Around the World with Kristin and Alex: Bicycling Dalat

March 16

On our last morning in Dalat we rented some bicycles, and since we were going to use them for only 1/2 a day the lady gave us a deal of 20,000 VD per bike -- so $1 USD per bike! We set out on a bike ride around the city. We first headed to the Cable Cars, but in order to get there we had to bike up some pretty steep hills, which made us feel majorly out of shape after not really having an exercise routine for the past 2 1/2 months. However, it helped that the weather was much cooler in Dalat and that it was early in the morning. If we were out of the Highlands in more humid conditions we might have passed out. ;-) The views from the cable car were great and it only cost $3 USD for a return ride for each of us. While we were over on the other side we had a drink to refresh ourselves after our hill climb on the bikes. The skies were pretty clear as well so we could see pretty far.

The way down from the cable car was much easier and we zoomed down the hills quickly back into the middle of Dalat City. We then went to the Dalat Railroad Station, which is the oldest station in Vietnam, where we looked at and climbed aboard on one of the old steam locomotives that they had on display. Unfortunately, we had missed one of the train departures that went through the surrounding areas to a nearby temple, but maybe for next time.

We rode around the outskirts for a while longer and then stopped for our last Dalat coffee while we were in the region. It was one of the local cafes -- one of hundreds that seemed to be in Dalat and the surrounding areas -- and our two iced coffees only cost 14,000 VD (about 60 cents). We needed to be back at the bus station for our bus to Ho Chi Minh at 12:30 so we headed back to return the bikes. On the way to the bus station we were loyal to our sandwich lady we had found the previous day and got a couple of sandwiches to go -- they were about as good as Subway!

The rest of the day was pretty much spent on a bus. However, it was probably the smoothest and best bus travel we have done on the trip. Instead of taking the Open Bus Tours, that many of the tourists take, we paid only 110,000 VD each (a little less than $6) for the Mailinh Bus that seems to be a popular long distance express bus for the Vietnamese. It was a long trip - about 7+ hours - but amazingly it went pretty quickly. The bus was nicely air-conditioned and the seats were comfortable; it even dropped us off within 5 minutes walking distance from the backpacker district where we needed to find a hostel! Within 15 minutes of getting off the bus we were already in our hostel room for night -- a trip record! :-) However, true to form there were a couple of locals that got motion sick during the course of the bus trip. For some reason, Vietnamese people seem to be prone to motion sickness; and for some reason we've had this happen more on our second tour of Vietnam than the first tour. On almost every long trip transportation we've taken someone has gotten sick. On the day we arrived in Dalat, there were two people within the 10 people of business class that got sick and then on the bus ride into Dalat we had to drop off a family on the side of the road because one of them was not feeling well.

We finished up the day by going to the Internet Cafe and then getting some food at Lotteria -- like an Asian version of KFC. They do have KFC here, but amazingly no McDonalds...yet. Vietnam and Laos are the only countries we visited that do not have McDonalds yet. We didn't even see a KFC in Laos.

March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patty's Day! Most of this morning we spent researching accommodation and travel information for Japan. It ended up taking a little longer than we expected, until about 1:00 p.m. (and we had started at 8:30) so we decided to change our plans and just stay in Ho Chi Minh for another night and then head to the Mekong tomorrow since most of the day with sunlight was already gone for today. Our original plan was to go to the Ben Thanh Market on Saturday when we returned from our Mekong trip, but instead decided to go this afternoon since we would not be going to the Mekong and then we could stay longer in the Mekong on Saturday.

After a lunch of Indian Dahl and Naan bread, we headed to the market fully nurished and ready to bargain. The Ben Thanh market is about 1 block x 1 block of hundreds of vendors selling knock-off clothing items, souvenirs, food, hats, and even tailored suits. Alex wanted to get a few polo shirts because the ones he had gotten in China had lasted him for a few years and were a good bargain. Overall, we were pretty pleased with our merchandise -- we went in with only a camera bag and came out with a backpack full of bags and about 2-3 other bags that we were not able to fit in the backpack! Here are a few of the items we got...

3 Men's Adidas Polo Shirts - 380,000 VD (about $6-7 per shirt)
5 Men's Lacoste Polo Shirts - 500,000 VD (about $5 per shirt)
1 Pair of Mean's Diesel Jeans - 200,000 VD (about $10)
1 Women's Adidas Sleeveless Shirt & 1 T-shirt - 140,000 VD (about $3.50 per shirt)
4 Pairs of Socks - 40,000 VD ($.50 per pair)
2 Embroidered Wall Hangings - 280,000 VD (about $7.50 each)
2 Egg Shell Lacquer Items - 220,000 VD (about $11 total)

We won't have to do much shopping when we get home now -- especially since Alex basically got a new wardrobe.

After the market we took it easy and then went to dinner at a restaurant that served Hue specialities (since we did not visit here). Kristin had a fried egg pancake with pork, shrimp and vegetables on top and Alex had some Dry Noodles with Beef that we thought tasted similar to the Hoi An specialty of Cau Lau. As we were walking to dinner, we found an Irish pub that had its green lights glowing and St. Patty's Days specials of 60,000 VD (about $3) for a Guiness beer, which is a rare find in Asia in the first place. However, because the Guiness was a bit more expensive than the normal Vietnamese beer we decided to head out -- we've become cheap beer consumers...

Tomorrow morning we search for a motorbike to head to the Mekong for our final 3 days in Vietnam.

Haircut Alex got from the local barber shop for about $2.50 USD.