EP.2/3 South Vietnam - A trip to South Vietnam Episode 2 "Dalat"

This trip, we are going to take you guys to South Vietnam. Our program has been set for 4 days as follows:

Day 1: Going to Ho Chi Minh City, traveling in the city and taking a sleeper bus to Dalat.

Day 2: Arriving to Dalat in the morning, renting a motorbike and traveling around Dalat, staying in Dalat for a night.

Day 3: Taking a bus to Mui Ne in the morning, buying a jeep tour to visit the White Sand Dunes, staying in Mui Ne for a night.

Day 4: Taking a bus to Ho Chi Minh City in the morning, buying some souvenirs and taking a shuttle bus to the airport.

In this Episode 2, we continue our trip by taking a sleeper bus from Ho Chi Minh City to "Dalat" and we spend around 6-7 hours sleeping in the bus…Well, let's travel to Dalat.

We are half asleep and half awake on the sleeper bus. On the way, we have to fasten our seat belts because the bus sways a lot while going through mountain area. When the bus sways, it makes us wake up and almost fall down to the floor. We don't forget to wear winter cloth because the air conditioning makes the temperature in the bus very cold, especially on the top level of the bunk beds. After spending a night in the sleeper bus, we eventually arrive to Dalat at 5.30 a.m.

Once I step out from the bus, I would say that the weather is really cold. However, the weather is really good with fresh air in the morning...We would say that we have arrived safely to "Dalat".

A sleeper bus of Phoung Trang that we have taken will finally stop at "Dalat bus station" and there is a free "shuttle bus service" to the city center. We can ask a driver to drop us anywhere in the city and he will drive us to the hotel. For us, we ask him to drop us at "Tulip Hotel" that we booked.

We get on a shuttle bus and this is the atmosphere inside the bus. Everyone seems to be sleepy. The weather is so cold in the month of March.

The geography of Dalat is covered by mountains and hills. We can see many "pine trees" growing along the road and the weather is quite "cold" here. There is such a fresh air in the morning...It's such a good weather here!

The city of "Dalat" in the morning is quite calm and the weather is really good. We are sitting in a shuttle bus and watching the view of the city while waiting for the bus to drop passengers to different hotels. We can explore the city during this time.

For anyone who likes traveling with limited budget, you can visit our Facebook page at

CHAILAIBACKPACKER : https://www.facebook.com/chailaibackpacker

---

The van takes only 15 minutes to drop all passengers to different places. I think we are the last group in the van...Now, we are arriving to "Tulip Hotel" that we booked with Vietsea Tour.

As we arrive to the hotel early in the morning, we have to drop our luggage here and we have to go out somewhere if our rooms have been occupied. Luckily, our rooms are ready, so we can do the check-in now and we can go to our rooms to take a rest and refresh ourselves by taking a shower.

This is my room. There are 2 beds for 4 persons.

The room looks new and clean. These guys can confirm that the beds are really comfortable since they don't want to go anywhere now! Ha ha.

The weather in the morning is quite cold and all the members is still lying on the bed and watching. It seams like everyone doesn't want to go anywhere!

Our room is located in the front side of the hotel, which is connected to the main street. Once we open a window, we can see this view as below...There is also cool wind blowing slowly from outside...

The opposite side of the hotel is a bakery shop. Plus, there is a local restaurant located just next to the bakery shop and we can have a meal here. It's not far from the hotel as well as there are varieties of food so we can order many things and share among us.

Let's have a look at the "bathroom" area. It looks quite clean with separate wet and dry areas. There are some soap, toothbrushes and shampoo like other hotels in Vietnam.

A shower is connected with a water heater. It's such a good time to take a warm shower in cold weather...The real happiness is here.

We walk down to the ground floor of the hotel. There are few people walking on the street in front of the hotel. Some shops are still closed.

There is a free service of " hot tea" in the hotel lobby. So, we can come down to the lobby and have a cup of hot tea in our free time.

Some hot tea with great smell.

Let's drink some hot tea during this cold weather.

We enjoy drinking many pots hot tea!...Now, it's time to go out for having breakfast at a restaurant in the opposite side of the hotel. There are many kinds of food to choose for our breakfast.

