Vietnam - Nhatrang and Dalat

I arrived in Nhatrang early in the morning a little drowsy from a bus ride with out much sleep. Yannick (my friend from France I met in Hue) and our friend Matthew from Whales who we met in Hoi An were both on the bus with me and we set out together to find a room.

After getting settled we got ready for the beach (Nhatrang is a beach town, well more like a beach city). On our way we ran into one of the Holland couples we met in Hue (as you can tell you are constantly running into the same people while traveling in Vietnam) and joined them on the beach for a day of relaxation. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best, not much sun, but it was still very hot out making the water very inviting.

Hanging out on the beach

That night I went out for a pitcher of beer with my new roommates. In Vietnam the best place for cheap beer is going to a little "bar"(more like a store front the size of a large walk in closet with local beer on tap) where the tables and chairs are made for 5 year old. The photo below is taken by a standing Australian about 6 feet tall, so you get the idea.


After one of the best dishes I've had yet (fish in clay pot) and a beer on the beach we called it a night.
The next morning we got up early for our boat cruise, the tourist thing to do in Nhatrang. Yes, touristy things can be very annoying but hey I'm a tourist and I was in the mood.
We met up with the couple from Holland again and were escorted to our boat over flowing with Westerners. The day was spent snorkeling, eating yummy food, enjoying some live entertainment, swimming, and ended with a trip to the aquarium.

Snorkeling

Yummy feast on the boat

The next day I split ways with my friends who headed for Saigon while I decided to do a stop over in the mountain town of Dalat before heading further south. After a miserable bus ride due to the fact that i had a delicious caphe sua that morning but forgot to relieve myself before the 4 hour bus ride (woops!).

Dalat

I arrived in a city that looked like a cross between a Euorpean and South American Village. Dalat is known as a hub in Vietnam for outdoor sports such as mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, abseiling.....hmmmmm abseiling never tried that before.
Next thing I knew I was on a abseiling (kind of like repelling) tour through the woods of Dalat. We had a good group and the guides were awesome. After a lesson the abseiling began. Kind of scary but really fun. The pictures say it all below.


After returning to town I rented a motor bike with a Canadian couple from Vancouver that were on the tour with me. We first went to the "crazy house", a silly tourist attraction but pretty cool.

Staircase in the crazy house

After that we went to this cafe that was in their guidebook called "stop and go cafe". We didn't really know what to expect and we pulled up to what looked more like a house than a cafe. We were greeted by the cutest and friendliest puppies and were then ushered into the living room by the woman of the house. We were the only ones there. The room was just covered in poetry, well more like inspirational sayings. Mr. Viet who owns the house came out to greet us, he's an old Vietnamese man with quite a style about him. Long gray beard, barret, and a warm smile. We ordered some snacks and beer (which he had to go out on his motorbike to get, typical Vietnam) and visited with him. He played is guitar and we sang songs and he showed us an article that was published in the Japanese Esquire that featured him and his poetry. I was a fun couple of hours spent with a man I certainly will never forget.

Puppies!

Me and Mr. Viet, note the peotry on the walls behind us. He was also all about giving us flowers from his garden to take home and put in our hair.