Dalat

My first impression of Dalat, besides beautiful surrounding countryside that (sadly) didn't extend to the city  was distinctly leopard print shaped. My tiny but very comfortable alcove at the hostel I was staying at was decorated in some of the most garish upholstery I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

I'll be honest and say that Dalat wasn't the best places i've been in Vietnam but in its own way it still had a certain charm. I started my first proper day there by visiting an old fashioned steam train, I then took a stroll through a particularly pretty floral show before heading to some of the temples that lay around the town. After being entranced by some particularly lovey statues of Quan Am, a Buddha of compassion.

While wandering the temple I was invited by the local woman there to stay and share the truly delicious food they had made. I chatted to them about why they were making food, what it was the monks did in terms of charitable work and even made a donation to help the poor there.

Afterwards I took a taxi to see the appropriately named crazy house, A particularly strange piece of architecture designed to make you feel like you had wandered into a scene from Alice in wonderland. All strange shapes, abstract structures and weird animal statues.

That night I went out for a tasty group meal with people from my hostel, after chatting to four traveling journalists I even got interviewed by them for their website (Human Unscripted, find the link below).

After exhausting all that I felt Dalat had to offer I decided to move on to the wonders of Cat Tien national park.


http://humanityunscripted.com/