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We got picked up at 8 am after breakfast and went directly to the big Buddha of Da Lat. it was massive and in gold. Very shiny! After walking around for a while we continued out of Da Lat, where the view was beautiful. So many farms and plantations. Everything was so green and pure!
Our next stop was a flower farm, where they grew a lot of colourful flowers. We went to a coffee farm afterwards, where we heard a lot about the different types of coffee and what differentiates them. It was very interesting, especially also because we got to taste the famous weasel coffee (a weasel eats the coffee beans and poop them out again). The weasel coffee was very strong! I couldn't drink it without a lot of sugar and milk..
Then we stopped by silk factory. It was only women working and everything happened so fast. They had very quick hands. It was impressive to see how they got the beautiful silk from the weird cocoons... They even use the worms inside for salads afterwards..
Last stop before lunch was at the elephant waterfall, which was a really beautiful 'small' waterfall. We got quite close thanks to Phuc.
Then we had a lunch stop, with only local people, no tourists. It was nice and the food was good and cheap.
We drove through the mountains after lunch, where we were dropped off for a walk, which we totally misunderstood, so we tried to do it off-road which resulted in Su yelling at us to get back on the road! It was really stupid but a lot of fun afterwards. We got some really nice pictures.
We stopped by a family's house later to see how they produced the rice wine and dried the coffee. The rice wine smelled so strong!
We stopped again after a short while on the bikes to see some Vietnamese ladies work gathering bamboo shoots. It was really hard work, a lot of respect to them for doing it in the killing heat.
Our next stop was at another family's house, where they had a lot of silkworms. It was kind of gross, but also really fascination. The worms lived in the biggest room on the floor... Wonder if they ever wander off..
We stopped on a bridge after a little drive, where we looked down at a floating village. It was really beautiful and peaceful. It must be a very simple life.
Our last stop that day was at the rise paddies. A really wonderful view, which was the end of a long day with way to many impressions.. So we both slept really good that evening.
Next morning started with an elephant ride. It was an experience and I'm never going to do it again. It's against my principles..
After the elephant ride we went to a village of a local tribe. It was really interesting, and the people were very kind and curious. We have the kids candy, and they got so happy. It was really a pleasure to see them get happy over such a small thing as candy.
On the road Su spotted some workers in the rice paddies, so we stopped, so Phuc could tell us about the process. In the south of Vietnam they can harvest 3-4 times a year! That's a lot compared to 1-2 times in the north..
Further on, we stopped on a bridge, which had been bombed during the American war. Nothing was left except the pillars, and even the church beside it was wrecked. It's really crazy how much damage that war has made.
We stopped at a brick factory afterwards, where they made the bricks used for building the houses in the area. It's a huge progress compared to all the other houses here, which are made of bamboo or tree..
Our next two stops where at a local family's where they made rice paper. She was really hardcore the lady, sitting in front of a steam place dressed in hoodie and long pans, and she was so fast.. It would probably have taken me tenfold the time.
The other stop was at a cocoa farm, where we saw all the cocoa trees and the different shapes and colours of the cocoa.
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We went to a big waterfall afterward, which was very beautiful and peaceful. We had some strong coffee and some cold to drink while we looked out at the waterfall.
Last stop of the day was at a place where they sold durions, which is the most disgusting fruit I have ever tasted. It tastes like a combination of mango and onion, and has a really weird consistency.
After checking in at our hotel (smelled really humid and awful) we went out to eat. We had the amazing hotpot, which is a pot filled with stock and veggies. It's really delicious!
After breakfast the next day we started our drive. First place we stopped was a place were they had gathered the cocoa, so we could se have the mature cocoa looked. We also got to smell the dried cocoa beans, which smelled of very good dark chocolate.
Then we drive to a war memorial, which was in the middle of nowhere. It was quite pretty..
After some more driving, we went for a little walk, and then stopped by a place in the forest with hammocks and delicious sugarcane juice. The sugarcane juice tastes heavenly!
After chilling there for a while we went for at passion fruit juice factory. It was again really hard work, and the ladies were wearing so much clothes. We got to taste some of the passion fruits and they tasted so much better than back home! I really love passion fruits, so I were in heaven!
We also saw a passion fruit farm, but unfortunately there were no mature passion fruits.
After another stop for a walk and enjoying the view we stopped at a local family's house to see the different types of herbal medicine. They used different types of roots and mushrooms. It was really fascinating.
Our next stop was at a chopstick factory. It was crazy! They had so much bamboo, and the the people working at the machines worked so fast - yet again! Everybody here works so hard and fast. It's impressing! And the amount of chopsticks was ridiculous!
After another drive with amazing view we stopped shortly at a place where they had bees - a lot of them!
Before arriving at our hotel, we stopped by a tea field. It's amazing, that you can make 4 or 5 different types of tea from one leaf depending on how you treat it.
We got a nice room with a beautiful view over the mountains. Everything in the room was nice, even the bed!
In the evening we had dinner with our guides. It was a good evening with a lot of good food (goat meat) and a lot of beers. We had a lot of fun on our last night together.
On the last day we firstly stopped so we could enjoy some views, first at a banana plantation and secondly on a mountain road with an amazing view over the lake. The water was really blue and the mountains were really green. All the colours here a so powerful. It's truly beautiful.
Next stop was outside a local family's house were we saw dried mushrooms (used for herbal medicine) and dried bamboo (used to eat). They can use everything as medicine here - fascinating!
Later we stopped at a small village, where we learned about their traditions and history. It was a village that used to move around in the mountains but lately the government has paid for houses, which forces them to educate their children, which is really good since the village is so poor. They girls here marry early and get children early too..
After lunch we drove on between these weird fields with something that looked like cactus. It turned out to be dragon fruit plantations. They looked really funny with the dragon fruits growing out from the cactus.
Our last stops where the sand dunes of Mui Ne. We started at the white sand dunes. It was beautiful. You felt like you were in the middle of a dessert - sand all around you.. It was really nice.
We went to the red sand dunes after the white ones. It was also really beautiful. It looked a little weird with the red sand. It almost looked a little dirty. But the view from top of one of the dunes was beautiful. You could se the beaches. That was the end of our trip on motorbikes through south of Vietnam. A truly amazing experience even though our butts were very sore.
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