Dalat - we liked it a lot

We're a bit behind in blog posts, here's to catching up!

We spent the day a few days ago sightseeing in Dalat. We decided to bag our original plan to ride with the easy riders, a hip gaggle of young vietnamese guys who give motorcycle tours originating at the peace cafe in dalat. After running into a dozen soaked easy rider tourists, we were convinced our dae woo with air con was the right move.

Our tour guide in the dae woo was Thuy (pronounced "Twee"). He is such a nice man. Very good english, very kind heart. He was our personal driver and guide for the day. Took us to experience many sights just outside of Dalat. We went to coffee fields (always near and dear to my heart) and hiked down some slippery rocks to the bottom of a gorgeous waterfall. We got to see silk worms doing their thing (very cool) and then headed for the silkworm factory to see silk being spun on french-manufactured machines that are more than 100 years old. Tired from our morning activities, we then ate a fab vietnamese lunch (for a buck fifty per person!) overlooking picturesque forest lands.

But perhaps the coolest part of the day was a side trip we took to Thuy's house. He invited us in to meet his wife and two beautiful children, and to enjoy his lovely home. We sipped on homemade banana rice wine and enjoyed the most perfect avocados, with sugar on top, and snacked on dried cuttlefish dipped in chili sauce in between sips of wine. Beautiful:) We enjoyed Thuy so much we asked him to drive us the next day to Ho Chi Min City. The ride was uneventful...good air con, good company, and our own version of Vietnamese karaoke as we belted out Eagles' songs with our friend. A memorable experience for all.

[jg]