple of small bags of coffee beans. We finished up with a lengthy tour of the Dalat Historical Village, a large complex which had a focus on silk and silk embroidery. Eileen bought some silk thread, so that she could give it a try at home.
We got back to the hotel about 3:30 and said our good byes to Annie. We've had some good guides in Vietnam but she rates right up at the top. It was a wonderful day. I wish we had another day in the schedule for Dalat. Tomorrow, Tom will be picking us up early to catch our flight to Ho Chi Minh City. It is an open day in terms of planned excursions, but we have booked a motorbike food tour with an outfit called something like XO tours. Highly rated, just hope my stomach is back to 100%.
Ellyce wants to know what is IN the crazy house. She says we have to go there...so we can see what is inside.
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