So much time, not Dalat to do!

Ok, so DaLat was the latest city that Sara and I ventured off to in Vietnam. It is a cool, quiet, countryside-esque town - designed entirely by the French. There were flowers pots as round-a-bouts and people wearing puffy jackets (think Polo brand in the late 90s) because they were so "cold". It was definitely cooler than HCMC, but don't let the puffy jackets fool you, they were entirely unnecessary. Sara and I were under the impression that there was not much to do in DaLat except eat, get massages and sit in saunas. Well, turns out there is more, so much more. Apparently there are these beautiful waterfalls and pagodas that we kind of just missed. I know, we're lame. We had a great time anyway though - except for me getting a bad head cold - but other than that, DaLat was a relaxing, enjoyable time! Not convincing? Well, it actually was nice to just read and eat - a nice change from HCMC.


We only saw a handful of foreigners, the rest were all Vietnamese traveling there to escape the heat of the rest of the country. As we exited the airport, we were instantly struck by the cool, dry temperature and its unfamiliar feeling. We pulled up to our hotel and were pleased at what $30/night got us here.

The hotel was called Hotel Du Parc and was previously a Novitel, but just switched management to a local Vietnamese company. It was a beautiful old building, with parlors and old fashion elevators.

The hotel's restaurant was located across the street and was an adorable French cafe. It had the most amazing bread and pastries, as well as soups, fruits, etc. We may have eaten there more than we should've but....the bread!

Ok so we didn't eat the whole time, just most of it. The first day we were there, we decided to walk to Bao Bai's palace (the last Emperor of Vietnam). Dalat is known for its picturesque design and what better way to see it then by walking through it. Like I mentioned before, it was cooler in Dalat - but cooler than 95* with 90% humidity, is not saying much. We realized quickly that we were hot and that we didn't really know where we were going. So we walked, uphill mind you, for quite some time in search of a palace. Don't worry, I took a million pictures along the way.

It was a pretty little walk, huh?! Yeah well by the end all we wanted was to see some amazing palace of the LAST emperor of Vietnam. Finally, sweaty and tired, we arrived.

For about fifty cents we were granted entrance into the palace. First things first, the awesome decorated motorbikes we came upon outside the palace. Ok, so maybe it made no sense that they were there and maybe they weren't really a part of the history of Vietnam, but they made for fun little pictures!

Ok, ok so now back to the palace. Alright, so as I have previously mentioned, it seems that the Vietnamese exaggerate a little when it comes to their famous attractions. Well, this palace was no different. Their restorative techniques were...interesting. Not to be too graphic but they didn't clean the bathrooms before they plexiglassed them shut. Meaning, bugs in the sink, dead spiders, cobwebs - not the cultural experience you expect. Anyway, it turns out that Bao Dai was quite the lover of art deco. Lots of matching the wall colors to bed linens. Well, let me just show you some pictures so you get the idea.

It seems that Bao Dai was an avid hunter and loved hanging his "prizes" all over his palace.

Outside in the garden. The landscaping was actually very beautiful!

It was great to see the palace, which was much more just a large house. But I am glad we went to experience it.

After the palace we headed back down into town for some reading and massages. Then we walked into town and had dinner on the lake at a restaurant, quite appropriately named, Blue Water.

The view at dinner, and yes that is a fake Eiffel Tower.

We woke up the next day and ate at our favorite French cafe, of course. We then walked around town to do a little exploring of the city and to see the market in the center. It really is a beautiful city and the market was exciting and very busy. We were the only foreigners there, except for maybe one other person.

This entry is picture heavy because Dalat was very beautiful but as the title of the post suggests, it was not very eventful. We did a lot of wandering and "oooh"-ing and "aahhh"-ing. So while I know that I am sure you all want to hear more about what I did, I can tell you now - enjoy the pictures, because we did not do much of anything. It was a great place to just kick back and relax. 

Dalat is the destination for Vietnamese honeymoons. Sara and I fit riiiiight in.

On Saturday, I woke up with a pretty bad head cold but we still had some exploring to do! So we rented motor scooters, because we are now professionals. You should have seen the faces of the couple who rented us their scooters in front of the hotel. They started out giggling at the silly foreigners who didn't know a thing about riding one of these things. Then they got very serious and said "soo..you ride scooter befo'?" We assured them that, yes we were well trained in the art of motor scooting, that they need not worry and to not wait up for us because we would be riding these puppies all day. We scooted our way to the nearest petrol station and off we went!!

We took the road along the lake and first visited the Dalat Flower Garden.

That's right! That is me and my scooter about to take on the streets of Dalat!

The "garden" was really mostly cement and there was literally no one there. We walked around as much as we could, bought some cool fake jade bracelets and hopped back on our motos. We then headed more into the town and went to a pagoda we had heard about. 

That's right! That's me on a bike AGAIN! 

The pagoda was actually conducting some sort of service when we got there. We just wanted to look around (and I wanted to take pictures) but they ushered us into a spot on the floor RIGHT up front. So, we knelt down (this time in appropriate clothing, we really learned our lesson from Nha Trang) and looked at the all Vietnamese song book. The tiniest, oldest Vietnamese woman I have ever seen knelt down so close to me that our knees touched. She grinned, toothlessly up at me and told what I can only assume was a joke because she laughed hysterically after and kept nudging me. Apparently it was our little secret, but really, and more accurately it was her little secret. As much as I didn't want to walk out on my new best friend, Sara and I felt a little intrusive by sitting in on their sacred time. We respectfully removed ourselves from the prayer floor and left the pagoda. 

We went back to the hotel, rested for a bit, and then took our motos out to dinner, for one last ride.

I think there was another day in there somewhere, but I'm not sure what we did. I am not kidding when I tell you, we did pretty much nothing this weekend. It was really nice and relaxing. I got two books read and tried to not be sick anymore. It was a wonderful time!

Jessie xo