Easy Riders

For two nights in Dalat we stayed at the Peace Hotel on 64 Truong Cong Dinh St. It was a great place to stay. The rooms were super cheap at $10 and the staff was friendly and very helpful. The rooms were more than ok, especially for the value, and it had a central location. There is a café downstairs that sells decent and very cheap food. The whole place has a great vibe.

Often sitting in the café downstairs are the Dalat Easy Riders. This is a company of Vietnamese motorbike riders who will take you, pretty much, anywhere you want to go. The guys have great English and have a wealth of experience both riding motorbikes and of travelling Vietnam. We had a number of conversations with them over the few days we were there. They can get a bit frustrating, always asking you if you want a tour, but that comes with the territory. Already having a bike made it very easy for us to say we didn’t need their services.

For those travelling without their own wheels, I suggest considering a trip with Easy Riders. In my opinion, the best way, by far, to travel Vietnam is by motorbike, and the easy riders bikes are damn comfortable according to Celine who took one around Dalat and came back saying it was like being on a sofa, which she never says about OUR bike, because our bike gives us bum cramps.

Many people obviously don’t feel comfortable riding a bike themselves so this option allows you to get off the beaten track. They cover many of the roads we have or will take on our trip which gives you a great experience of some of the lesser explored parts of Vietnam. Most tourists coming to Vietnam go to Hanoi, HCMC, Halong Bay, Sapa and the beach resorts up the east coast. Travelling with Easy Rider will take you to places very few foreigners go, travelling through small villages and across some amazing landscapes. They charge, however this can vary, around $60 a day which includes virtually everything; accommodation, food, petrol etc.

If anyone wants any info check out their website, Easy Riders, or send me a message as I know some good guides.

Mountain biking in Dalat

There are a number of adventure type activities you can do around Dalat such as trekking, white water rafting, abseiling, kayaking and mountain biking. We had never done any mountain biking before so thought, how hard can it be. Firstly, let me say that we are both happy we did it and very happy that it is over. We have come to two conclusions;

1. We are both unfit
2. Mountain biking is probably not something we will pursue in the future

That being said, we did really enjoy it and would recommend people giving it a try. We drove around 30km out of Dalat before being dropped, a little prematurely, on a rocky, dirt road that lead us to the bike track. I say prematurely because the car could not get through a very muddy section so had to leave us and our two guides to make our own way to the track. Normally this would not be a problem BUT the bike track was 4km away up what was virtually a continuous hill. Cheers!

Celine attempted the muddy mess in front of us and was doing really well until she lost balance. A second later her left shoe, new by the way, went straight into the mud so she could stay upright. Cheers again. She persevered and continued on, successfully completing the first 10m of our 30km ride.

The uphill ascent was grueling for both of us. It was never-ending and many of our rarely used muscles were not happy at all. At times we had to get off the bike and push it. We felt embarrassed but seriously this was not the setting for beginners, unfit beginners at that. We were happy we were the only two on the tour.

After what seemed and eternity, exhausted and sweaty, we reached the start of the actual bike trail. We gulped a banana and chatted to our friendly guides. They had great English. Once on the track, thin, bumpy and wet, we had to negotiate a virtually continuous decent. My leg muscles took a break and my arm muscles took over having to break nonstop as we weaved around rocks, gaps, bumps and numerous other obstacles on our path. Celine was in her element though, mountain biking DOWN is her thing :)

It was only when we stopped for a break that we realized how beautiful the landscape was. The rest of the time we were concentrating on the road. Many motorbikes from the nearby villages use the path and with the frequent rain it has in places turned into a mud bath. It wasn’t long until my foot went straight into the mud, covered for the rest of the trip.

When we reached flat sections it was great. The scenery was green with pine trees and various other Vietnamese floras. We passed locals carting charcoal back to their village. Earlier massive trucks carted pine trunks causing us to move off the road to let them through. We had lunch looking up at green hills covered in coffee plantations. We crossed a bridge made from thin planks of wood, which were just thrown on top of each other, none tied down or connected in anyway. As we pushed our bike over the bridge we could see the stream below through gaping gaps. Can you say Death bridge?? Now I know why they asked us to sign a liability waiver before we started the trip.

When we reached the main road we called it quits which turned out to be a great idea as the rain soon was bucketing down. We had a coffee at the nearby local village and waited for the car to come and pick us up. After 4 hours we were tired and happy to be back in the car but we can both say, in hindsight, that it was a great thing to do. We had anticipated a bit more of the relatively flat terrain but instead got a decent workout. I think we will sleep well tonight.

Dalat's Crazy House

While in Dalat we had a chance to go and visit the Crazy House; a bizarre and unconventional piece of architecture designed by Miss Hang Viet Nga, daughter of the late President (or Party Secretary) of Vietnam who succeeded Ho Chi Minh. The house is Euro Disney meets Gaudi however the architect herself studied and lived in Russia for 14 years before returning to Vietnam. She still lives there today and the crazy house is her home, a guesthouse and a museum all at once, it's a kind of continuous open house with a stream of visitors coming through every day.

