Dalat

Dalat is a town in the chilly highlands of Vietnam. It is quite different from most places-lot of the architecture is french inspired-and you also have quite a lot of modernistic and creative buildings in town. It is a relaxed place with good food. It is a good place to try the Dalat wine (passable but not excellent-and certainly overpriced considering the quality). It is a good place to organize a trip into interesting surroundings and a place for adventure in the form of canyoning. And you have a good selection of interesting pagodas in the area. All in all-a good place to spend a few days.

I have a few blogposts related to this post:

 http://theglobalexplorers.blogspot.com/2014/11/canyoning-outside-dalat.html
http://theglobalexplorers.blogspot.com/2014/11/linh-phuoc-pagoda.html
http://theglobalexplorers.blogspot.com/2014/11/around-dalat.html

The entrance of the Du Sinh church at the outskirt of town. At first eyeglimpse it looks more like a temple.

Not a village-but a graveyard near the Du sinh church.

Not in Dalat itself, but in a village some 8 kilometers from downtown is this somewhat Disneyland like pagoda. The new Linh Phuoc pagoda is totally covered in pieces of broken pottery. Giving it a striking visual impression making it somewhat difficult to remember this is actually a sacred place.

Garden decoration

Modernistic church in Dalat.

Yummy streetfood-in a while.

Downtown-with the Eiffeltower inspired radiomast in the background.

The well groomed Dalat.

The roundabout beside the central market. This is the place to go for food in the evenings. You have street vendors selling small simple things as well as outdoor restaurants under a tent roof selling more upmarket, excellent food at fair prices. And even better: on Sunday evenings after 7pm, the whole area is blocked for motorized vehicles. And the ban is actually even enforced!

Pottery cooked fish in fishsauce. total 90000 dong including the rice and a beer. Delicious.

The Crazy House in Dalat. It is the brainchild of Dang viet Nga, a lady with a PhD in architecture. The construction begun back in 1990 and will go on as long as she have money and inspiration. It really is a crazy house-with strange rooms, corridors and staircases. Windows as well as doors have their own peculiar shapes. It is a fun place to explore-and it is possible to stay there as well.

A courtyard.

Streetfood one Sunday evening at the staircase leading down to the market roundabout.

The area has an European climate-chilly compared to much of Vietnam. As a result there is lot of agriculture here-growing chilly climate vegetables and flowers. The farming starts already in the suburbs of Dalat.

The Linh Son pagoda in central Dalat.

The Linh Quang pagoda, also in central Dalat. There are many churches and many pagodas in town.

Outside the Linh Quang pagoda are all the animals representing the forces in Buddhism, This is the dragon-symbolizing strenght.

Recycling. This woman walk around collecting plastic bottles. They will then be recycled-and she gets a small amount of money for her work.

Canyoning outside Dalat.

The second of two natural waterslides. There was a "soft" track in the rock leading down into a pool. This one we went leg first. The other one was head first-somewhat "lovely scary".

Dalat in highland Vietnam is a good place for cycling, motorbiking-or for canyoning. Having never tried the latter before, that was what I went for. It became a day with lot of fun-abseiling, jumping, natural waterslides. Drifting with the stream and unavoidable walking in the river and across it. Luckily it is a warm winter in these parts, because this was no dry experience.

We were a group of ten from all over the world. Most staying at the same hostel. None had much idea about how to do-so we started with some dry practicing according to instructions from some very good and enthusiastic young guides. Before walking down to a wall beside a waterfall for the first of four abseiling during the day. And the only one in dry conditions-even though we landed softly in a strong current pool.

At the top of a waterfall. Mission-getting down in controlled forms-not falling. I was VERY carefull: the rock was slippery. The current strong. And further down we got the river right in our faces.

Sorry to say: The rope is 5 meters short. You gotta let go-or climb up again!

A group photo. Behind is the jump. One can jump from a shelf 7 meters above the surface-or run and jump from 11 meters into the deep pool. 7 meters was enough for me.

A great lunch on the riverside. One thing is certain-this game is appetite inducing!

The last abseiling-into the so called washing machine.

Called the washing machine because here you sink right into a strong current which twists and beats you. At the bottom where you let go of the rope, you will be pressed under water into a trench, and then spitted out in a pool. Cool! 

Linh Phuoc Pagoda

Outside the highland town of Dalat, Vietnam, there is quite a special pagoda, completed only a few years ago. The Linh Phuoc pagoda isn't your average pagoda. The whole surface of praying halls, stairways and facades is covered with pieces of broken pottery. The visual result is one of colours and patterns-making it somewhat difficult to remember this is a holy place and not some sort of a Disney land creation.

Some woodwork at the entrance.