After graduating, a few of us (Andy, Brayden and myself) decided to take a little trip off to somewhere cool in Vietnam. We were waiting to hear back from a school about interviews, and were not able to move into our house until Friday Aug 5th and this was the perfect time to travel a bit. SO we walked up to one of the hundreds of tour offices available in our area and looked at the large map of places to go and things to do in Vietnam. Our original plan was to go up to Nha Trang, but due to a large storm hitting us at the time, it looked like going to the beach was not in our best interests. Not as far north on the map was a picture of waterfalls and trees, this place was called Da Lat.....WHY NOT?
We booked a one way bus leaving the next morning at 715 am, a hotel for a few nights and a country tour for the next day. I was really interested in an elephant tour and we were about to purchase this for day 2 but noticed the fine print at the bottom saying Tour Does NOT include Elephant Ride... well sorry but no thanks...I want to not only ride an elephant but bathe it and feed it. Ill wait til we go to Thailand.
Aug 1st 2011 Da Lat here we come! The bus was actually comfortable and the 7 hour ride was not so bad with the beautiful scenery to look at. Da Lat is called the "City of eternal spring" and a popular destination for Vietnamese tourists and couples going on their honeymoon. It is located 4,900ft above sea level on the Langbiang Plateau. The temperature was a very nice change to the hot we were use to, and at night I even needed a sweatshirt! During the 1890's french explorers wanted to create a resort center in the highlands. There were golf courses, parks, boarding schools, and homes but no industry in Da Lat. During the Vietnam war Da lat was held by the south. French villas, boulevards and swiss influence are still there today. Strawberry jam, artichoke tea, hydrangea's and wine are all produced here and are kind of special to the area. Something else kind of special, almost no one here speaks English. ESPECIALLY not our receptionists at our hotel. Oh man...........
This video highlights our first tour of the country! Enjoy :)
Song: Open Rhythms by bodies of water
I am currently working on video 2 sooo keep checking for updates :)
LOVE, Lauren
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