This restaurant is located just opposite side of the hotel. We only walk across the street to reach here.

We can choose our seats on the second floor, wherever we want to sit down.

There are many kinds of food to choose.

Let me drink Vietnamese coffee.

It's time to ride a motorbike to explore "Dalat". We rent a motorbike from the hotel. The price is 250 baht per day and we have to put in gasoline by ourselves. As we are a total of 10 persons, we will have to rent 5 motorbikes...Let's go..!!

The traffic in Dalat is more bustling.

Now we have to realize that we have to ride on the ride hand side, which is different from Thailand. Sometimes, we get confused while turn left or right at the intersection. It happens many times... to drive in different side...Ha ha.

First, we have to add fuel at a petrol station...We should add fuel just for being enough for our trip.

Sometimes, we get confused from riding a motorbike in a group because there are many cars in the road and it's really difficult to gather all of us in a group while riding on the road. Therefore, we have to wait for everyone to travel altogether. If we get lost, we will get lost together...Ha ha..In fact, the traffic is really difficult to drive and we have to concentrate in driving a lot.

This is the view of the lake in the city center. We often stop by and take some pictures while riding a motorbike around the lake.

There are many colorful houses built on the hill. This picture is so beautiful for me. ..I really like this view.

Today, our destination is a waterfall which is located around 8 km. outside Dalat city center and it's quite popular for tourists. Since we already have a map, we can find the way to the waterfall without being worried...

This is the atmosphere of riding a motorbike in a mountain. There are many "pine trees" in both sides of the road. We have to be careful in riding a motorbike in this area since there are many curves and slopes...

There are some minibuses coming alongside of our group while we ride on the road and the driver drives so fast. So, we have to be more careful on this !

For us, we continue riding our motorbike in a group. We don't ride so fast because we can enjoy the view along the road.

It doesn't take long to arrive here... The highlight of this place is riding a "Roller Coaster" to a "waterfall", which is our destination for today. We can walk or take a "Roller Coaster" to the waterfall. Since we don't visit here often, we have to try this once.

Let's have a look at the railway...It seems to be really fun...

We have to try this!!

For security reasons, we have to read the instruction before taking a roller coaster...

We buy a round-trip ticket for 40,000 VND per person. I recommend you guys to buy a round-trip ticket because you won't have to walk up here on the way back.

This is a "Roller Coaster", which can be ridden by 1-2 persons. It's not difficult to control since it has only a "hand brake"...Ha ha.

There are some staffs in charge of organizing queues and distance...Let's rock and roll.

We don't have to be scared since there are many girls riding the roller coaster as well...Hey girls! Please fasten your seat belts carefully.

I'm ready to start...just waiting for a queue.

She said "I'm not afraid" but she was the one who screams out loud...Ha ha.

I'm ready to go....First, I have to pass this pergola.

It's really fun to slide down from the hill.

It's so exciting to pass this curve...So wonderful indeed!!

After passing this curve, we will be arriving to the end of the railway...We will take the roller coaster on the way back at this point.

After this point, we will walk to the waterfall. There is also a cable car service for anyone who is interested to experience this.

I don't really feel amazed with Datanla waterfall. I think many waterfalls in Thailand are more beautiful than this one.

It's a small waterfall..not really big. Apart from our group, there are many Vietnamese tourists visiting the waterfall as well.

We still have time to sit down and relax in this area.

There is a shop selling some drinks in this area. If you guys are exhausted and thirsty, you can buy some drinks here...

After having enough with watching the waterfall, we return to the starting point by riding the "Roller Coaster" at the same place we get off. We will be pulled up to the starting point on the mountain and we don't need to control anything. I recommend you guys to buy a round-trip ticket because you will be exhausted if you walk back to the starting point.

The railway is quite steep. I am being pulled to the top of the mountain...

After having fun with the "Roller Coaster", we look for a place to have lunch. There are many restaurants in this area, so we can order some food and watch beautiful view around here.

This is the atmosphere in the mountain...The cool wind is blowing to my face.

There are many pine trees here.

