Vietnamese Whirl - Part 8 – A Dalat-ful Christmas

Resembling an “Alpine Village” (although thankfully not snow covered), the former French hill station of Dalat was our appropriate base for Christmas week. Although favoured by the French for its cool and crisp climate, it felt much warmer – and more importantly – drier, than Danang and Hoi An, where we’d flown from.

Arriving after nightfall, our apartment’s balcony offered an incredible view of what looked like the Eiffel Tower lit up in all its splendour.  Surely the French influence hadn’t spread that far??  On second glance, it was actually the Vietcom telecom tower but it made for a stunning vista against the night sky.

Attempting to find a place to eat that night, we made our way tentatively down the hill into the valley through a maze of tiny alleyways and got hopelessly lost!  We eventually found the restaurant we’d been looking for, only to discover that it was closed.  After locating a small café serving pasta in the most unlikely of places, we decided it was safer to get a cab back home. This town would clearly need some more familiarisation by daylight.

Waking up to a bright, sunny morning, we navigated our way through the incredibly steep and winding lanes down to the lakeside. Dalat certainly had a very different feel to most of the other places we’d stayed in Vietnam, despite the many scooters that still sped through the town. Surrounded by pine clad hillsides, much of the country’s fruit, veg and flowers were grown in this temperate area and the air certainly felt fresher.

Searching for the large “Go” supermarket we passed Lam Vieng Square with its interesting green egg (no ham) shaped building – which was supposed to resemble a giant artichoke (more on Dalat’s artichoke obsession later!).  Although it didn’t quite rival Sydney’s, Dalat’s opera house was also an architectural work of art, and looked like a giant sunflower. A huge coffee growing region, Dalat was also hosting a “coffee expo” in the square and stage was being set up along with a giant coffee cup to attract the enthusiastic delegates.

After lunch we took a taxi  around the lake to the “Flower Park” which holds a massive flower festival every other year, attracting visitors from all over the world.  Although (typically!) we were out by a year, the extensive gardens were quite impressive and again massively exceeded our expectations. The layout was incredible and the variety of floral displays put it up there with Kew Gardens in my opinion. It really was a delight to behold.

Venturing out of the city we took a cab up to the hillside activity centre of Datanla, where we prepared to be thrilled.  Sadly, Ian’s blood pressure was too high to try the zipwire, and was raised even more when a group of Malaysian ladies boarded the alpine roller coaster before us and insisted on sitting on the brakes the whole way down! I appreciated the views however, as we slowly sailed down the hill through the lush forest to a waterfall. Another coaster pulled us back up the hill before a quick loop took us back to the exit. A fun morning out…

Although Dalat is popular with ex-pats and remote workers due to its pleasant climate, they seemed to be mostly based on the other side of the lake.  We did find one or two pleasant restaurants and cafés for my “Western fix” including an Australian place with delicious homemade carrot cake! 

Also on “our side” of town was the mysterious “Crazy House” – actually a working hotel, this weird  place was designed by an enterprising Vietnamese architect, Mrs Dan Viet Nga.  The Lonely Planet’s description sums the place up perfectly: “Think of Gaudí and Tolkien dropping acid together and designing their own version of Disneyland”…

Throwing health and safety to the wind, the house seems to be based on a giant tree with its roots and branches spreading out into a series of steep staircases (lots of these!), winding paths, tunnels and different themed areas.  Guest rooms were surprisingly reasonable if you wanted to stay there, but I’m not sure how easily I would have slept with a giant kangaroo with glowing red eyes looking over me!

The construction was started in 1990 but is an on-going project although Mrs Viet Nga is now well into her 80’s.  It seems that her imagination knows no bounds as she is planning more additions to the organic structure to connect its visitors to nature in all its shapes and forms. A memorable Christmas Day outing!

On our final day I couldn’t persuade Ian to come and visit the oldest train station in Vietnam with me…can’t think why!  The French built this lovely old art deco building back in the 1930’s, and with its bright yellow façade and three pointed spires (symbolising the Lang Biang mountains) it has won numerous architectural awards.  The railroad originally connected Dalat to Phan Rang but is now only run as a tourist service to the nearby Trai Mat.  Climbing steep hillsides, it is the only railroad outside of Switzerland that uses serrated rails to assist the ascent.

As a train wasn’t due for some time, I passed on buying a ticket for the short journey, but did stick my head in a spare carriage which had been re-build in the original style, and partook of a free artichoke tea while I watched the educational video.

This versatile vegetable is grown in abundance in Dalat’s surrounding farms and is used to make medicinal tea (which is supposed to relieve symptoms of heartburn, nausea, and improves bone health!). It’s also made into soups, a type of whiskey, and sold fresh and dried in the markets here, although strangely, I didn’t notice it served in any restaurants with a garlic dip.

We loved our brief stay in this scenic mountain town, and its unexpected treasures, homely food and great climate made for an enjoyable and memorable Christmas

Next Stop:  Coast to Roast