Dalat, Vietnam

Charming and marvelous, Dalat is a little city perched inland Vietnam at about 5000 feet above sea level.  The weather here is comparable to Colorado, with its mountainous terrain and cooler nights.  The hustle and bustle around town is balanced with the vast array of colorful flowers and strawberry fields abound.  The french-colonial style reminds me a bit of Luang Prabang yet with added waterfalls, lakes, springs, and glorious mountains.  We arrived a couple of nights ago and got the chance to stay at the Dreams Hotel-an 'our pick' in the Lonely Planet boasted about for its legendary buffet.  Endless fresh fruit, omlettes made to order, laughing cow cheese, bacon, and fresh passion fruit juice kept our stomachs satisfied throughout the days activities.  We hiked the tallest peak here in Dalat which was set at about 2200 M.  Lang Bian Mountain has five volcanic peaks and takes about 2-3 hours there and back.  First we had to hike through a redwood forest type terrain with pine trees and horses roaming freely.  Instantly it turned to a jungle like hike with rocks pressed up right against your face given the steepness of the climb.  I only fell twice due to the slippery route from harsh rains the day before.  When we finally reached the top, we had a 360 view of the beautiful town and endless mountainous land that is Dalat.  People here are very charming with their soft pale faces and friendly smiles.  Every morning people are dressed for what we would think is the arctic-big down jackets, ski masks, and gloves.  Several people spend their time hanging around the huge lake in the middle of town, fishing and sitting under their umbrellas to hide from the sun.  We are having a hard time leaving this marvelous town, especially given the bus route that is to come.  On the 5 hour ride in, we packed the aisles, let out the spare tire on the side of the road to make room for more backpacks, took a rolling start to get the bus moving, and almost came to a few complete stand stills on the mountains because of the weight capacity.  It was quite the ride and I am looking forward to our next 18 hour journey toward Hoi An for which we got sleeper bunks on the bus!