Miss Nga has bought the adjacent piece of land and is currently extending the property. We walked over a kind of bridge connecting two of the houses only to find it abruptly ended. No signs or warnings about the still in construction, and rather high off the ground, parts of the house. No big deal on OH&S in Vietnam.

All the rooms are curved and you can almost get lost as you weave from room to room. There are, I believe, 10 rooms in the house, each with a different theme. There is a tiger room as well as a kangaroo, ant, bear and many other themed rooms.

You can actually stay there for the night which would be a surreal experience. Rooms are from around $25 per night – just don’t sleep in because you may have an excited Japanese tourist snapping shots you at your worst. :)

It is definitely not the kind of house you expect to see in Vietnam. It costs 20,000VND ($1)to visit and there are a few little shops scattered in rooms and nooks which sell a number of souvenirs as well as scarves, clothes bags and so on. If you are in Dalat I think it is worth a visit.

Dalat: the Vietnamese Paris

Vietnamese people call Dalat the Vietnamese Paris. The site was found and the town founded by the French colonialists as a sort of… cool tempered resort center in the mountains. (around the 1900s). There’s even a smaller version of the Eiffel tower, you can see it on the picture.

In truth, Dalat looks nothing like Paris, but rather like a French skiing resort, albeit more colourful and cuter than any French mountain resort I know. But still, there are definite resemblances. For one, some buildings are very French-looking, mainly because of the “persienne” shutters, a trait I have found here and there everywhere in Vietnam. This building, on the picture, I swear looks like a typical South-of-France school. It seems funny to me to see it standing in Vietnamese mountains, it looks like someone decided to build a little bit of Marseille right there.
When in Dalat, one barely feels like in Asia, it really does have a European something about it and the air is pure and dry, the smells even are different from the rest of Vietnam. It smells like snow and herbs.

The people are lovely, so friendly it would be hard to top (in this, a huge difference with your French mountain resort, he he). The LP mentioned being harassed by tour guides and motorbike guides here: We didn’t get harassed in the slightest. We’ve only been accosted in a friendly way, and given tips and advice on where to go and what to do with our motorbike.

Last night we woke up from our nap only for a few hours, walked around town and found it bustling with life: Vietnamese teens playing foot-badminton with tourists, street food stalls selling sea food, night markets, all the shops still open, hundreds of people around the main square. It was great. Can you find Ding on the picture below?

This morning, we got up early and checked in a much nicer hotel, same low price but with a much warmer atmosphere. From there we visited the city by day, walked around its colourful streets and took many pictures. We drove around the main lake (we couldn’t find it at first as it is quite dried up, it’s really a main patch of grass right now. We laughed so much at the one poor dude who somehow managed to get a small boat in one the tiny puddle left in the center of the “lake”. The puddle must have been 20 cms deep; what that guy was doing in a boat in there, I can’t fathom), we walked in the flower market, explored the famous crazy house (pretty crazy) and when the weather changed for the worst, we took refuge for lunch in an awesome little artsy restaurant. The fish was ngnon!!

For tomorrow, we’ve booked a bike trip. A bicycle trip, that is. We’ve begged the tour company to let us go on a private tour, just us two, because we are so bloody unfit it would be embarrassing to impose our slowness on anybody else!

I’m looking forward to it and at the same time quite dreading it. 4 hours on a bicycle, me. I haven’t ridden one in years, maybe 10 years? Anyway, I’ll let you know how that went, if I’m still alive to tell the tale.

Fourth day on the road: Phan Rang to DALAT!!

As usual, you can click on the map to see what we've already done (in brown) and this new section (in pink). This post in translated in English, below.

La route pour Dalat est longue et difficile, comme la route pour aller a Merlette quand j’étais petite. (sauf qu’a l’époque les virages me faisaient invariablement vomir sur mes parents. Maintenant, non.) C’est une route de montagne qui serpente et n’en finit pas. Les paysages sont merveilleux, certes, mais la route elle-même monte a pic, n’est pas goudronnée, est pleine de bosses et a la fin de chaque montée il faut se laver le visage et se dépoussiérer les habits avant de repartir pour un nouveau sommet.
La végétation a changé du tout au tout au long de ce road trip: de plages ensoleillées , dunes et steppe sèche nous sommes passés aux paysages des cartes postales Vietnamiennes, avec une végétation luxuriante et tropicale, puis plus tard dans la journée aux paysages verts et montagnards de la région de Dalat.

A midi on s’est arrêtés pour déjeuner dans un « com » au bord de la route. « com », c’est riz. Du riz blanc avec assortiments au choix. Normalement dans ce genre d’endroits, qu’on trouve tous les 20 mètres n’importe ou dans le pays, je me tiens a distance raisonnable des viandes et trucs frits et re-frits, et même si au bout d’un moment le com ca peut lasser, ca tient bien au ventre. A part quand on trouve un ver dans ses haricots, comme ce fut mon cas cette fois, mais hé, a la guerre... Il faut aussi dire qu’une portion coute 40 centimes d’euros, bananes en dessert prix inclus. Dans notre com-restau, on s’est fait des copains. On a discuté une bonne heure – en Vietnamien, et un peu français. Ils ont bien entendu fait boire trois shots de vodka pure à Dan (c’est la loi), qui a repris la route plutôt gai, après. Moi, moins.

