His and Hers Guide to the Globe – Part 7: Da Lat, Vietnam

Matt and Sharon Ward have spent the next stage of their journey exploring the delights of Da Lat in Vietnam. Here’s what they had to say about the area from a his and hers perspective…

Another 4-hour bus journey, this time in a 25-seater mini bus, took us inland and up the bumpy mountain roads to Da Lat. True to Vietnamese style, the bus was packed. Luggage crammed into the aisles so nobody could get out, cardboard boxes everywhere and just when you thought they couldn’t fit any more people on, they did. The scenery however, was spectacular and we arrived safe and sound at the Pink Villa, Da Lat.

His Guide:

We received a very friendly welcome on our arrival at our accommodation. Hik showed us a map of the area and explain all the things worth seeing and doing. As we hadn’t planned on actually coming to Da Lat, we never really looked into the place too much. That evening we took a wander down the hill and into the town centre. The first thing that stood out to me was how much quieter it was from any other places we had visited in South East Asia. Just what the doctor ordered.

The next day we took a stroll down to the lake and hired a pedalo for an hour. As we hadn’t managed much exercise on our travels, this took a bit of getting used to, but well worth it. We were told that Da Lat could be really cold at this time of year as it’s up in the mountains, so we naively decided on venturing out without any suntan lotion. We then took a wander to the Flower Park and walked around the peaceful surroundings where we also managed to find the perfect spot to read our books. My arms were beginning to feel a little hot, so we decided to leave and find some shelter. It wasn’t until we got back to our hotel that we realised we had both been burnt fairly bad. Lesson learnt, I hope.

The following day we took a 45-minute walk to the cable cars. From here we crossed the mountains to the other side of Da Lat. Over there we were able to wander around the Pagoda and walk down to a giant lake, which offered boat tours. I really enjoyed the peace and quiet over here. On our return, we took the walk back and stumbled across a very nice looking French influenced café, Le Cafe de la Poste. We took the opportunity to grab some shade and refreshments. The expensive looking café came with overpriced coffees. We then decided on checking out the Crazy House on our way back to our hotel. This can only be described as the biggest tree house I’ve ever seen. We had fun climbing up the branches and checking out the little rooms that any Western sized person would struggle to fit into.

I really enjoyed our visit to Da Lat and would recommend it to anyone who wanted to see something a little different from the main tourist spots of Vietnam. I felt that we took in a lot in our short space of time and could maybe have stayed another day.

Her Guide:

When we arrived in Da Lat we were, to our surprise, we were dropped off directly outside our hotel, the Pink Villa.  We were welcomed by a young and friendly Vietnemese guy called Hik, who invited us into the breakfast room to tell us about their secret tour. We told him he wanted to think about it before committing, to which he was very understanding and showed us to our room. That evening we took a wander down towards the town centre. We were both a little hungry but had felt a bit sick after the bus ride, so decided to try Long Hoa for some chicken noodle soup.  We asked for bread to go with it and they accommodated us by heading out to the nearest bakery and buying us a delicious Vietnemese baguette.

The next day we took our map, supplied by the hotel, and headed down to the lake. We hired a pedalo for less than £2 an hour and enjoyed sometime pedalling around the lake, until our legs packed in. Once we steered it back to dry land we made a beeline for the Flower Park. At 60p each, we entered the gates of both beauty and stillness. Although Da Lat is nowhere near as busy as Ho Chi Minh, it is another town full of motorbikes and the noise is often unbearable. Here we found the peace to sit and read in the sunshine. Da Lat is much cooler in temperature due to it being in the mountains, so we had both forgotten to apply any sun cream. It didn’t take long for us to realise that we were burning and decided to head into the shade.

The following day we asked for directions to the Pagoda circled on the map. Our friendly receptionist advised us it was not the best Pagoda and instead directed us to the cable cars. We went for his recommendation and walked for sometime before eventually locating them. As the cable car travelled along, we enjoyed the views and serenity it brought us. We arrived at the other side to the tranquility of the Pagoda and an even more impressive lake surrounded by mountains. After enjoying our time by the Pagoda we took the cable car back and began the walk to our final sight, The Crazy House.  Before that, we stopped off for a coffee at a pretty looking French cafe, Le Cafe de la Poste.  The French influence was very much apparent in Da Lat and this was no exception. Our most enjoyable cafe latte, turned out to be our most expensive in Vietnam. The crazy house happened to be much more than we had expected. A building that looked like a tree with winding pathways inside and out leading you from one crazy room to another. We had almost decided to miss it out completely and so glad we didn’t. It really was a ‘crazy house’.

Da Lat was probably my favourite place in Vietnam. It really had everything from a bustling city centre, to the beautiful hills and lakes of the mountains. It also had a completely different climate to what we had been used to in Asia. There was a coolness in temperature, which lacked the humidity of other towns and cities we had visited. It really was a beautiful little place and although we didn’t do the secret tour offered by the hotel, we couldn’t have seen anything that would have made me like it more.

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