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Lets take this gig global!!
Well hello again. I hope you enjoyed the pics which I finally managed to sort out.
We have just completed our second day in Dalat and its been pretty busy. We decided that the best way to see all the sites quickly was to do a day tour and its been really enjoyable.
We left by mini-bus at 8:30am and it didnt actually get off to a great start as we first visited a flower plantation which was literally just a stroll through a greenhouse type thing and pretty poor really. Something you can see anytime in a garden centre at home! We were then taken to a coffee farm which was another stroll through the rows and rows of coffee trees and by now we were kinda thinking that the whole day could be a massive let down!
However, fortunately it picked up after that and the rest was really amzing stuff. The next stop was Elephant falls (named that as the monks scriptures apparently state that elephants would come here to graze and drink from the pools). It was basically one mahoussive waterfall but immensely powerful and loud and set in tranquil scenery. You can walk right up to the side of it (if you can stand the spray back of water), the best bit tho was when we were taken through a little walkway (almost secret like) filled with hanging tree trunks and led to the back of the falls where you can stand behind the fall and really see the force of the water pounding the rocks below. A proper Kodak moment!! The Buddhist monastry after was cool aswell and we saw our first pineapple crops.
Next up was the silk making farm and factory which was really interesting to see how just a little worm munches leaves for a month then cocoons and this cocoon is what makes the silk. We were taken through each process and were amazed to find out that one cocoon produces 800m of silk! Crazy!
The best part of the day (closely followed by the falls) was lunch! We were taken to someones house and enjoyed a traditional Vietnamese dinner! It was absolutely delicious! and again like the Thali we had in Jaisalmer you know that you are eating proper traditional food without any of the western 'tweaks' you get in most restaurants. Everything was raised and grown on the premises including the pork and River fish caught that morning! Theres loads of little dishes on the table so you just get stuck in with the chopsticks and try (in our case) loads of each bit!
For me, the best meal of the trip by far! After that we popped to the 'crazy house' which is exactly what it says on the tin. Really weird sculpted building which you have to see to believe. You could get lost there for hours.
We finished off with a cable car to the high point to take in the views of Dalat town and then the Pagoda on the Tuyen Lam Lake, a place famous in the Yoga world apparently.
So on the whole a good day even after the sketchy start. We are going for a meal tonight with a few of the peeps from our tour and then up for another early start as we head to Nha Trang tomo morning. Looking forward to getting back to the beach and to sample some of the snorkelling which its famous for.
Well, hope all is good where you all are. Keep those messages coming.
Dan
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