Please press play to hear the Da Lat vibes. Me and Adi sang this song all day on her motorbike
HOTEL CALIFORNIA – EAGLES
Day 29 – Mooch Around Town
Everyone in the hostel gets up quite early, 7-7.30 so I was quite happy to have an early start. I befriended a girl called Adi who had been travelling for a year and was staying in our 4 man room. Her smile and energy was absolutely infectious and I knew straight away we were going to click.
In first day style I spent my first few hours in Da Lat mooching. The climate here can be much cooler and more rainy because its in the highlands, but actually it’s quite refreshing and having no air con in the rooms helped with my illness recovery.
I grabbed a little eggy breakfast from the hostel and looked out onto the unbelievable view. Tigon Hostel is renowned for having one of the best views in the area. Unlike me, but I did get the urge to go for a walk so I thought I would take an hour and a half venture to the alpine rollercoaster armed with my headphones and fresh creps. I was really enjoying the scenery but shortly reached a bloody alpine A road so thought best to order a cab.
The alpine place was really busy and touristy (not my favourite), it was kind of an alpine resort where you could do zip lining and see a waterfall, but everything was an individual cost. I saw the queue for the coaster (over an hour wait) and the near £5 price tag for a ride and thought, you’re having me on. So I headed for the next tourist location.
Crazy House was really cool, it’s literally so random but kind of encompasses the quirkiness of the area. It was built as an art installation/hotel in the 90’s by the daughter of a wealthy bloke. She had studied in Russia and wanted to incorporate the natural and the man made (even though all the trees and braches were made of plastic – I’m not an art critique so who tf am I to say). I know this doesn’t make Crazy House make anymore sense, I was also very confused the whole time, cray-zay.
As I missed out on my walk before, I decided to walk back home. Da Lat is a much more normal level of traffic compared to Ho Chi Minh and there were actual pavements here which is always handy (health and safety wise). I felt much better after stopping off at a really beautiful café for a coffee, where they gave me a free tea, something quite a few places seem to do in Vietnam.
I booked on for ‘Family Dinner’ at the hostel and befriended Adi’s two friends she had made at the hostel, Minty and Mika. The meal was absolutely delicious and I had all veggie food and to be honest it was quite refreshing to have a panic-free-from-fish-meal. Although I did have a big double bed bunk I was not sleeping so well at the hostel.
DAY 30 – Thrift Shopping and Hot Pot
Me and Adi went to find some breakfast on her new motorbike (she had bought one to travel Vietnam with Minty and Mika) and after an hour we found somewhere we wanted to go.
AN CAFE
We had a lovely time getting to know each other and did some thrift shopping. Da Lat is known for its second hand clothes, there are so many cool young people in the city and so many places to go.
THRIFTING AT THE MARKET
We did not enjoy our horrible ice tea and both started to feel quite ill and overstimulated so decided to head home. I started to feel the peak of my illness, so had some soup. Then a rainbow showed up which was nice.
SILLY VIBES IN OUR NEW HATS
For dinner Adi, Minty, Mika and I walked into town. Mika and I were singing ‘I may be right, I may be wrong but I’m perfectly willing to swear…’, also known as the Barclay Square song from Peep Show and bonded over our love of the programme. We sat down at a local Vietnamese place and Minty and Mika started eating the previous peoples food off the table when it became clear they weren’t going to serve us (not because of the scrounging but because we weren’t locals). Instead we opted for a vegetarian hotpot place down the road. It was so lovely spending time with people who are so happy to be living life with each other, I truly felt invited into the group and I got to try my first hot pot with them.
HOT POT WITH THE GIRLS
DAY 31 – WHOLESOME VIBES AND A SAD GOODBYE
Spending more quality time with Adi in the morning made us become even closer. We had started sitting together in the morning, overlooking the city, making plans for the day on the assumption that we were besties now. We drove into town for some breakfast, again not really knowing where to go just looking for vibes and enjoying each others company on her bike.
The gang went to get their new bikes checked out by a mechanic because they had bought them off facebook marketplace and Mika came to sit with me when he got back. He was painting a picture for the guy he had bought the bike off, as he had invited us all for dinner at his restaurant. Mika spent hours making it and then proceeded to write the whole thing in Vietnamese, a truly thoughtful gift.
MINTY AND MIKA UP TO NO GOOD
Unfortunately I had booked a flight to Da Nang for the evening so I wasn’t able to go for the meal with them, so when they left I was actually really sad. I think these guys have been the most similar to my friends back home so it was a familiar feeling of comfort to laugh with them and a solitude came over me when they left. I really missed them, especially as they were sticking together. They did invite me on their bike tour, but when they started talking about the tarpooling they had bought because they couldn’t find a tent to sleep in, I thought their method of travelling might be a bit too raw for me. Writing out this blog I can’t believe I was only with them for 2/3 days because it felt like ages, that’s when you know the vibes were good.
I managed to catch one last sunset and grabbed family dinner before heading to the airport. My ear got low key fucked on the flight because Da Lat is nearly 1000m above sea level as it is, but after an hour in the air, I arrived at my dingy hotel room. I was really ready to shake this illness and it was starting to get me down, but I ordered a maccies and got to bed.
MACCIES AND AN EARLY NIGHT
Da Lat I think you were my favourite so far. I was surprised by your beauty and really enjoyed the cooler climate (and I enjoyed not wearing shoes at the hostel). Adi, Minty and Mika you made me laugh so much, thank you for letting me into the inner circle, what a special time. I love you all and we will reunite in Tasmania <3