J’étais crevos après tout ça. J’ai avalé trois cafés Viets dans la journée et il faut compter trois expressos par café Viet :). Quand on est (enfin) arrives a Dalat, un des sites les plus célèbres du Vietnam, on était tellement morts qu’on a sauté dans le premier hôtel lugubre sur notre chemin et qu’on s’est tous les deux endormis. Il était seulement 16h00.

The road from Phan Rang to Dalat took us through a distinctively changing landscape. From dried bushes in the dunes and sea side views, we went to luxurious green tropical vegetation to finally, green mountains heights around Dalat.
It was a tough ride, as the mountainy roads are bendy, bumpy, steep and not yet cemented for a huge chunk. So, when reaching every summit, we would have a layer of dust and dirt on us. It took forever to get to Dalat, and even though the landscapes were absolutely beautiful, we were glad to finally get there.
Before we did, we stopped a few times, as we do: first, in Tan Son on highway 27, for a coffee break. For lunch, we stopped in a small mountain village, Lac Xuan, in a rice place (“com”). Com restaurants are simple, grab a plate of white rice and pick assortments from a choice of meats and vegetables. It costs like, 50 cents, bananas for dessert included. Usually I stay away from the greasy meats in com restaurants although this time, the chicken was perfect. Ok, there was a worm in my green beans but I’ve learned to disregard such petty problems J
We made friends in the place, a bunch of Vietnamese guys with who we chatted for almost an hour. They of course made Dan drink 3 shots of VN vodka (it’s the law) and he was quite merry when taking the road again after that.
When we arrived in Dalat, after hours on the road and the grueling Ngon Nuc Path, we found ourselves in one of the most famous sites in Vietnam, but we were so tired that we booked in the first gloomy hotel we found and fell asleep instantly. It was 4pm…

Photo of the week 5

Mui Ne beach, sunrise.

Phan Ranh

Avant-hier, en arrivant a Phan Rang, on a cherché pendant une heure un hôtel recommandé par le Lonely Planet, soi-disant sur la plage et pas cher. On ne trouvait même pas la plage, a Phan Rang. On a du sortir de la ville pour trouver la plage a 10kms environ. On a vu l’hôtel, et un peu perplexes par le fait que Lonely Planet le situait DANS la ville et pas a 10kms, on a booké une chambre, on s’est décrassé et on a relaxé. Le problème avec des journées trop pleines de motos c’est que… que j’arrive a destination a 16h00, a 18h00 ou 1 20h00, ca ne change rien. Je suis trop fourbue pour faire quoi que ce soit d’autre que me doucher et m’allonger. C’était le cas en arrivant a Phan Rang. Bref, le lendemain matin en partant de l’hôtel, Dan s’est rendu compte que l’hôtel qu’il avait repéré dans le bouquin et nous avions cherche pendant une heure était en fait dans une autre ville. NOTRE Minh Binh hôtel, qui a 200 kms du vrai, avec quand même le même nom, n’est nulle part dans le livre et jamais personne n’y est allé a part nous. Lol, on a quand même passe la nuit a 10 bornes de notre ville-étape a cause de cette légère erreur. Ceci dit l’hôtel était génial et pratiquement gratuit. De toute façon, j’ai passe l’après midi dans le café d’a cote a lire Jane Eyre, trop crevée pour visiter quoi que ce soit. Autant avoir une vue sur la mer, ce faisant. On a pas raté grand-chose, la ville de Phan Rang n’étant pas très excitante. Au depart de Phan Ranh, sur la route qui mene a Dalat, on s'est quand meme arretes pour aller voir les tours Cham, l'attraction principale de la region, un temple hindu errige pendant l'empire Cham.

The day before yesterday, when getting to Phan Rang, we looked for a hotel Minh Binh that Dan had found in the Lonely Planet and seemed nice. We looked for it for an hour: it was supposed to be on the beach yet we couldn’t even find the said beach, and eventually found it like, 10kms east of the city. There, we saw the hotel Minh Binh and we checked in. It was cheaper than the book advised, and we were perplexed the Lonely planet forgot to say the hotel and the beach were so far from the town. Anyway, after so many hours on the road, I was way too tired to go visit anything and even though it was only 4pm, I showered, put on comfy clothes and read Jane Eyre until bed time.
This morning when leaving Phan Rang, Dan picked up the lonely planet and noticed that the Minh Binh hotel we had looked for was in fact in another city, 200 kms south. He had looked at the wrong page.
So, we were in a random hotel that nobody knows, 10kms out of the city we did want to see, a hotel with the same name. Funny, because we loved our hotel and the peace and quiet we got there. I spent the afternoon reading in the café next door: might as well have a nice sea view to do that. Phan Rang city is not very exciting from what we’ve seen when crossing it, so, no loss there.

On our way to Dalat,we did check out Phan Rang's main attraction: The cham towers, a still active Hindu temple from the Cham empire. 7 kms from Phan Rang town, on the road to Dalat.

Pham Cham etc...