In Da Lat

After a four hour bus ride we are in Da Lat, in the highlands of Vietnam, at an elevation of 4,928 feet. We went from sea level to here in one short ride. It is considerably cooler here and seems to rain every afternoon.

It is so much nicer here. This is the honeymoon capitol of Vietnam. So there is a lot of young love here. This is a city of excellent French food and architecture. Most new hotels are in the French Colonial chalet style with a high peaked roof lines and are painted off white, cream, or yellow.

The French colors for their colonies was yellow and green, and the new mansions being built by wealthy Vietnamese can be painted any color even bright green. Our first trip to Da Lot was in 2008 and the town has grown a lot since. It is no longer a sleepy little village, but a busy city. There are hotels everywhere for honeymooners and tourists. Everyone seems to want a look at this quaint place. Yesterday we had coffee with rum at a restaurant on the shores of the lake in the center of town and we watched both young lovers and kids paddling in swan paddle boats.

We visited The Crazy House which is Da Lot's number one tourist attraction. I took a photo of the architect who is continuing to add on to the house and has now added more gift shops.

We are staying at the River Palace Hotel. This hotel is excellent and has a good breakfast and is in the center of town. We can walk in any direction and from our window we can see the Da Lat Easy Rider Headquarters. That is a motorcycle club with members all over Southeast Asia. We have seen some club rides as we travel. In Penang we saw a Muslim Harley Davidson riding club arriving at the hotel we were staying. All the women were seated behind their husbands and when the women took their helmets off, they were wearing Haley Davidson handkerchiefs as headscarves to cover their hair in proper Muslim fashion. The food here is also wonderful. After we arrived we ate our fist meal at the Art Cafe and I had fish in clay pot brown sauce served with brown almost red rice, which was an excellent combination. We now have eaten twice at the Long Hoa, Restaurant de Famille. Yesterday had barbecued beef wrapped in lot leaf, which is a pepper leaf. Today I had strips of chicken breasts served over lightly sautéed sweet onions instead of rice. I must do this at home. After lunch Jim bought a pomelo, which is thought to be the ancestor to the grapefruit but much larger and sweeter. He tried to cut it open and failed so I took it to the hotel kitchen and the chief chef took a cleaver out and cut the fruit into the shape of a square, and then shaped it into a ball. She then began peeling the sections. I then took it back to the room to eat. The chef said our pomelo was young and next time we should pick a fruit that is shiny green and then would have a thinner skin. I must talk about the Da Lot wine. We drink the Da Lat red wine that is made from cardinal grapes and mulberries. We are even buying dried mulberries in the market to eat as our snack. We like this city.