Dalat, Vietnam

These are two orchids I saw today at the famous Dalat Flower Display.

Wandering in the market I came across this tasty looking salad bar. Where is the oil and vinegar?

I took the first leg of my long bus trip to the north of Vietnam yesterday traveling from Saigon to Dalat. What I had expected to be a 5 hour ride turned into almost 8, but I had two seats to myself so it wasn't bad. Also I am reading an excellent book by Pat Conroy, one of his earlier ones- The Great Santini , and that helped pass the time. The roads in this part of Vietnam are excellent, however going is slow because the entire way of about 200 miles we were almost always in some settled area. It seems there is hardly any open highway in Vietnam. I had forgotten that from my previous trip. Of course the motorbikes are everywhere and every driver seems to be alerting every other driver with a beep beep of his horn.

Dalat is antithetical to HCMC. The streets are not clogged, and the mood is much easier going. This is where the Vietnamese have traditionally come for honeymoons and also for the refreshing coolness. This is tea, coffee and grape growing country, and the tea and coffee are delicious but the wine is not good. One would think that the French would at least have left a good wine making legacy. I think I will stick to beer here in Vietnam. Very few people including those in my tourist hotel speak English.

Since the weather here is very rainy and is supposed to stay that way I will leave tomorrow for Nha Trang on the coast. I remember Nha Trang for an excellent beach and great breakfasts from my last trip. I am hoping that I can still find the same breakfast spot, but the beach should be easy to spot.