Da Loi

I liked Ho Chi Minh a lot, but it's so nice to be out the city, it was a bit chaotic. Crossing the road was a minefield, cars and buses you had to watch out for, but with motorbikes, you're just meant to walk across at a consistent pace so they can predict your movement and drive around you. Sometimes I think just walking across with your eyes closed would be the easiest way to cross 😂
Da Lat is a city high up in the mountains so it's much cooler and less humid too. The area we're staying in is so hilly and a maze of small alleys, which motorbikes still find their way through.
We only have one full day here so did a tour to catch all the sights. Got picked up around 8.30, much to probably the dismay of the other 4 passengers, I ate my egg breakfast bahn mi in the minivan, and it was delicious.
One of the morning stops was a village coined 'chicken village', where a Vietnamese folk story took place. Long story short, was about a couple wanting to get married, the girl's family would only allow the boy to marry her if he brought them a rooster with 9 spurs, and he died trying, then she died looking for her. A Vietnamese Shakespeare tragedy of sorts, but there was a big chicken statue there to commemorate the couple. The village itself was home to one of 54 what they call minority groups in Vietnam, similar to tribes in Thailand, they have their own language and traditions. The village was surrounded by beautiful scenery and was very peaceful.
We stopped at two waterfalls which were nice, though the highlight of those stops was seeing pineapple's growing! I'd never seen one on a plant before, almost looked fake, like someone just glued a pineapple on a cactus!
In the afternoon we visited a coffee plantation. They had 40 weasels there which they use for 'weasel poo' coffee. Sounds gross, but the weasel eat the coffee beans and apparently some enzyme in their stomach breaks down/ ferments the beans making the coffee taste smoother. After the beans are collected from the weasel they're thoroughly cleaned and then the husk is removed, so it's hygienic process. Was first discover by tribal people. I did try some of the coffee, was tasty but wouldn't say it's the best coffee I've ever had, but the view from the coffee shop was pretty good.
We then visited a silk factory, cricket farm, and rice wine making cellar, and had the option to try the latter two delicacys.
In the evening we found a cute pub to play cards at, but was also to people watch as it was right on the corner of a two busy streets. After dinner, we went back to the dessert place from lst night as it was so good and they had a puppy there this time having the time of his life playing in the coconuts.Read more