Day 124 – Dalat
Full day around Dalat on a motorbike tour
Merry Christmas!!! (yup the blog is only 3 months behind now)
Today we started a tour with Mr. Cong Fantasy Tour. We had signed up for the 1 Waterfall Tour for $30 per person. He charged us 1,400,000 VND / $84.83 AUD / $60.27 USD for two people. Mr Cong was very fluent in English and was very talkative. Our second driver was friendly, but his English seemed limited.
Our first destination was a Flower Farm. Dalat is known for its flowers, which are sold all around Vietnam. The farm, was a series of covered fields full of flowers. As we walked past, small children would come to the gates to smile and wave at us.
Next we went up the bends towards the Ta Nung Mountain Views. The mountain range provided some nice views and the perfect photo opportunities.
Next we rode to a Weasel Coffee Plantation, which is essentially coffee made from coffee beans that have been digested by weasels. It is a process that is very similar to an expensive type of Pepper that was mentioned at La Plantation in Kampot (Day 109) that used birds instead of weasels. Unfortunately at this Weasel Coffee Plantation, the weasels were confined to cages. We were not really fans of this.
🙁
In our hypocritical nature, we ordered some weasel coffee and for me it tasted like normal coffee (Note: I am not a coffee drinker, preferring hot chocolate over coffee any day of the week). The weasel coffee was 60,000 VND / $3.64 AUD while a drip coffee from Tigon Dalat Hostel is 20,000 VND / $1.21 AUD.
Across the road from the Coffee Plantation is a Cricket Farm. The farming process is quite simple, with a few medium sized boxes full of crickets in various stages of their growth cycle. Then we got to taste some pan fried crickets. They are actually good with an surprising amount of meat inside the tiny creatures.
We then went to a Silk Factory, which was a group of women feeding silk worm cocoons into a machine. From what I gather they didn’t get much money and had long hours. It also appeared that they had a quota to fulfil. It makes you think where do all the profits go when you buy silk clothing.
We then went to the Elephant Waterfall, called this due to the shape of a rock in front of the waterfall. It was a bit of the steep and slippery climb to the base of the waterfall but it was beautiful.
The Elephant Rock
After lunch near the waterfalls, we went to a see a Rice Winery. It was a small set up. We were able to taste rice wine, with a snake coiled inside the bottle. The taste was similar to the normal rice wine we tasted too.
We then went to Lunh Anh Pagoda, where a large Buddha statue was being constructed. There is around three main temple buildings and some grounds to walk through. There is also a wood craving shop, that makes large cravings.
The final stop on the tour was the Ta Nung Minority Village. Here, we went into the kitchen of a house where the grandma stays at home and cooks for the entire family. The kitchen is essentially a stove on the ground. The house also has a chicken coop for fresh meat. We then walked down the street and look at more small houses. It really felt like walking through a remote village in Sri Lanka.
Sharing the road with chickens in Ta Nung Minority Village
Once we got back onto the bikes and were heading back to our hostel, a heavy down pour started. Luckily the bikes had rain covers which we got into. The tour was a really good way to see the town and surrounding area.
After relaxing for a while, we met a group of people heading into town for a nice Christmas dinner. We decided to join and after some debate we ended up eating at Carrot Restaurant. The food was delicious and the service was very good.