Since arriving in Da Lat, my opinion on Vietnam has gone full circle; first I liked it, then I hated it & now I love it!! Da Lat is a bizarre place, it's a French Hill Station, but it has the same sort of nostalgia as a British Seaside resort, with lots of weird & wonderful Summer Holiday type things to do. The town has an eclectic mix of architecture, with French Chalets, Alpine Lodges, Churches, Traditional Vietnamese Houses, Pretty Pagodas & Farmhouses that wouldn't look out of place in the English Countryside, oh & it even has a Moulin Rouge Restaurant complete with Windmill! And, as its slap bang in the middle of the Central Higlands, the surrounding scenery is amazing, with an abundance of Mountains, Lakes, Valleys & Waterfalls; picture perfect countryside!

But the reason I love it so much, is because we have had the most amazing amount of childlike fun since we arrived! Da Lat really is kitsch, mainly due to the large number of strange artistic types living here, but also because the French have been replaced by local holidaymakers who seem to thrive on wackiness, which of course makes it all the more fun!

So, this is what we've done in the last 3 days:

1)Took a ride on a Steam Train from Vietnam's oldest station - built in the 1920's & the waiting room still looks exactly the same, complete with Art Deco stained glass windows!

2)Visited the most beautiful Pagoda & Bell Tower, which features hundreds of ornate dragons made out of crockery!

3)Got lost in the Crazy House - an Art Gallery/Guesthouse, which can only be described like Hansel & Gretel on Acid, with Animal Theme Rooms & Alice in Wonderland-esque creatures! You don't even need to eat a Happy Pizza to experience this trippy fantasy house! Bizarre.

4)Dressed up like a Vietnamese Queen in the Royal Summer Palace & sat on the Royal Throne!

5)Went to a Wacky Waterfall, which smelt & had lots of strange Animal Statues!

6)Got Luv'd Up with the couples in 'Love Valley' (aka 'Valley D'amour') - a theme park devoted to all things Romantic, with all sorts of ornate love themed statues & cafes blaring out Vietnamese Love Songs! (Vish loved this.)

7)Cycled around on a Bicycle made for 2 - so much fun, but much better when I'm driving!

8)Enjoyed the watery delights of the Boating Lake in a Giant Swan Shaped Pedalo!

9)Flew a Kite up to the Highest Height, with hundreds of Vietnamese Children -Kites are the must-have toy for kids here, so we delighted one boy by giving him ours, he then persisted in tying loads of extra string to it & succeeded in getting it way higher than Vish!

10)Climbed a Mountain & stumbled across wild ponies & a crazy hill tribe settlement - trying to communicate with the old lady was interesting!

11)Marvelled at the bizarre Vietnamese Cowboys (who are everywhere) with their cruelly painted ponies - they had actually painted stripes on them to make them look like Zebras!

12)Dangled over the Rainforest in a Cable Car & admired the stunning views across the valleys!

13)Chilled at the Peaceful Lakeside Pagoda & watched the Monks go by.

Told you it was weird!

We did all this on our own, with only the help of a couple of mountain bikes & our trusty scooter! The most amount of fun ever! If only the rest of Vietnam was as good as Dalat, I might even want to stay! Sadly, we're back to Saigon tomorrow to catch our flight back to Bangkok. If you'd asked me a week ago, I couldnt wait to get out of 'Nam, but now I'm not so sure!