At the Phuong Hanh Hotel we were treated to the company of the most enigmatic, helpful and personable staff, especially a young lady called Tot who told us loads about her life and the city, and a gentleman called Ti who ended up being our tour guide later that week.
We arrived in town just as a "really important" match was being played by Man U and Liverpool....so Matt and I threw down our things, changed our stinking clothes and hit town to find somewhere to watch it and sip cold beers. This we found quickly and painlessly, but soon abandoned the game to join Ali and Cassie for dinner. Ali (from Manchester) and Cassie (Colorado) were propping up the bar as we came in, and we soon made friends - Matt and I were so desperate to chat to people, having not really met anyone in Saigon. They were lovely and generously shared their last night together with us - Cassie had a flight to catch the next day. They took us to the V Cafe for dinner (pizza was good comfort food after our journey, though I nearly fell asleep on my plate), filled us up with beers and then took us to the V Bar - an outrageously shiny nightclub with a very sweet and very effeminate waiter who hung around with us all night.... I have horriffic memories of doing the can-can with him, but the less said about that the better. After a shocking bill, we rounded off the night with a brief but belting kareoke session somewhere...and then home. Ali lives in Hanoi, so hopefully we'll catch up with him there.
Da Lat is a romantic town on a plateau, 1500m above sea-level. In the centre is a vast, clean lake. There is a cultured air about the place but it was very recently nothing more than a tiny village with no roads - development happens fast in Vietnam and most of it in concrete. It used to be a much-loved French resort town, and is still dotted with lacy French villas in pastel shades.
It is apparently the nation's favourite honeymoon destination, and Matt and I enjoyed a fairy-tale like Valentine's Day on a hired scooter, exploring the Valley of Love, The Golden Lake and some little streams and waterfalls in the mountains, where we made friends with a bunch of local students, and joined them again later for... more kareoke! They were so inviting and warm even though we shared barely any language. One of them put their little girl on my knee to sit, and she dipped her finger in the cake icing for me to lick. They swept us out before the bill arrived and wouldn't let us give them anything for it. I have their email addresses and must write to thank them.
Also in Da Lat is Hang Nga's Guesthouse, popularly known as the 'crazy house'. The female architect's personal story is as incredible as her masterpiece - a guesthouse built like a tree stump, its sinuous limbs act as corridors and bridges, you feel you will never finish exploring its many themed rooms (bamboo forest, bee room, bear room, tiger and eagle, and more...) Mostly made of poured and painted concrete, there isn't a straight line to be found. We felt like children playing in a treehouse, running through the garden and climbing across the rooftop.
After a blissful few days, we repacked and prepared ourselves for a three-day bike tour with Ti and his English-speaking partner guide, Yang. We would spend the first night in a longhouse on Lak Lake, the second in Buon Ma Thuot, the third day we would be taken to Nha Trang on the coast.
The tour was every bit as informative and eye-opening and jaw-dropping as we'd hoped, and more. Our bags were slipped into plastic covers and expertly secured onto the back of the bikes, so Matt and I had backrests hanging on behind our drivers. We had good helmets and their driving made us feel completely at ease, enjoying the scenery and the wind in our hair. I am now completely converted to the commonly stated belief that bike is the only way to see Vietnam.
I think our photos will give a better idea of our journey so I won't go on now, but the sheer amount that we saw and did is worth mentioning. We were given a great overview of the agricultural roots and lifeblood of the country.
We stopped at a flower farm, a cashew farm, a rubber tree farm, pepper farm, cocoa farm, we saw dragonfruit and pineapple and small white ball-shaped nameless things growing. We saw rice paper being made by a young schoolgirl over a hot fire.
We swam in the cool turquoise waters below a waterfall in Buon Ma Thuot national park (Matt braved the thunder of the waterfall - I abstained), we paid a visit to the happy Buddha sitting high on the hill above Elephant Falls, we marvelled at the technique at a wood carving village.
We saw rural life go by in a 'chicken village', tiny pigs snuffling around, one enormous pig - tall as a red pillar post box - went by in a trailer ("Many times father pig", Yang smirked). We saw a silk weaving factory and ate the silk moth worms, crispy and nutty, they get stuck in your teeth. We got tipsy in the rice wine distillery and saw how everything is used, nothing goes to waste. The pigs are fed the final mushy remains of the fermented rice; "pigs get drunk, then have hangover", Yang informed. I wish I could see this. We explored the brick ovens and learnt the laborious, endless process that provides the foundations for the development of villages into towns, towns into cities.
We tasted pepper green and fresh from the vine. We tried the bitter raw cocoa butter in its pod. We stroked the leaves of the sensitive plant and watched it curl up shyly and we stared out over incredible vistas from mountain roads.
We ate frog and eel and an entire chicken squashed flat to barbeque. Everytime we passed a pig or chicken, Ti would point and firmly state; "baa-bi-kew". I have no vegetarian pretentions here, but I take the option when I can.
We took an elephant ride, an experience that many reading this will know is absolute heaven for me. Matt couldn't remember seeing an elephant in real life before. We galumphed along on her back as she waded deep into the middle of Lak Lake, where she slowed to a crawl, luxuriating in the cool muddy waters. She refrained from spraying us.
By Lak Lake, over the chicken bone-gnawing sounds, Yang told us some wonderful stories, which I'll try to recapture here...
The Monkey Tail Story
One day, long ago in the forest, a group of monkeys went jumping, jumping, happily through the trees. One little monkey was leaping up ahead, out of sight of the others. Suddenly he came crashing back, spitting nonsense, something about another group of monkeys, over the river up ahead. The monkey group went together to check out his claims, to see for themselves the strange things the little monkey had said. There, over the water, were a haggard looking hairless group of creatures, standing on their back two feet. "What are you?!" The monkey leader cried. The hairless creatures startled and started pointing and exclaiming about the monkey group in turn. "What on earth are you?" They cried. "We are monkeys!" The monkey king said. "What? We are monkeys too!" Said the hairless ones. The monkey group were confused, what were these strange ugly things doing, calling themselves monkeys? Noone could understand it. Suddenly, the little monkey burst into a shrieking laugh. "What is the matter with you?" The monkey king demanded. The little one spoke; "haha...sorry, haha.... they ARE monkeys! But their tail is on the other side!"
Cow and Stork
One day Cow and Stork struck a good deal; Stork would stay by the large Cow, eating the flies and ticks from her skin. They signed a contract, and so it has been until this day. And do you know why Cow has no top row of teeth? It is because she has ground them away laughing, laughing at all the people, signing long and complicated contracts all the time, and getting frustrated when they break them.
The Bear and the Lovers Story
One day two lovers were walking hand-in-hand, totally mesmerised in love with each other, through a beautiful forest. The birds were singing and the sun was streaming down through the trees. They whispered promises to each other, they were the most perfectly in love people you have ever seen. Suddenly a terrible bear came crashing through the trees towards them. The boy shimmied straight up a tree, the girl fainted. The bear didn't see the boy, but he came to the girl, and the boy watched completely still, as he sniffed around her. Finally the bear decided she was dead and not good to eat, and went lumbering off. When he was long gone, the boy came down from the tree and woke up the girl. "What happened?" She asked. He said he chased away the bear and saved her.
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Such were the delights of our evenings with Yang and Ti. We were sorry to say goodbye to them.
Exhausted and late in the day we arrived in Nha Trang, only to be met with a Mui-Ne flavoured de ja vu...
Love, E.
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