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Vietnam: Da Lat – City Great for Honeymooning – VIDEO
Published: 3.5.2016
As much as I hate to travel by bus, I would repeat the ride from Nha Trang and Da Lat. The former is the city of two hundred thousand. It is the most popular spot to spend honeymoon at in Vietnam. It is situated at 1500 meters in the Central Highlands. You can enjoy a number of great views while on the road. And it gets even better on bike …
I couldn’t to not notice Dat Lat already when flying night overflight from Saigon to Nha Trang. Vegetables and flowers are grown there big time. Therefore, greenhouses are easy to be seen in the night and create interesting pictures up from 10 kilometers in the air. Dat Lat sits in the center of Langbian Plateau. There are perfect conditions for agriculture – fertile soil, enough of sun, rains and relatively stable temperature oscillating between 20-30 degrees Celsius all year round. You can buy fresh strawberries and many kinds of vegetables even in January. Moreover, coffee is grown there on large scale.
In Da Lat significant influence of the French colonial era is still apparent. You soon realize it is one of the richest towns in Vietnam. Beautiful early 20th century mansions, artificial lake, many trees, flowers and opulent hotels. Many young Vietnamese spend their honeymoon here, mostly those coming from Saigon. Usually, wedding ceremony takes place here as well. Therefore, it is hardly an extraordinary occasion to see wedding guests roaming around the city.
A nice local guest house with a nice view over diverse city is my place of stay. It is peaceful around. For only 200 crowns per night I am only 5 minutes from the main marketplace in downtown. I try to taste as most as possible of their delicious cuisine as the Vietnamese are famous gourmets. Qual eggs in bittersweet sauce with shallot and grilled oysters . There is hardly something better than that.
The following day begins with another gourmet experience – coconut coffee – and then I go to see the lake. I feel like I was in Switzerland... I met several gentlemen with a walking stick. A picture you don’t get ofent in Asia. Then I somehow managed to reach the Da Lat Gardens. Well, only a fool would miss that. It costs 30 thousand dongs to get inside, i.e. 30 crowns. There is much truth in Da Lat’s nickname „the city of eternal spring”. Many flowers blossom in mid-January. Pitty the garden is not bit bigger. It takes only an hour to walk it through.
I hire a guide in the afternoon. It is this “easy rider” type of guide who gives you a lift wherever you want to. Should you be afraid to ride a bike, this is a great option. We ride downhill to the south with the famous Elephant waterfall being our destination. On our way, we stop at one of the many coffee farms. This gives me finally a chance to taste fresh coffee cherry. Did you know that coffee beans are actually fruit pit? There are two pits in every cherry. Ripened cherry tastes similar to quality filtered coffee. They offer here even the famous Kopi Luwak – civet coffee..
While leaving the waterfall, we take a stop at a Buddhist temple and a silk manufacture. There is a beautiful display of the process – beginning with silkworm, its cocoon, the way cocoons are untangled and silk is made. Should you stay at Da Lat, I recommend you to visit the manufacture as you will learn a lot. There is nothing better than a graphic example.
I finish my bike trip at Crazy House – which is a strange building of many weird concrete things, hidden passages and even weirder rooms in which you can sleep over night. But mostly, the view of Da Lat is amazing there. I am not sure what to make of it all but it seems people are attracted to this place. Therefore, it has been continuously expanded.
I believe I return to Da Lat someday. Then I would explore much more of the surrounding landscape. Several interesting ethnic groups live around there. Also, there is some magic into this pine tree land with small fields.
In the evening we arrive at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon). We are already busy only to lodge for a quick dinner in the busy streets of this largest Vietnamese city and sleep. The next day a very exciting war trip is waiting for us - we go to the Cu Chi tunnels.
After a tough night-train trip, we arrive early in the morning to Da Nang City, where we do not stay very much. First we head to perhaps the most beautiful Vietnamese city - the Hoi An lantern, from which we go for a trip to the Marble Mountains, Vietnamese Ngũ Hành Sơn.
Phu Quoc is the name of the largest Vietnamese island situated in the Gulf of Thailand close to Cambodia. Islands in the Gulf of Thailand are beautiful this one is no difference. The island is mere 50 kilometers long (from north to south). In the north the island is wide and it narrows down towards the south. Majority of the island is covered in green but this will not be the case in the future. The island features beautiful sand and palms. Who would love this?
Last year already, we brought you a video of the "wedding" town of Dat Lat, Vietnam. Our reporteur made a return there to ride down one of the best roads in Vietnam for a road trip on motorbike.
Omnipresent honking, grandmas pulling bikes with flowers, Vietnamese sitting on small chairs, food, bikes, wires, bikes, French cafes, bikes with food, bikes with chairs, bike transporting part of another bike… Welcome to Hanoi! It is a city crazy beyond believe. You either love it or you hate it eternally.
Da Nang (a city almost in the geographic center of Vietnam) is largely unknown. Which is unfortunate. An average tourist usually passes by there in a taxi on his way from the airport to his favorite Hoi An hotel…. I spent three weeks in Da Nang. And the city got on the list of my favorite places in Southeast Asia (right next to Chiang Mai). In Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson called the old road to Hue as the “abandoned fragment of perfection.” I absolutely agree.
We had no problems with B to communicate in China. In Vietnam, B took the role of the guide. When we decided to travel to Cambodia, we realized this would be the most exotic country simply because we don’t know the Cambodian language.
