Dalat

Halloh. Dalat is an old French resort town in the mountains often referred to as the Vietnam Alps. The weather is unlike the rest of Vietnam. It's cooler there and they grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. In the American war, all sides agreed to avoid fighting there. The town surrendered without a fight in early April 1975.
There is a loose affiliation of motorbike taxi dudes that call themselves Easy Riders. Mine claimed the author of the Lonely Planet books gave them the name. They have a website and monthly meetings to police themselves. Some take their clients all the way to Hanoi or Saigon. I met a young Dutch woman that had riden from Nha Trang and would continue on to Mui Ne with hers. Thats many hundreds of kilometers. The one I got stuck with was the brother of my guesthouse owner. He wanted to take me to Saigon. Thats an unpleasant 6 hour bus ride. No way would I go on the back of a motorbike. I spent spent two nights in Dalat and saw a local waterfall that had a cool rollercoaster. It swooped down through the forest and back up to the restaraunt for about $4 U.S. I would have taken it again, but for the scardycat Vietnamese that wouldn't go fast. I had to brake to a crawl so I wouldn't crash into the car ahead of me. There is a nice gondola ride there too. It goes high above the valley for about 3 kilometers. Also in town is the famouse Crazy Nga house. It's a guesthouse designed by a famous Viet architect (sp) Sorry Bob! It looks very much like the Gaudi stuff in Barcelona. I guess I didn't really bond with Dalat.
I had been trying to put together a trip to Phu Quoc island by phone and E mail with the tour desk at the Hoang Linh hotel in Saigon. They completely hosed the deal. I decided to head back to see what was going on. They had done nothing. I had to start over. Most of the flights and boat passages were full. I put together a trip for only three nights. Oh well, live and learn.
Bye for now, Ducklass