Dalat
The bus journey from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City was much better than we anticipated including the border crossing that we thought would be such a pain.
We met up with Hugh in HCMC for dinner and a catch up on where we had all been. Next time we catch up will be in about a week in Nha Trang. HCMC continues to be such an exhilarating city, full of excitement for New Year, masses of colourful flowers, bikes everywhere, noise and just pure Vietnamese life at its most vibrant.
The next day we flew to Dalat, a city in the mountains that we hadn’t been to before. Despite the flight being like a maternity ward, lots of families with kids on holiday for The New Year, our first reaction to Dalat was that the temperatures were so much lower. So much so that even we felt more comfortable with a thin fleece on in the evening: of course, the locals are wearing anoraks and woolly hats!!
Our first couple of nights were spent at The Mecure Hotel in relative luxury care of a deal offered by Accor Hotels. Not much to write home about except that our 4* B&B cost us $5/night!! The only real item of note was that we had breakfast one morning with lookalike Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood. We moved to our usual guesthouse level for the rest of the week, and have to say that it was superb value compared to the $65 the Mercure should have cost. For $20 the room was just as good, the view of a pagoda from our room was better and the breakfast was superb. In guesthouse style we sat at the large communal table and got to meet and chat with fellow travellers. So much better than the clinical atmosphere and isolation at the Mercure.
Our sight seeing started with the cable car to Truc Lam Pagoda. It was such a lovely day, families out all dressed up in celebration of the New Year. The views were magnificent and everyone was so friendly.
Next day we visited The Crazy House, built by Mrs Dang Viet Nga who was inspired by Gaudi: need we say more!!?
After Crazy House, we visited The Summer Palace of King Bao Dai who reigned until independence from France in 1954. Built in the 30s the pictures say it all. Note the old guy who we found sleeping in a number of locations about the Palace.
Bao Dai’s Palace
Neil, a true romantic, celebrated Valentines Day by buying Cheryl a Gucci watch that cost a cool 80k!! Wow, what a guy!! Well, actually it was 80,000 Dong which at todays rate equates to £2.73 last of the big spenders!
Wow! what a present 
It’s a Gucci watch……….isn’t it?
Wednesday we visited The Flower Park. Mmmmm, nice but not quite what we expected and it didn’t seem to use its potential. Pleasant enough and just as well it wasn’t too exciting as Neils system was a tad over excited as it was.
Next day we took a local train to visit another Pagoda which is decorated using broken crockery! Its called Linh Phuoc and it was really amazing.
Bell from above
The colours are fantastic and the view from the top was superb. Our problems started when we went back to the station to find out we had missed the train!! Oh well, we weren’t the only ones as a local family had also got the times wrong. One hour later a bus arrived and we made it back to town cramped in with at least 3 million other people. Well, not that many but it was cosy and, thankfully, no pigs or chickens.
Finally, we travelled to the ultimate in kitschiness, Vallee DAmour, Valley of Love!! Its just beautiful park with lake and covering hundreds of acres of forest and hills with great views. Add onto that the truly Vietnamese touches of romantic statues , swan shaped paddleboats, cowboys and Indians, and very unrealistic wild animals, giving unlimited photo opportunities and you have a theme park that the locals adore!
Next stop the beach at Nha Trang.
Cheryl & Neil Our Story 
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