We stepped off the night bus from Hoi An feeling pretty groggy as usual, but after a quick pit stop at the hostel and some recommendations from our hosts, we were powering through with a full day of activities.
We walked into town armed with our map, heading first to Da Lat railway, only 7km of which is still used, to catch the old steam train that takes tourists to Linh Phuoc Pagoda. The train ride is a charming little adventure in itself and we loved sitting on the deck on the back of the train, watching the tracks run away from us.
The pagoda itself is very different to others we’ve seen, a quirky building covered in colourful mosaic, with a dragon made from recycled beer bottles and a Buddha made entirely of flowers.
Waterfalls and Rollercoasters
We had been excited to visit Datanla falls ever since we’d heard about it from Annie’s friend who had visited. The main draw is the unorthodox method of transport required to get there – a mini jungle rollercoaster! You’re strapped into a toboggan with a lever to control your speed down the track. We had so much fun hurtling through the trees – definitely one of our highlights from Da Lat.
Once you reach the bottom of the course you can get out to see/be soaked by the falls. We love a good waterfall, but could safely say the rollercoaster was the star of the show here.
On the way back up we didn’t enjoy the ride quite so much – starting from the bottom of a very steep, very high track, you are cranked up by one, not very healthy sounding cable. Thorpe Park this was not.
Countryside Capers
Da Lat is famous for its agricultural produce, most notably its flowers and wine. Our hostel offered a countryside tour of Da Lat’s rural farmland and we thought it would be the perfect way to get to know the local way of life. Once again we had a fabulous tour guide who gave us all sorts of fun facts about the workings of the countryside.
Firstly we were taken to a huge flower farm, the source of a huge percentage of all of Vietnam’s flowers, sent to cities all over the country from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh.
Then it was onto a coffee plantation where we witnessed one of the first of many unethical practices involving animals that day. The plantation makes weasel coffee, a luxury product whereby the beans gain flavour by passing through the stomach of a weasel. This practice in itself doesn’t pose too many problems, as the weasel poo was originally collected from the forest, leading to the high value of the beans. Now, however, the weasels are kept individually in small cages with a wire mesh floor, living out their days as coffee eating machines.
Safe to say after seeing the weasels we weren’t too enamoured by the idea of a coffee, but instead enjoyed the picturesque views over the plantation.
The next stop was a tour of a rice wine factory, of course involving several shots of the stuff (before the alcohol proof has been reduced) pre-11am. For some reason the factory also featured a strange little zoo of exotic creatures in concrete enclosures far too small for them. We were told this was set up due to tourist demand – I’m not sure where this came from but seeing crocodiles, ostriches and guinea pigs in little pens did not add anything to the experience.
The tour continued in this vein with a visit to a silk factory. I knew that silk worms were used in the production of silk, but unfortunately I was unaware that this process involved boiling them alive in their cocoons. We were each allowed to take away a cocoon, and Annie & Alpa tried to help theirs to make a break for freedom.
Whilst I felt uncomfortable during a few parts of the tour, it was fascinating to see how all these products are made and to observe traditional farming and manufacturing methods that have been used in Vietnam for centuries. It’s a reminder of where our animal products come from, and it can be quite brutal seeing it up close.
Elephant Waterfall
We stopped for a lovely lakeside buffet lunch before the afternoon’s more animal-friendly portion of the tour, starting with elephant waterfall, the biggest falls in Da Lat and so named because they look like the hide of an elephant from afar.
As is often the case in Asia, there is no health and safety, and the path down to the falls is just a ‘climb down the slippery rocks and hope you don’t fall’ kind of deal. At the bottom of the falls we bumped into Chloe, a girl we met on the train the day before, and as we were taking a group selfie, disaster struck. Chloe dropped her entire handbag into the gushing water, passport and all. It was a moment of panic but thankfully it hit a counter-current and a man nearby was able to grab it. She then proceeded to take out all her valuables and try to dry them on the rocks, our nerves couldn’t take it.
Crazy House
Our final stop of the day was architectural wonder, tourist attraction and functioning guesthouse, the ‘Crazy House’. Designed by Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga, the Crazy House draws a lot of inspiration from nature and looks like a cross between a fairytale and a bizarre treehouse. The attention to detail is incredible and every inch of the place is formed from weird and wacky shapes. Around every corner is an otherworldly surprise, and we had a great time exploring, wishing we were staying in one of the rooms.
A Night on the Da Lat Wine
On our last night we went for drinks with our new Canadian friends from the hostel. These wine lovers were seriously feeling the lack of it in Southeast Asia and couldn’t resist the chance to sample the local offering. We spent the evening on a rooftop bar and spent many hours playing a competitive dice game with the barman.
We crammed a lot into our two days in Da Lat and really enjoyed our whistle stop tour of this little mountain town. We could have easily spent a little longer exploring, but Mui Ne was calling and it was time to press on.
Chloe x
Pint-Sized Adventurers 