Da Lat

From there we went to Bao Dai’s summer palace. I’ve lost count of how many summer palaces I have been to, and of them all this will not stick long in the memory.

It is a nondescript concrete building in the 1960’s British seaside resort style. I expected to find Basil Fawlty in the foyer and I was only half surprised that there was not a room filled with ancient board games that never get played. Everything about this place brought to mind an old Jersey hotel. The corridors, the furnishings and the lighting. Even the colour scheme – the beige and peach of times gone past.

However the grounds were very nice, and despite my lack of whelm it was obviously popular with the locals as I saw two pre-wedding shoots taking place. 

In keeping with the time warp, we then caught an old diesel train and took a short but enjoyable ride into the countryside to Trai Mat village. The main feature of the village is a surreal set of Pagodas and temples know as the Bottle Temple.

The buildings are covered in the remains of thousands of glass bottles and are pretty cool sight. In the courtyard of the temple there is a giant dragon again decorated using bottles. 

There is also a very, very lifelike statue of one of the former Buddhist Monks that resided at the temple. It is so lifelike, that at first I genuinely thought that it was a praying monk.

Actually, now I bring it to mind again it was bloody creepy.

From the temples we drove to the Da Lat Flower Park. A place that our guide had been gushing about, and left me (not for the first time) wondering what on earth I am still doing here.

For a botanical garden there is a heck of a lot of paving going on. In fact, I’d say over half the area is paved. The flowers are the very definition of the word ‘common’ even to my own uneducated eyes.

The highlight of the visit was a set of goofy looking topiaries, styled to look like animals from the zodiac. They are hilariously bad, mainly because they have insisted on decorating them with cut out teeth and eyes that just make them look like a child has been given a go at making them.

Then on to lunch, which I was disappointed to see was in a total tourist restaurant. You know the food your going to get before you even sit down, and on that front I was not disappointed. What I couldn’t understand was that my fellow diners were gushing with praise over how good the food was. It wasn’t in the slightest. It was the Asian equivalent of chicken in a basket at your local football clubs fundraising night. It doesn’t mean that it was bad, but it wasn’t worthy of adjectives like ‘stunning’. 

After lunch we did something that is far more my kind of thing. It was cable car time. After a rash of these at the start of my adventure, they seem to have stopped over the last couple of months. So I was delighted to get back into a cage and hang over a ravine once more.

The cable car here is a good one, and I recommend it. On one side you can see out for miles to the mountains and surrounding regions. One the other you get a superb view of De Lat. To to it off once you ascend over the peak, you get a wonderful vista of the lake, with the reflecting off of it. 

This brought us to the Buddhist monastery and my encounter with the Chinese tour group.

It is another beautiful monastery, and the setting that it is in is incredible. However, after visiting so many recently I find it hard to think of anything that was unique about it over than its beautiful location.

All the temples I have visited have been amazing. Any taken in isolation would be well worth your time. But to write about, and enthuse about them is becoming more difficult because they do tend to follow the same style guide, yet deserve more than a cursory – ‘and went to another temple’.

That was my last stop, before I left here for food.

After I walked through the market, I walked for alongside the lake. Again, Da Lat is a very pretty place and I enjoyed my walk.

I ate at the the Blue Water Restaurant, which ended up being my most expensive meal in ages at an incredible £5.98 using todays rates. The food was great, but I mainly paid for the view as the restaurant was right alongside the lake.

It was quite amusing to be eating in my normal t-shirt and shorts and to be surrounded by people wearing big thick winter clothing. As we are up in the mountains, it is much cooler. It was to the point where I was thinking that I perhaps should have brought a jumper, or at least chucked my shirt over my t-shirt.

It’s still 18℃!

In springtime at home, this is when we would be rejoicing and throwing off our coats; walking into the office after lunch and telling each other how hot it is outside.

Tomorrow we drive to Nha Trang. I hope it is as pleasant as Da Lat.