Out and about DaLat with Khien.

11/5 - Off with Khien, the Easy Rider, for a day around the outskirts of DaLat seeing this and that. He is a good laugh and doesn't seem to take much too seriously. We headed out of town. The scenery around DaLat is smashing mountainous countryside, not rugged mountains, but forest covered mountains. Some of the forest is pine and there are some clear areas. Khien says it is mostly because of American bombing and agent orange. Some may be due to local deforestation, which is now banned. Some of the things done in the war are very sad, but I guess that is war.
We stopped off at a pagoda and although I thought I had seen enough pagodas, I enjoyed this one. The Buddhas inside were interesting and the big happy Buddha outside was the happiest Buddha I have seen, even happier than me. The only down side is I've forgotten the pagodas name. I have also forgotten the order we visited everything. (Hang on I'll get my camera.)
We checked out the market gardens, mostly flowers, which DaLat is famous for. The colour of the flowers have different meanings, I THINK, red is for luck, pink is for love and happiness, (is that possible said the Grumpy old man), yellow is for power and features in the ex-monarchs furnishings etc., orange is for the elderly. I have been told slightly different meanings by different people, but they are never far off the same.
Khien stopped several times as we went along. He showed me the coffee beans and we had a quick chew, he seems to chew everything. I'd wondered what all the plantations were. There are 3 types of coffee plants, but mocha has become the favourite, as it is the shortest, so easiest to harvest. On some of the plantations there are passion fruit, mingled in with the coffee plants. There's probably a reason, but I didn't ask Khien. He picked one for a chew and it was smashing, really tasty, the coffee beans weren't bad either. I wasn't keen on the bark used to make incense, but Khien tried it, so I did too and spat it out too.
We had a coffee break at a cafe that also grows mushrooms, collects silkworm cocoons and brews rice wine and very nice rice wine it was too. Khien told me the viagra rice wine is the one with the snake in it and blow me they are out of it, so I tried the banana one, good for your back and it works, mine didn't hurt at all when I fell over drunk. We carried on a bit aboard his bike, Jack. It comes from "Hit the road Jack". Khien is a little crazy in a good fun way. Next stop was the silk factory. They collect their own cocoons and buy the ones from the locals. It is clever how the silk is collected and spun, I was quite engrossed, but Khien moved me on to the shop. I don't know if silk is dear, but here a top was 6 quid, for a lady, it felt nice too. Apparently, clothing sold elsewhere as silk, tends to have some cotton mixed in, not that I would be able to tell, which is probably why it is done. We did so much I cannot remember it all. We ended up back at the cafe, as Khien had ordered lunch before we left. The food laid out was loads and delicious and the beer was pretty good too. Still no snake rice wine.
After Da Lat, I'm not sure where to go. I don't fancy the seaside tourist resorts. I had a look at Cat Tien National park, but Khien in good tout form, showed me some of the rides out that the Easy Riders do. I didn't fancy the 5 day one to HCMC, but the one to Hoi An sounds the business. I held back on a decision, unusually, until I could find out if I could fly back from Danang to HCMC. Believe it or not, I have a plan for next week, so next week will probably be a write off. We headed back into town and paid a visit to the Crazy House. You should see this place. It is designed and still being built by a Vietnamese lady who studied architecture in Moscow. Somewhere along the way she got mixed up between Lord of the Rings and Alice in Wonderland and has produced this place. It is used as a hotel too, it is a really cool place, a sort of fantasy land. The steps are just the job for me too, they are staggered left and right. It is not easy to describe, I'll try and get some photos on the web.
Khien is really keen for me to go on the trip to Hoi An, understandably, it is his living and I really fancy it, so we agreed to go to Vietnam airlines in the morning and see if I can get a ticket. Khien dropped me back at the hotel. I thought I'd better get my laundry back if we are off tomorrow. I'd only put it in this morning, but the little lass from the hotel went and got it for me, a little damp, but not to worry, the girl done good. I settled up for the hotel and laundry and gave her a little extra, I thought she was going to cry.
I headed off to the Central Market and the rain came on again, but only light so I kept trudging down some of the narrow streets. This is a smart little town, if I don't head off with Khien tomorrow I think I'll hang around a couple more days. I finally got myself some soap, toothpaste and toothbrush. They were down to nil and the toothbrush is a bit battered after 4 months, a bit like me. They came to $2. This place is cheap to live, Vietnam, out of the cities. I finally got to Central Market, I took the miandering route, I believe it is called getting lost. The market is mostly fruit and veg with lots of food stalls around the fringes. There are some fish stalls too. It is a lively place. I picked up some tasty snacks along the way, including a chocolate cake and the heavens opened, so I ducked into an internet shop. It was a waste of time, it was still raining when I came out, so I shopdoorwayhopped my way back to the hotel and ate my snacks on the balcony, then packed and watched some football with a cup of tea and my chocolate cake. What happened to the beer and black pudding??? I'm getting soft.