It's such a great atmosphere in the mountain like this.

There is free Wi-Fi here, so we will be able to connect to the world.

It's late in the afternoon now. Let's continue our journey. Our next destination is "Dalat Train Station".

The traffic on the way back is much better since there are a few cars on the road. We ride a motorbike and watch beautiful view along the way. The weather is getting colder in the evening.

The temperature in the mountain is quite cold.

We are now reaching the city area and we make a pause for a while, as we want to look at a map and make sure that we are heading to the right direction. Let's go to "Dalat Train Station"

Finally... We arrive to Dalat Train Station. It's a yellow building that we can see from a far distance and it looks so beautiful indeed.

It's really calm here...We don't even see anybody walking around..

Let's "jump"... We are jumping as a group.

And...Let me jump alone.

The yellow color of the building contrasts with the clear blue sky.

Here...There are many cute things to take pictures with, such as an old engine like this.

And...Here we are..!!

There are many houses on the hill. These houses are so colorful and beautiful.

This view is so interesting..!!

Before the sun goes down, we ride a motorbike to see the view of the lake in the evening. The temperature is getting colder now...

Let's ride a motorbike around the lake in the evening...

A beautiful sunset in Dalat

Vietnamese people also relax themselves in the evening around this area.

After watching such a beautiful view and feeling the atmosphere in the evening around this area, we ride our motorbike back to the hotel.

This is the atmosphere of "the evening in Dalat".

We get back to our room, take a shower, get dress and get ready to hang out in "Dalat" tonight.

We can find a Night Market in Dalat easily since it's located close to Tulip Hotel and we can walk there conveniently. There are many things in the market such as clothes, souvenirs and food. The weather is really cold and some of us decide to buy some winter clothes to wear during this time...There are many restaurants and food stalls where we can try local food for our dinner tonight.

We walk around the market. There are some hats and scarves sold on the street. We should bargain a lot before making a decision to buy them. It seems like many people are interested in buying these hats and scarves...

This lady is selling some kinds of salad. This food stall is moveable and it's been modified from a motorbike to be a food stall...However, we didn't try any dishes from this lady.

The atmosphere is quite lively here...There are many restaurants in this area.

This restaurant sells different types of soup and Pho with various kinds of meats and entrails. There are many restaurants like this, so we can take a look around before choosing one!

We can find a lot of street vendors selling some deep-fried food. It's really good to eat hot food among cold weather like this. Also, the price is not really expensive, so we can try some of them without thinking too much...

There are many kinds of food here. Seafood menus seem to be delicious...Let's find some seats and order some of these.

After getting our seats, let's order some food quickly...Because we are so hungry!!

The price of clams and snails is around 90 baht, served with spicy sauce.

This menu from crab is around 120 baht.

This Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) is around 45 baht. The portion is quite big and the noodles are really soft and chewy. Plus, the soup is so delicious.

We order many dishes and we don't even talk to each other while eating!!!

We are having such a delicious dinner in Dalat". There are also many bars and discotheques around this area. We have to check the prices before ordering food or drinks because it can be really expensive and over the budget...Ha ha...The weather is getting colder and we decide to return to the hotel. We will have to get up early tomorrow because we are going to continue our trip to another city.

Well…It's the morning time in Dalat...Good morning everyone...We have to get up early this morning to checkout from the hotel and take a bus that we have already booked. Today, we continue our trip to "Mui Ne". It's really different feeling as we escape from cold weather in "Dalat" to hot weather in "Mui Ne's White Sand Dunes". In addition, it takes around 3-4 hours from Dalat to "Mui Ne".

For Dalat, I think it's one of the most interesting cities in Vietnam. Everything looks so calm and the weather is cool throughout the year. I'm sure I will come back here if I have a chance to visit Vietnam.

Finally, I would like to finish the review of a Trip to South Vietnam Episode 2 "Dalat" at this time. In the next review, we will travel to "Mui Ne"!!

---

CHAILAIBACKPACKER

Fanpage : https://www.facebook.com/chailaibackpacker

Instagram : CHAILAIBACKPACKER

Twitter : @chailaibackpack / goo.gl/VIBXC9