Dalat, Vietnam: 26-28th Jul 08

backdated post.

After the Cameron Highlands Trip, we were scheduled for the next Vietnam Trip. This time round, I have Faythe with me and left Vyktore behind. We left KL on 23rd Jul and arrived there late evening. As usual, I work there instead of taking leave but in between I took 1 day off and we made a short trip to Dalat.

Dalat, slightly North from Saigon (30mins by flight) is a beautiful place. The weather is slightly colder than Cameron Highlands. It has lots of French Colonial Buildings. Just like a Mini Paris.

26th Jul

We took an early flight with Vietnam Airlines to Dalat. It was a small plane with close to 50 passengers. This is the 1st time Faythe seats in such a small plane, she laughed at the plane for being so small O.o. It was a short flight and we arrived at Dalat close to 9am. We took a shuttle bus to the town and then took a walk to our hotel. It was quite a distance, but since the weather was cooling it really didn’t matter. We stayed in Novotel Dalat. Manage to get discount rates via the internet. This is a very old hotel but they maintained it very nicely as compared to Strawberry Park Resorts.

We could only check in after 10am, so we took a walk around the hotel area and went to the Church beside the hotel. It’s known as Chicken Church. Don’t know why, but probably it’s shaped like a chicken.

After checking in and freshen up, the sky turned dark (it’s raining season!!). We took the bike (which we rented from the hotel) and rode to Bao Dai Palace. This is one of the place to visit, where the King Bao Dai used to live with his family. Daddy didn’t quite like this place as he says it’s not old enough to be part of history LOL. This place was built in 1950s, hence he says it’s not old enough to be historical. True, the things looks like reminiscence to the 60s. This is just like a huge villa, with many different rooms. But being an ardent fan of history, I don’t mind visiting this place, just for once :P.

After Bao Dai Palace, our next destination was the Hang Nga Crazy House, but we just couldn’t find it. So we took a break and stop by a Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch. We are not sure if this restaurant serves good food, but there were alot of locals there. We ordered BBQ venison & wild boar meat together with a few other dishes. It was yummy!!

As expected, it rained quite a bit and we waited for a while before heading back to the hotel. We still want to go to the Crazy House but because it was raining and we couldn’t find it, we decided to take a cab from the Hotel. It was actually very near the hotel, but it’s on a hidden lane. The problem is there weren’t any roadsigns to this place.

Honestly speaking, we quite like the Hang Nga Crazy House as compared to the Bao Dai Palace. It actually comprises of some guestroom, tastefully decorated with different concept, e.g. Kangaroo Room, Tiger Room, Spider Room, etc. You can rent and stay here if you wish, but not me :P. I find the place a bit scary (with all the decorations in place). But I like the external designs. They are just slabs of cements put together. Pretty interesting architecture. Apparently the architect studied Architect in Russia, hence you could see some Russian influence in the design itself.

We took a walk back after the Hang Nga Crazy House visit and it was raining cats n dogs. Nevertheless, we braved the rain with our plastic raincoat and finally arrived in the hotel, partially wet. We were so exhausted, we took a nap till late evening when the rain finally stopped. I manage to take some evening shots from the hotel window since it was facing the mainroad.

We took a ride to V Cafe to have dinner. This is a highly recommended place for dinner/lunch for tourist. Mainly serving Western Food. The place was packed to the brim that we had share table with another couple. We both ordered Grandma’s Special which consist of pork chop and roast vegetables. And Faythe had corn soup with baguette.

After dinner, we took the bike and ride around town. The weather was cooling. We went around the Lake, smack right in the middle of the town and took some night shots.

27th Jul

We woke up extremely early the next day. Simply because we were worried that it’ll rain again, hence we decided to start the day early. As early as 6am (it was already bright and sunny!!). Of course Miss Faythe wasn’t too happy about our kiasu plan and she was all sour during breakfast (we had breakfast in the hotel).

