Thành phố Đà Lạt

I will keep this one short as I have only been in Da Lat shortly. I arrived at around 6am in the morning after having spent 13h in a sleeper bus. We arrived 2h too early which, as a common customer of Deutsche Bahn, is just an unusual thing to witness. Luckily I could already check in at my hostel because as it turns out it was really empty. I came into a dorm room with two dudes sleeping there (Five beds were empty). I laid down, went for breakfast and came back into the room. They were still sleeping. At around 11 one of the dudes woke up and said to his friend "dude we need to check out in 10min". They didn't let that panic them. Instead they were discussing where to go next. 10min before checking out these mofos had no idea where to go next. They eventually left at around 11:30am and left me with the impression that I am quite the stickler for having any sort of itinerary. 

Then I went out to the city. As it turns out the empty hostel was only a first warning that the city is not touristic at all. People go there mainly to do Canyoning in the nearby waterfall or go for a Mario Kart drive experience. Now your boy felt sorta anxious and exhausted so he decided to not do any of this and just walk around town. 

I went to a Supermarket which is something mainly tourists like to do in Vietnam. For the comfort of being surrounded by known products such as Oreos and Coca Cola I guess. But this time I was the only tourist in the store. I'll be honest. It made me feel slightly insecure. I was in Vietnam for a while now, but can I adapt as one of the locals too? The answer is no one gives a rats ass about that. 

So since I didn't do any Canyoning but I still feel obligated to give you a full picture of Da Lat, let's hear what the Internet had to say about it: 

"Fantastic experience throughout the whole day. Tony and his team were enthusiastic, helpful, and made this day unforgettable. The tour description accurately covers the activities included. They made us feel comfortable and encouraged us to attempt everything but we were also able to skip a jump/abseil with no pressure. The tour included high quality photos of every activity, at no extra charge.
PS. The picnic lunch was amazing!"
- Joshua

"This was the best experience I’ve had in Vietnam so far and I feel like I’ve done quite a bit! I just knew I was going to be cold because of the weather and almost decided not to go at the last minute. That would have been a huge mistake! Not only was the water not too cold, but we were also provided wet suits that made sure we stayed warm and were able to fully enjoy the experience. Viet and Naly are excellent tour guides who know how to have fun and make you feel safe at the same time. I’m really glad that I decided to stop in Dalat to do this and I will do it again any time that I visit."
- Will

"Am 2. Tag in Da Lat haben wir Canyoning gemacht, der eigentliche Grund warum wir nach Da Lat gekommen sind. Cayoning ist quasi wie klettern, nur das man das teilweise im Wasser bzw. im Wasserfall macht. Das war wirklich einfach nur mega cool. Christian und ich waren beide richtig aufgeregt und es war auch süß Christian mal aufgeregt zu sehen, weil er meist nie so aufgeregt ist dass man es ihm anmerkt. Ich war auch aufgeregt, weil ich immer etwas Angst bei Sachen mit starken Wasser habe. Aber wir haben uns beide umso mehr gefreut weil wir alles geschafft haben und es Mega viel Spaß gemacht hat. Außerdem waren die Guides richtig lieb und konnten auch Mega gut Englisch und haben viele Fotos von uns gemacht."
-Anja

It does feel like I missed an opportunity to leave my comfort zone there. 

My best memory of Da Lat was honestly a dish called Nem nướng. It's basically grilled meat, salad and glass noodles and you roll that yourself in these thin rice papers. The dish makes you work for it but it's worth it. Also had some Avocado Ice Cream. My skepticism was a little misplaced as it was good too. 

What else can I say about Da Lat? There is a lake. I felt nothing while taking a walk around it. I'm looking forward to all those other travellers who will ask me what I thought about Da Lat and me just going I felt nothing. 

Since the weather was shit I decided to go directly from there to Ho Chi Minh City. An then take a flight to the island Phu Quoc (spoiler alert: that didn't happen). But more about that in my next post.Read more