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We were roughly awoken for another stop at around 5 am in the morning. This was two hours short of our ETA so Q quickly ran out for another bathroom break. This was however our destination, as the busdriver tried to explain to me while I was still half asleep, followed by the instruction that I was supposed to get out of the bus and grab my bags. Q of course, hadn't realised this and you can imagine her shock as she came back out to find out the bus had dissapeared. Apparently the travel times were two hours shorter in the night which no one thought was useful to mention to us :)
We chilled for a bit at the bus station, partly to wake up and partly because we thought the hostel wouldn't be open yet. It also didn't help that all the small vans who were supposed to drop of us had already departed before we realised what happened. Happily the next bus arrived an hour later and we reckoned 6 am was a suitable time to show up at the hostel. A new bus also meant more vans so we were able to bum a ride on one which dropped us off right at the door step. Here we were surprised to meet the same two girls who had waited at the bus stop in HCMC with us. After we checked in we got talking and learned Nicole was ready to take a nap, the busride not providing sufficient rest, and Julia was looking to take an easy rider tour through the countryside of Da Lat. This, Q and I thought, was a pretty good idea, especially considering this was advertised pretty much everywhere as a good idea. So, an hour and a small nap later, we were all three getting on the back of three motorbikes.
Our tour took us across all the country side of Da Lat, including: flower farms, silk farm, buddhist temple, a waterfall, coffee plantations, a coffee shop/rice wine distillary (including weasels to eat and poop out something similar to Kopu Luak coffee), lunch (ridiculously cheap and good), a second waterfall (slightly more impressive), the chicken village (not to be confused with a chicken farm...), a water reservoir with dam and finally back home. Halfway through the trip I realised I might be getting a slight sunburn by which time it was way too late of course. My first sun burn of the trip was now unfortunately also a fact. Having arrived back at the hotel we showered and cleaned up a bit before joining the 'borrel' downstairs with the rest of the current residents. Drinks were followed by a communal dinner of some 25 people all seated on the floor. Such a brilliant way to get along with new people!
Having finished dinner Q and me were in no state to continue however, since we had been up since 5 am with not the greatest sleep in the world in the bus, and crashed... crashed hard. Not waking up when the rest came back in, not waking up when the lights went on or off and only waking up slightly when in the early morning everyone tramped out to go canyoning (wonder if Q can pronounce it by now?). Of course Q did wake up in the middle of the night by the sound of a mosquito... We woke incredibly rested and headed downstairs for breakfast, which was basic but very good and with great coffee! After we took care of our onward journey and then proceeded to walk about town on our way to the Crazy House. This house, built by an architect bent on creating her own vision, consists of plenty of crazy walkways, themed rooms and half built structures. Pictures really don't do it any justice. This walk did take a bit longer than expected however and we had to hustle to make it back on time (we didn't make it). The hostel wasn't too worried and we checked out without issue before being picked up by a small bus. Once again we expected to be brought to a big bus... but after about an hours driving we realised this wasn't meant to be. The journey was pretty interesting though... rough roads, winding mountain passes and heavy rain resulted in plenty of people getting a little sick. The lunch stop wasn't greeted as enthusiastically as it normally would be therefore. We did enjoy our Banh Mhi sandwiches, at slightly inflated prices compared to the ones in Da Lat (x10). The journey continued onwards while one element of the annoying couple in front of us (I don't think they could've reclined any further) continued puking much to our, I hesitate to say, our delight!
It didn't take long though before we were dropped off almost in the middle of Nha Trang. This beach front paradise was our next stop. We walked to our hotel. And then continued on to walk further on as we found that the hotel wasn't to be found at the address given along the waterfront but further back in the town (not that we didn't know, the pictures kind of hinted at it, but we had to start somewhere). After arrival we recovered a bit from the heat and after some research headed out for dinner. Again, a place not to found where it was advertised but thankfully the Australian propper at the corner managed to point us in the right direction. The place apparently bordered our hotel on the other side from where we headed. This was the best Vietnamese place, but since we came in late a lot of the dishes were out already and it wasn't particularly cheap either. This we realised later was probably because most of the restaurants here were aimed at the unsmiling and abundant Russian tourists. Fancy finding fully Russian menu's in the middle of Vietnam.
After dinner, with the rosy feel of the sun still in our system, we scooted off to bed. Only to awake the next morning for another glorious day in the sun. Unfortunately, by the time we woken up, had finished packing and taking care of our check-out it was already considerably later than the day before. So late in fact, that our favorite (and the only one sampled) beachfront bar had all it's beds occupied. Fortunately walking down the beach offered plenty of other opportunities and after selecting one we set ourselves up for another sunfilled lounge-session. This occupied most of our day, aside from lunch at the same beach paradise (which was actually pretty decent) and a shower before we headed back to collect our bags.
We were picked up at the hotel by a mini-van which took us to another night bus, this time headed for Danang. If only we'd taken one to Hoi An, but alas, our favorite company didn't make that journey.
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