Since it was our first time to travel Vietnam, my partner and I searched for a new trekking adventure and luckily found Dalat city on web. We sent our inquiries to agents by email, googled the places to visit, booked our hotel and viola!
According to wikipedia, the name derives from the acronym of the Latin phrase 'Dat Aliis Laetitiam Aliis Temperiem' ("Giving Pleasure to Some, Freshness to Others"), which the French colonial government used in their official emblem of Đà Lạt. In reality, the name Da Lat derived he average temperature is 18°C - 25°C. from the language of the local ethnic group Lạt and its original meaning is "Stream of the Lạt". Moreover, it is also called 'Le Petit Paris' by other bloggers and the average temperature is 18°C - 25°C.
We packed our stuff and flew from Manila to Ho Chi Minh. Then from Ho Chi Minh we took Phuong Trang bus company's first trip (5:00 AM) and headed to Dalat for 7 tiring hours (with only two stop overs)!
It was a very long trip but along the way we noticed some of the houses with (medium) life-size statue of Mama Mary in the balcony, locals drink their coffee while looking at the passersby, and of course crowded street with people on their bicycles and motorbikes!
We immdiately knew that we were in Dalat when we saw the pine trees along the zigzag road. After reaching Dalat city around 1:00 PM, a free van was already available to drop us in our hotel. We instantly fell in love with the city and realized that we made the right choice! Most importantly, it was a good thing that we had checked the weather before coming here, since it was 18 degrees cold! For Asian tourists like us, it is cold :)
We stayed in Hotel Du Parc which according to its history is one of the oldest hotels in Dalat since 1932. It has an old French architecture and it seems like we were in a different era. It's interesting that they had retained their old-style elevator and was working normally.
After settling our things in the hotel, we stroll outside to familiarize ourselves in the neighborhood. There were available taxi drivers outside the hotel and we decided to take their service for our city tour at 2:00 PM before it gets dark.
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| at Hotel Du Parc |
First in our list, we visited the Hang Nga guesthouse (The Crazy House). It is a unique hotel and gallery which they opened to the public but of course, visitors are required to pay an entrance fee. The design looks odd but interesting, other cave rooms or sections are interconnected by a narrow bridge which reminded us of 'Ponce Suites' and 'The Agong House' in Davao city (Philippines).
There were times that we feel like we need to consume Alice' DRINK ME potion just to fit inside the room. For non-acrophobics, you can (baby) walk straight to the rooftop for a nice view of the city (remember to walk carefully).
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| intricate & weird design |
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| Len drinks Alice's potion |
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| stair climb to the roof top |
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| Mon at the roof top... freedom! |
On our second trip, we went to Zen Buddhist and one of the largest pagodas in Dalat which is the Truc Lam Pagoda. Inside its large hectare, the pagodas are surrounded by trees, colorful and beautiful flowers such as Birds of Paradise and Hydrangea. Further down this area, a scenic view of Truc Lam lake awaits us.
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| Truc Lam Pagoda |
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| lovely Hydrangea flower |
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| scenic Truc Lam lake |
Our driver drove us down to Truc Lam lake to see more of its view. The lake was so serene and it looks a bit dramatic in our photos :)
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| Truk Lam lake |
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| dramatic sunset view of Truc Lam lake |
It was already late that afternoon, and so we decided to move to our next destination - Thung Lung Tinh Yeu or The Valley of Love. This place was initially called by French as Vallee D'amour and considered as the most romantic and lyrical place of Dalat.
Getting into this park requires an entrance fee. It is surrounded by flowers and the theme is mostly about love. The park also has recreational activities such as horse riding, bicycle service, canoes & pedal services and entertainment areas. It also has inns and camping site. But what we most like in this place is the view of the lake.
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| it's all about love |
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| poetic view of the lake |
Last in our list was Linh Son Pagoda. Unfortunately, it was too dark already when we get there hence we never get chance to explore it. There's nothing much to see here anyway.
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| Linh Son Pagoda |
On our 2nd day, we did enjoy our sumptuous breakfast buffet in the hotel since we need all the energy for our next adventure. Our 'Hard Core trekking in Tiger Cave Falls' tour guide confirmed that he will arrive at 7:00 AM which we have pre-arranged via Vietnam Jeep Tours.
According to a legend, a ferocious tiger lives in the cave of this mountain, hence the name. It was a 6 hrs trek and immediately noticed a large hectare of coffee trees. The climate was so cool but the long, steepy trek could not control our body from sweating :)) . Warning: make sure to wear long sleeves shirt and trekking pants to prevent you from sharp grass.
In the mountain, we have also seen the local habitats of Chil Hill Tribe, coffee beans being dried up along the trail, flowers, sacks of coffee to be delivered, steepy and grassy trail, pine trees and the tiger cave falls. We've crossed at least 3 long bridges and we were also amazed with the locals who can even drive their motorbikes on these bridges! But what scares(Len) us the most was crossing to the bridge with no wooden boards to step on. It was indeed a great trekking experience for us doing it outside our country.
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| waterfall near the tiger cave |
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| small tiger cave |
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| inside the cave |
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| tall trees, grassy & steepy trails |
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| coffee fruit |
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| dried coffee beans |
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| Chil Hill Tribe Village “Lieng Tro” |
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| sack full of coffee beans |
At lunch, we were surprised that our guide prepared banh mih (which is similar to a small French baguette) and slices of fruits. It was our first time to try banh mi and we loved it! We had a wonderful lunch overlooking the river. It could have been better if only we had time to nap ^_^
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| our trekking guide busy preparing our lunch |
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our yummy banh mi with lots of veggies, cheese, meat & spicy sauce!
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picnic lunch overlooking the river
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After our 6 hours trek, our guide asked us to come to their office for document signing. Indeed we were so tired and hungry but happy of what we had accomplished that day. We ran off to Lien Hoa bakery located in the market, and bought one piece for each bread we found interesting to taste for our snacks :)
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| Mon, which is which?! :P |
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| for coffee addicts! |
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we liked everything except for the bun with shredded pork
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It was freezing cold and drizzled in the evening, but we did stroll to the city center for dinner. There were many restaurants and bars to choose from. There's also a public food court at the market with tiny chairs and table but we opted to eat at V cafe. We ordered spring rolls, fried rice and stir fried noodles and all of them tastes good and affordable.
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| dinner at V cafe |
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| at the city centre |
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| freezing and drizzling night at the city centre |
For our 3rd and final day in Dalat, we forced ourselves to wake up at 4:00 AM to capture the sunrise at Xuan Huong lake. We walked down from our hotel to the lake, unfortunately it was drizzling and the sunrise didn't show up. But we still managed to capture some nice photos using our point & shoot, underwater, shock proof camera ^_^.
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| Xuan Huong Lake |
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| Xuan Huong Lake |
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| Xuan Huong Lake |
We walked back to our hotel for a heavy breakfast and visited the nearby lovely and scenic cathedral, historical hotel, houses and buildings for another photo op :) .
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| the cathedral's front view |
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| exquisite cathedral |
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communication tower which according to some looks
like the eiffel tower in the evening from afar. |
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| Dalat Palace hotel |
By the way, please make sure to ask your hotel receptionist to arrange your pick up from the hotel to the bus station.
It was indeed a great and satisfying discovery for us who are both newbies in Vietnam. Definitely, we will come back again to Dalat and include Mui Ne in our plan.
For your information, in case you wish to visit Dalat we have indicated some important details below:
