Dalat, 9/20-9/21

Early on Saturday, September 20th, we said our goodbyes to HCMC, and headed north. The first stop was Dalat, which is a resort town developed by the French during the colonial period. It has a distinct alps flavor about it, and at 1475 m, the temperature is much cooler than Saigon. Dalat was virtually untouched during both conflicts, except by the soldiers and officials who came there for some R&R.

We stayed at the Tran Huong Hotel, shown here with the students waiting outside for a walking tour. This narrow, tube type construction in Vietnam is common, as taxes are based on the street front footage, not the height or total floor area.

Our walking tour took us first to the central market, which is much like others we have seen, but not as overwhelmingly big.

As always there were lots of hawkers. This young fellow is trying to sell Pam some water color prints. Note the coat he has on. It was probably 75 degrees out, but many of the locals had fairly heavy coats on.

To the right is a group of shoppers outside the market, and below, Molly has made a new acquaintance.

You can get almost anything you want on the streets in Vietnam, literally from soup to nuts. The lady below is selling grilled skewers. They smelled really good as we walked by.

We continued our walk to the lake, where Viet explained the origins and history of the town.

The weather had looked fine when we left the hotel. so we didn't bring rain jackets with us. As Viet was talking, ominous clouds rolled in, so we headed back, but didn't make it before the rain started falling. We took refuge in a bus stop enclosure for a few minutes until the rain let up, then traveled as fast as we could back to the hotel. We arrived a little damp, but more knowledgeable about Dalat.

The next morning we visited Bau Dai's summer palace. He was the last Emperor of Vietnam, but was a puppet of the French, and a playboy. He abdicated his throne at the end of WWII, when Ho Chi Minh declared independence. Most of the Emperors are revered by the Vietnamese people, but not Bau Dai.

Viet is explaining that most of the walls in the palace are yellow, because that is the royal color.

Here Michael and Julia pose be a cut glass map of Vietnam.

Below is our whole group out on the veranda.

Next we headed for the Truc Lan Buddhist monastery. It is almost new, and a very beautiful spot.

The gardens and grounds were very peaceful, so we enjoyed just walking around. The following few pictures show some good shots of the students. Tom managed to sneak into three of them.

Before going to lunch, Viet showed us coffee growing, and discussed the whole process. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee.

Below he is explaining about "weasel" coffee.








We had lunch at the farmhouse of Mr. Qui. He is supplementing his farm income by hosting tour groups for meals.

Viet is explaining about the alter in the house honoring the ancestors. Many Vietnamese believe that the spirits of their ancestors life on in the house, so they pray to them and leave them food on the altar. That is one of the reasons the relocation campaigns in both conflicts were disastrous.


To the right is one of the tables, with Mr. Qui in the background. The food was delicious.

On the way out of Dalat we passed more farms. Here covered beds back right up to new houses. Many of the fields are covered to keep insects and birds away from the produce. Dalat produces much of the fruits and vegetables consumed in Ho Chi Minh City.

On the way to Nha Trang we took a new road that winds through beautiful country, and some of the remaining mature forests. This area was too remote to have any strategic value in the conflicts.

We stopped to take a picture of a water fall cascading down a bare rock slope.