April 16. Mui Ne to Da Lat. 155km.
From Mui Ne we had to ride along the coast a little then head straight up north, up hill to Da Lat. Da Lat is located 1,500m above sea level, so the climb from Mui Ne was significant!
The roads were really nice for the most part. From what I understand there was once a strong demand for resorts to be built along the Vietnamese coast and the roads were improved as a result, but the tourists never really came so the roads and resorts are largely untouched.
There were however some patches that weren't so nice. Potholes covering half of the road some six inches deep; definitely makes you well aware of where you are riding. The bumpy roads took their toll on my luggage rack - a few of the bungee straps snapping making my bag bounce around on the back of the bike!
My poor little 97cc engine took a bit of a hammering climbing the hills, having to regularly drop back to second or third to keep ascending at any speed. 90kg plus a 15kg bag, it's really not surprising it struggled!
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I spent a total of four nights in Dalat. It is a very nice city with a good backpacker atmosphere. A good mix of tourists and locals with bustling night markets and plenty of options for food.
The hostel did either home-cooked food for dinner or took people out to a local restaurant each night.
On my third night I had the delicious home-cooked meal which included spring rolls, crispy fried pork, rice and a couple different vegetable dishes - great stuff.
My last night we were taken to a local barbecue restaurant and had food ordered for us by the hostel owner. He ordered beers, vegetables, ostrich and crocodile meat to cook. The crocodile tasted like a slightly fishy chicken while the ostrich tasted a lot like beef. Both very tasty!
Most nights we're spent hanging out with other backpackers in the hostel basement, which had a pool table and a hifi system.
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I was also somewhat productive during my time in Dalat. I spent a solid day prepping and painting my bike!
I'm really glad that I did this. It gave it my own personal touch and I hope it might help the resale value. I was going for the utilitarian look and I think I pulled it off nicely.
Following this Aaron, Ellie and I cruised over to the Crazy House. From wikipedia; Described as a “fairy tale house”, the building’s overall design resembles a giant tree, incorporating sculptured design elements representing natural forms such as animals, mushrooms, spider webs and caves. Its architecture, comprising complex, organic, non-rectilinear shapes, has been described as expressionist.
The place itself is actually a fully-functioning guesthouse that you are able to stay at, but is a very popular tourist destination to check out, so I cant really imagine wanting to stay with the number of people walking through!
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The highlight of my time in Dalat was the canyoning tour.
Canyoning is essentially traversing a water-filled canyon by whatever means necessary - abseiling, rock sliding, river crossings and trekking.
After suiting up in a lifejacket we set off down the mountain and had a quick run down of how abseiling works - and I mean quick.
From here we descended further and had our first rock slide. This involved laying flat on your back and letting the current take you along over a bunch of rocks downstream.
Next up was the dry wall abseil. This involved walking down a couple meters to descend, followed by a few jumping descents to make the bottom. The guides said that two jumps is what men for aim for, and three for girls. I managed to do one giant leap and end up at the bottom.
From here, we made our way to the big waterfall - the main attraction. We were instructed to take our shoes off because socks provide more grip - I would have hated to have seen what grip was like in shoes because socks were slippery as hell!
You should be able to tell from the photo above ... it's pretty big.
You start your descent through the relatively gentle slope before coming to the half way point, posing for a photo, and continuing an almost vertical descent. I saw a few people slip up and almost face-plant the rock-face so was rather intimidated to begin with. Luckily I managed to keep my footing and slowly descend.
The final point at the bottom you are told to simply push off the rock and let your hands free, and fall flat on your back the four metres to the water below.
More trekking followed by a cliff jump into the water below, a tiny 7m. After doing the ~15m in Thailand a couple months earlier this was nothing to me!
From here we made our way to the final abseil - the washing machine. Aptly named because you traverse down the cliff only a few metres, before hanging in mid air for a couple metres and then ending up inside a violent waterfall that throws you head over heels down the river.
The day was ended with lunch - do it yourself banh mi rolls - and the final trek up the mountain. What an incredible yet exhausting day!
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