After breakfast, we asked the hotel for directions to Prenn Waterfalls. Then we took a ride there with the map in hand. This round, we were lucky. We didn’t lost our way and we arrived there by 8am. The waterfalls is pretty high, probably about 30 feet drop. But it was very dirty, nobody swims there LOL. There was a bridge where you could walk and feel the water blown onto you just behind the waterfall. We took turns to walk there and took some photos as well.

We left Prenn Waterfalls about 930am and that’s when the crowd started coming. So we were very lucky in fact to be kiasu and didn’t have to *berkepit-kepit* with the crowd :P. Then we went to Dalat town and head to the Flower Park. There were really alot of flowers planted there along with some sculptures. This place is nothing special, but just a park with flowers and since the weather is so cooling, it’s very relaxing to just walk around enjoy the beautiful flowers & stone sculptures.

We left the Park about 11am and went for early lunch by the Lakeside. Can’t remember the restaurant’s name, but that restaurant is purple colour. We ordered some local dishes, taste yummy that we even decide to go back there for supper later at night LOL.

The day was still bright & sunny, so we took the opportunity to go to Dalat Train Station. This is an old abandoned train station. They still have train operating just for tourist, bringing them from the hill top to somewhere, but we didn’t take the ride. We were there just to snap some pics and let Faythe experience Choo-Choo Train. She enjoyed herself there and even made friends with a local girl at the Train Station (whom eventually became our tourguide at the Station). I seriously can’t imagine they kept a locomotive there. Pretty cool :). Daddy said it’s better than Bao Dai Palace LOL.

We left the train station around 2pm. The weather was great and we thought we should got for another sight seeing before the rain comes by. Looking at the map, we decided to head to Lake of Sighs. Well, this is just another Park which comes with a Lake. Nothing interesting here, just another stroll in the Park under the cool weather. But I like their trees though. They actually kept the forest within the Lake itself.

We went back to hotel by 3pm. All so tired, took a shower and we all nap till late evening. Surprisingly, it didn’t rain at all on that day!! We had dinner at the Hotel’s Coffee House. Dinner was yummy. We had French food which comes in small portions, just enough to fill our tummy. The only thing we didn’t like was the Raspberry Dessert. It was like eating bubbles LOL.

Since it was still early and the weather was superb, we took a walk from our hotel to Sofitel Palace. Sofitel Palace is the biggest hotel in Dalat (in terms of area, not rooms). It’s just opposite Novotel. Supposingly the most expensive hotel (cost USD200 a night apparently). We walked there and took some night shots before head back to the Hotel. Then we took the bike and ride to the Lake Side to have supper.

28th Jul

It’s the last day and our flight is at 5pm. So we took our time and woke up late. Late enough that Miss Faythe had to wake us up, instead of the other way round. She was all chirpy. We had breakfast at the hotel again. Then we pack our luggage and wanted to go do some shopping at the local market, but it was raining, so we call it off. We just went to have simple lunch. Then we ride the bike to another Waterfall. You see, this place is full of Lakes & Waterfalls. This time the waterfall is very near our hotel. Just minutes away. Known as Camly Waterfalls, I personally thinks that it’s more beautiful than Prenn Waterfalls. It cascades down a few levels instead of just a single fall.

We went back to the hotel to check out and return the motorbike key. Then we hang around the hotel to kill time before we take a walk to the shuttle drop off place.

We finally arrived back in Saigon at 7pm and we spend another 3 days there before heading home.

Basically, I’d reckon this place for a short visit, especially for those whom adores cold weather. You can fly there from Saigon/Hanoi, but it’s nearer from Saigon.

Forgot to add in the link 😛 : MORE PHOTOS HERE.

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After we went back to Saigon, we had dinner with the Malaysian community (Daddy’s gang working in Vietnam). We had Bak Kut Teh for dinner. Yum yum. And the night after, we had dinner in a Chinese Restaurant with the same gang before heading home the next day.