Our Nature Lies in Movement: Da Lat

After leaving Jungle Beach we boarded a dreaded mini-bus to travel to the Central Highlands and the city of Da Lat. The scenery from the coast up into the mountains was amazing: dense jungle, fog covered mountains, local Vietnamese in traditional clothing and pagodas nestled into the hillsides. However the condition of the road (poor), and the incessant photo-taking of a German couple (in poor taste) made the ride less than comforatable.

Da Lat gives off a distinct Paris vibe, from the plentiful cafes to the eiffel tower that rests in the centre of the city. We spent the better part of our two days in the city sitting in cafes overcaffeinating ourselves and people watching.

We were underwhelmed by the city due in part to the constant drizzling and in part to our Jungle Beach hangovers that had us both desperate to get back to the coast. Joe however, was impressed by the food and we managed to work our way into a local eatery (ignoring the looks of disgust from the local patrons). We were given a tutorial (again) on how to properly eat the soup. And despite being charged twice the amount we observed the locals paying, we managed to get dinner for $2.33 Canadian (goddamn shakedown).

Feeling adventurous Joe dragged us to the night market to enjoy some "street meat". By way of intense haggling with multiple vendors, Joe managed to obtain a cob of corn, two chicken skewers, three grape leaf pork skewers, one banh beo (steamed seafood bun), and two chicken feet for $1.66.

Other noteworthy gastronomic discoveries were the Da Lat strawberry jam (apparently famous in South East Asia) as well as the superb Central Highlands coffee which is much like espresso if you doubled its' intensity.

Now we're off to HCMC (Saigon) for a few days before we leave Vietnam behind and head West to Cambodia.

Bye for Now,

Joe and Nicole