Delightful Dalat!

Okay, so it has been way too long since we’ve updated our blog! The last week has been incredibly busy for us….and we’ve seen some amazing sites. Hopefully we’ll be able to catch you up in the next couple days. Our last stay in Vietnam was an unplanned visit to a central mountain town called Dalat. Originally, we hadn’t planned on visiting this city (it’s not a widely-known tourist destination outside of the Vietnam citizens). But, while travelling in Laos, we might a fellow tourist who told us that Dalat was his favorite city in Vietnam. Remembering this, we decided at the last-minute to ditch our plans to see Sapa (another overnight trip from Hanoi) and instead catch the next flight to Dalat. And were we glad we did – Dalat was delightful!

Dalat is a mountain town of 188,000 people, popular among the Vietnamese as a weekend and holiday destination. Known for it’s cooler climate, as it’s a welcome reprieve for the locals to get away from the humidity and heat. This was evident when we arrived to see all the locals were wearing pants, long sleeves and coats. For Kevin and me, the climate was perfect – warm enough for tank tops and shorts, yet cool enough that we didn’t overheat as we did in other Vietnam cities.

The city itself isn’t that much different from other Vietnam cities we’d visited – motorbike traffic is still the preferred transportation method, although perhaps slightly less congested than other major cities. But it wasn’t the downtown city that made us fall in love with Dalat. It was the gems we found once you ventured past the urban walls into the countryside: lush green valleys, hills (mountains by Vietnam standards) and all the activities and sports that any outdoor enthusiast could want. We had four nights in Dalat and we didn’t waste any time filling them up and getting ourselves outside the city to where the real beauty lied.

We had discovered in our research on Dalat that canyoning was offered there. After our introduction to canyoning in New Zealand (and based on how much we enjoyed it) we knew we would have to try it here in Dalat. And Dalat didn’t fail – it was so much fun! We weren’t sure how it would stack up to New Zealand’s -- but we found ourselves discussing afterwards which country had the better canyoning. In the end we couldn’t decide – they both were so much fun. One thing is for sure – Dalat offered the most challenging and tallest waterfalls that we rapelled. The largest being 82 feet and the water pressure unreal. We were literally rapelling down the waterfalls with the water crashing over us – it took everything we had in concentration, well-timed breaths (when we found an opportunity to grab a much-needed breath) and all our strength to fight the waterfall and make it down to the bottom. To say the least – it was exhilarating!

Dalat is also well-known for its mountain biking. We decided to spend one of our days on a guided mountain bike tour. This turned out to be the most physically demanding activity we have completed so far on our trip. We ended up in a private group with just the two of us and two guides – Ming and Kahn. They were great, but I don’t think Kevin and I realized what we were getting ourselves into when we signed up for the “easy” tour. The ride was a full day that started with some city riding (which was a bit nerve-racking initially – remember the crazy motorbike traffic we’ve been telling you about? Well now imagine riding a bicycle in that traffic – and trying to cross intersections with no traffic lights. Scary!). Luckily, the city riding was minimal and very quickly we were riding through lazy country roads. The scenery was beautiful – mostly farmlands. However, this riding didn’t last long before we went off-road and into their single track mountain-riding. I’ve never rode through a more beautiful area, but there was nothing lazy about this style of riding. It was insanely difficult and challenging – we were true mountain bikers! (And whoever called this the “easy” ride had to be out of their minds!) At any rate, Kevin and I were exhausted by time we stopped for a much needed lunch break. After lunch we still had a couple hours of riding before we returned back to Dalat for the end. What a ride – I don’t think we’ve ever slept as well as we did that night.

Finally, on our last full day in Dalat we decided to take a break and hire a couple “Easy Riders” for a motor-bike tour of the area. The Easy Riders are a group of 60 or so motorbike guides who offer tours of Dalat and the surrounding countryside to tourists. Our guides took us outside of the city and into the country. We got to visit some minority villages, meeting some of these locals, seeing where they live and visiting their schools. But the best part had to be riding on the back of the motorbike and seeing the beautiful mountains (and a gorgeous waterfall) of Dalat. It was great fun.

After three quick days it was time for us to leave Dalat. Like the rest of Vietnam, we easily fell in love with this town. There was something very different about Dalat – it didn’t look like any other city in Vietnam – while mountain biking we felt like we could have been in central Orgeon; the farms and valleys could have been a scene from Europe. Yet there were the many similarities that made this country most certainly Vietnam – the motorbikes, the food, and the great people. Each new city that we visit in Vietnam reinforces for me how much I love this country. As our time in Vietnam comes to an end, I know that I’ll miss it. And yet, I know that Kevin and I will be back someday. This is a country in Asia that I definitely want to return.

You can see all of our Dalat picks here: Click Here

More soon (I promise!) on our remaining days in Southeast Asia.

Cheers!