Dalat Hillside town

 Night Bus Nightmare

Bus Stop for Pho at 2am

We arrived in Nang trang at 6am after a grueling overnight bus from Hoi Ann. It was the least comfortable mode of overnight transportation I've ever had. I've had some bad buses, but this was the worst.

The millions of bumps jolted me, the non-stop honking haunted me and the absence of a toliet worried me.

It was one of those nights where the worst of a persons character comes out and you pray your boyfriend still adores you when the moment passes.

As we were pulling up to Nang Trang, Peter was beginning to read his favourite part of the Lonely Planet "dangers and annoyances." He read aloud all of the things we were beginning to see at 6am from the safety of the bus windows: a bit of sketch.
We saw all of the drunk foriegners lining the streets and made an immediate and collaborative decision to run to the recommended Sinh cafe and ask for the next bus to Dalat (we were planning on going to the foothill town anyways, we just thought Nang Trang would have been a night stop to relax).
Getting off the bus in Nang Trang was the first time we had been harrassed since we had arrived in the country and we were not used to it. We were both so dirty and grumpy from the overnight bus that it just wasn't good timing! The place was too much like Miamai beach or something, lots of single male tourist..cough cough.
After grabbing a quick and very fabulous breakfast on the beach front for $3 each, we hopped on the 8am bus from Nang Trang and arrived in beautiful Dalat six hours later.
The last hour of the bus ride to Dalat was all uphill and winding around moutains, scenic views of remote villages and finally arriving in the cloud-overed town.

Completely broken and exhausted from all the buses, we found "Dream hotel" (it is a bit of a dream) and has the most incredible included breakfast I've ever encountered (in a home kitchen on a massive table with every different type of fruit we were craving. It was the best tasting fruit we had had during the whole trip. The staff preparing the breakfast were kind to made sure to constantly replenish the food as it quickly disapeared with Peter and I filling our bellies until the brink of bursting. 

All you can eat^^

Our room was $20 and had a very french feel to it,with fresh flowers in a vase beside the vanity mirror.
The owner was a wonderfully kind woman who awoke every morning before 5am to work at her other business, her meat shop. She was one of those characters who make you feel as though by breakfast they have lived a full life and you have done nothing but sleep. My mom is the only other woman I've met who makes me feel that way:)

We were so excited for a shower because it was to the point that we both looked like characters from the jungle book (Peter was Moguely the jungle boy and my hair was starting to dred)

We had gotten on the overnight bus straight from the beach in Hoi Ann and the sand was still all over us, but now mixed with dirt and sweat.

The power went out in the town and horray! there was no hot water! haha

Our showers were ice cold and to try to be positive we used the vocabulary 'refreshing,' in reference to our bathing experience.

Freshly showered and excited to try whatever food Dalat had to offer us, we went into town to explore.

It has so much character, perhaps what the french alps would look like after a long ago war.

The air smelled delicious and the weather is wonderfully cool.

Dalat is famous for Artichoke tea, which you can buy in the Pharmacy for very cheap. It's one of the best teas I've ever tried.

It is also one of the few places in Vietnam that is famous for wine.We tried some ($2 a glass) and it tasted like a sweet dessert wine.

beautiful banana shop at night

Massive night market of food and second hand clothing

Chocolate Restaurant for kind service, good food, delicious tea and coffee and almost no chocolate.

My favourite tea set we encountered during the trip.

Hoi Ann

Leaving Dangang on the way to Hoi Ann

Marble Mountain

We left Dangang on a bus ($2.50) to go to Hoi Ann. On the way we stopped for free at Marble Mountain. It was the most amazing cave i've ever seen! It was like something out of Indiana Jones!

There were some war memorial pictures, Buddhist statutes and some terrifying sculptures of people being tortured and eaten by aligators.

 I was a little scarred because parts of it were so dark and it really didn't help that Peter snuck up behind me and made me scream!

We thought we had a bit of extra time to go to the toliet before the bus took off again to Hoi Ann.

I went into the only option of a toliet, a toliet that had no walls or doors!

As we came out of the toliets we saw our bus pulling away and starting down the street. I don't think we've ever run so fast in our lives. Luckly, the bus (with all our bags on it) stopped and the driver laughed histerically as we rushed to get on.

Hoi Ann

In Hoi Ann we went for the "no frills" option pick out of the Lonely planet. The room was $17 a night., a beautiful place with a pool (the beach is close so we swam there) and a buffet free breakfast which was amazing!

Rented bicycles cost $1 a day and was the perfect way to see the "old town." It looks a lot like a movie set from a Kung Fu motion picture. Beautiful lanterns everywhere, tiny alley ways, no cars and vibrant colours. However, the abundance of shops and white people with sandals and socks really makes it feel a touch like Disney Land! There were endless photo opportinities and the ride from town to the beach is incredibly scenic and peaceful.

Our one night in Hoi Ann, we got a little silly with Happy Hour (10 cent beers) and ended up played pool with two Kiwis (we were so proud we won considering how much we had taken advantage of happy hour at this point).
We ended the night by stumbling over to a beautiful courtyard for a posh $7 seafood hot pot.

Hello Hanoi

To market To market

I had a wee little sob in this market after I turned around to see a little man attempting to open my little black purse and take out the contents that I would be naked with out. I was not mad at him at all, I just looked at him and felt really sad. He looked fairly shocked that I had noticed and rather slowly, he slunk a few steps away from me and back onto his friends bike. I couldn't understand my mood for a few hours after that encounter. Not nice:(

This little red bridge is located on a portion of the lake that is surrounded by the old quarter, with all of the beautiful old buildings. It is also home to the early morning and late evening ladies and gentlemen who like to get fit while the weather is comfortably cool. 

A whole pineapple for a dollar!

This little cutie pie reminded me of the older Korean women who gather the recycling in the city.

"Hello! Yes give me money if you want to take a picture of me walking down the street with my fish on a string."

 Mini cucumbers! I thought eating fresh veggies would be a great idea. I somehow avoided it until our last day in Hanoi when I bought and ate one of these mini cucumbers and a tomato that gave me a bacterial infection. Apparently the ferterlizer is the problem and you should only have cooked vegetables while in South East Asia. woops!

This girl was hilarious! She kept asking me to take her picture with Peter and kept saying how much she loved him. I couldn't stop laughing and just kept taking the picture for her. How odd! haha