Cat Ba is an island southeast of Vietnam. It was very difficult to get there until recently. In September, a new road featuring a bridge made it easier to travel to the island. Hence, Cat Ba is a popular tourist resort. You may buy a ticket to Cat Ba town in Hanoi and Ninh Binhu zakoupit. It takes 4 hours to get there from Ninh Binhu and 3 hours from Hanoi.
Vietnam is no destination where climbers would travel intentionally. Yet once you are there you should try its climbing areas. We travelled to Cat Ba island which I highly recommend to any climber.
When visiting south Vietnam, go to the Mekong river delta. The river originates in China and runs across five countries. It is however in Vietnam where it enters the sea. The area lures in tourists who may experience boat rides here, a floating market, or see interesting life of the locals on the riverbank. Its brown color is not appealing for locals use it to their everyday activities – washing, cleaning etc. There are no dangerous animals in the river so you can swim in it.
Do you think which destination is the right one for you? Where is something interesting and unusual? Where you can find beautiful landscape, excellent cuisine, and pleasant locals? Well, I know where to go. My favorite place is... Vietnam and I will try to convince you in the next few articles that even for you this is the right choice.
We imagined the visit to the lake as relaxing time after quite a busy day. The reality was seriously different from our expectations. I have remembered the first impression until today. With my daughter and son, we dodged through the local traffic and it was not really easy. The flood of motorcycles was not to stop. We naively thought that someone might slow down or even stop. Don't expect that. Just walk to the other end of the road. And be brave.
One day trip to the Bach Ma National Park, approximately 40 kilometers from Hue, was one of our best days in Vietnam. The park was founded in 1991 and its name means a white horse. It covers an area of 220 square kilometers.
Nha Trang is practically the most famous tourist resort in Vietnam, not so much for some landmarks, this coastal city of Khanh Hoa province is famous for its seven kilometers long sandy beach with adjacent islands. The city of approximately 392,000 inhabitants and this number is growing steadily.
Today we are about to enjoy our last amazing trip in Vietnam, we originally intended to visit the Ba Vi National Park, but for time constraints we had to change our program because we need to reserve at least two days for this park. So we had a hotel counseling and planned a trip to a place that was not even mentioned in our book guide, although it is very popular for tourists (even for local people). Today, we go to visit the largest Vietnamese pagoda Bai Dinh and then explore the beautiful complex Trang An.
The end of my stay in Vietnam was neigh. There was one more place to see, a must-see place. The Caodaistic temple. Caodaismus (Đạo Cao Đài) is a young, syncretic religion established by a bureaucrat from South Vietnam in the 1920s.
We reached Hanoi (Hà Nội in Vietnamese) by train, again. Friends had been waiting for us at the train station already. Hospitable as they were they took us on their bikes to their place. Founded in the 11th century, Hanoi’s original name was Thăng Long – Soaring Dragon. The legend says the emperor saw a dragon soaring at this place so he founded the city there.
Someone loves it. Someone swears to not to come again. There is nothing in between. I am with the first group. From the first day on in Saigon, a hectic city, and I turned into a side street. We are about to introduce you to a new series where we tell you about interesting places in the city and the country. First of all, let’s talk some important facts about the country.
Upon an hour of waiting for a visa I was free to explore the capital of the country I really looked forward to exploring. First of all, I somehow let a cab driver to make a 300 crown rip off. Sometimes things like this happen. But honestly – this happens in Prague as well. Aboard the airplane I could see streets where millions of bikes stream in all directions. And “down” here the traffic is even more crazy. If I compare Ho Chi Minh city to Bangkok, a city of comparable size, in the former there are much less traffic jams. One must add that there is no subway, or rail that would go above the ground. It seems that high taxes on car is working.
I have always longed to see a large desert with sand dunes. However, neither in Europe nor in Southeast Asia (the places where I spend most of my time) is one. Once I first saw pictures of Mui Ne, Vietnam I knew for sure that I want to go there. Okay, it is not a desert per se but sand dunes there are huge.
In the region of Sa Pa, northwestern Vietnam, the best means of transport is a bike. You don’t have to worry about missing your bus, of taxi not coming, or that your taxi cab driver would be someone who drives illegally. Therefore, we rented us a bike in Sa Pa. It cost only a few crowns. Then we planned our trip.
When someone in Prague says “Sapa” everybody recalls the famous marketplace in Prague. However, once you dig into where the name originates you soon find the mysterious area of Sa Pa in Vietnam’s northwest (near the borderline with China).
The last day was before us in Hue, the picturesque imperial city. In the early morning we hit the streets and just roamed around in the city. Indeed, we saw one of the most distinctive sights in the city - the Trường Tiền bridge across the Perfume River.
Even though the title suggest some offensive connotations we were did not intend to disgrace royal tombs as if we were in an action movie. A rented bike, however, solved our problems. The tombs around Hue are scattered along vast area. Before relying on public transportation it is better to pay couple of crowns to rent a bike.
On the following day we set off to Hoi An (Hội An . It was during the daylight and also it didn’t rain. The sun was pleasantly shining and warm. We reached the historical center by foot and were ready for some great sightseeing (even the one in the night had its atmosphere).
Every time I have the feeling I know something more about something I come to realization which tells me the opposite. I spent one year of studying and travelling in China. Bit arrogantly I had felt Asia couldn’t surprise me much more. Fortunately, I hadn’t boarded a plane to the Czech Republic, instead I boarded a plane to Vietnam.
Upon we explore Hanoi a bit we planned to see other places which are must see in the capital. The first one was the Ho Chi Minh Museum (Lăng Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh).
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