Dalat, Vietnam (Jan. 15, 16, 2015)

Jan. 15, 2015

So, after my great sleep on the night bus, we arrived in Nha Trang which is a busy little, well, pretty big city, by the beach. My connecting bus was only a half hour away from leaving, which I was grateful for, because our night bus was two hours late and I wondered if I would actually make the connection. As luck would have it, I did make it and spent the four hour ride climbing the curvy mountain roads through absolutely gorgeous scenery. It was a fantastic ride without issue. The distance is only about 200 kms but since the road is so windy, the bus can’t really go much faster than 50 or 60 Kms at a time. 

Mountain bus ride to Dalat

On the way to Dalat

I got a quick cab to the hostel, which turned out to be very nice. I have a private room on the first floor, so no long walk up, with my own bathroom and close to the center. I got the room on Agoda, for $6 per night which is amazing. I was really happy to have my own space for a while. I even have a TV that plays American movies with Vietnamese subtitles. Luxury or what???

Glass door with curtain

My comfy bed

Bathroom

Bathroom

After I got settled, I walked around the lake that is the centre of the city, looking at the scenery. I went to the market, and walked up to a beautiful old Cathedral as well. This town is small, lovely, mountainous and green. The weather is nice and warm during the day, but goes down a bit at night, making it necessary to wear the two jackets I have. It’s totally decent though and since I mostly go out and about during the day, it’s fine.

Lake in the center of town

Street scene

Street scene

Roundabout at city centre

Cathedral

Pretty scene near hostel

Flower stall at market

Inside cathedral

I asked the guys at the hostel, where to go for local food. They showed me on the map, so I walked to find somewhere to eat. I did find a cool little street vendor/restaurant in the area they told me, run by a sweet older man and his wife. The place was super clean, and the Pho looked wonderful. He spoke no English, and of course, I speak no Vietnamese. He asked if I wanted Pho Bo which is beef, and I said I didn’t want that. He pointed to the chicken, but that didn’t interest me either. Then, on his cart, I spied this plate with some kind of groups of innards, wrapped in an elastic. There were several of these packages that contained some things I recognized, and some that I didn’t. Since I did see gizzard, livers, intestines and hearts, I thought I’d give that a try. The man was a bit shocked that I picked that, and asked me a couple of times if this was what I wanted. I said it was, and he proceeded to cook up the grouping of stuff for my Pho. It was delicious and the man helped me to make a spicy lime and salt sauce to dip the stuff in, and how to add the various vegetables. He seemed really happy that I tried it, and liked it. 

There were some things in that grouping of guts, that I didn’t recognize, but were really great. Mike, what do you think some of the round things that had veins and connective tissue were? I took a close up just so you could guess, before I tell you.

Pho soup

Close up of one I didn't recognize

View of clump before adding to soup

Two more of the unrecognizalbes

I started asking the man, through gesturing, what part of the body I was eating. He would point and then we would go through the animal sounds until we agreed what kind of animal things were from. It was really funny, and super fun. Then I just went back to the hostel, did some hand laundry, FT’d and went to bed. A great day all in all.

Jan. 16, 2015

Today I got up, decided I would like to see if there was any kind of yoga here, Googled it and found a really new and cool sanctuary that just opened a few months ago. Their prices are great, so I walked to the place to check it out. For some reason, I don’t have a burning desire to stay a long time in my next place, Ho Chi Minh City, as it’s very big, busy, expensive and I think that too many days there will not be my thing. I’ve now seen quite a few big SE Asian cities that are certainly worth a view, but I am not feeling the need to spend a long time there. I really like this city and want to spend more than the two nights I had booked, so that’s what prompted looking into doing some yoga. 

Anyway, it took me almost an hour to get to the place, though it was a gorgeous walk around the lake and up a hill. The sanctuary is lovely, with the option to live there for a week, but that was quite expensive and I didn’t want to be that restricted. So, I decided to rent a motor bike so that I could attend a couple of classes a day, and have some autonomy to look around this little town on my own time, without having to walk everywhere. It’s just a bit too big for that and there are many pretty things to see, not much traffic, and a beautiful setting.

Looking out from cafe

Cafe I went to

Street scene

Interesting building on the street

Flower Park Entrance

I decided to buy a one week unlimited yoga pass that includes two classes per day, plus a meditation. I think it cost $16 Canadian. You can’t beat that price and the closer you get to Ho Chi Minh, the more everything costs. So, the next challenge was that it was too far to walk to, two or three times a day. I needed to rent a bike, but was told it was 100,000 VND for a manual bike per day. I thought that I’d enlist the help of the guys who run the hostel and tell them that I wanted to stay another week, would continue to stay with them, and wouldn’t book it online if they could keep the price the same. That would mean that they would get all the money, and no commission for Agoda. The only problem was, that I needed to have a motor bike, and it was too expensive. I wanted to stay here, liked them and the room, but would probably have to move closer to the yoga place if I couldn’t figure out the bike thing, for a cheaper price. They asked me how much I wanted to pay, I said 70,000 VND per day and they made it happen. That’s around $3.88 per day, which is great. 

So, at 4 pm, before I needed to leave for my first yoga class, I got the bike delivered to the hostel, rode it up and down the street a few times, liked it, grabbed my bag, and left for the first class. It was great. My body really needs some exercise and relaxation and this is just perfect. I am happy to be staying here at the same price, in my own room, with a bike to get around, doing yoga two or more times a day. It is simply paradise and I’m so happy I am doing it.

After yoga, I came back the long way, looked around a bit, but was cold, so I came back and watched a movie, and blogged. A fantastic day and it will be a fantastic week. Great things happen to me, and I’m so lucky!