From Muine to Dalat....

Wow, 2 blog posts in one day...I'm on a roll. Kate and I are currently waiting for a tour bus, it will still be about 45 minutes, so I figured I would continue the tales of our adventure. Note - The Bus we are waiting for is going to Vientiane (Laos) from Hanoi (Vietnam) and takes 30 hours Vietnam time. I am a little concerned, but hey...it builds character.

Anyway, as mentioned before, we stayed only a couple of nights in Muine which between our arrival and departure times meant we had one full solid day in Muine. Some great views of fishing boats and the sea here....

We caught our 'sleeper bus' in the morning only to be informed that this particular leg of the journey was not a sleeper bus at all, it was an oversized van ready to be packed far beyond it's recommended (and safe) limit. I was grimacing a little bit until the people in the seat behind me (the furthest back seat) we're asked to make room for one more vietnamese girl...on their lap! Seriously, there was no more room, and the bus driver made them put this poor little girl on their lap (she wasn't even that little, probably a teenager). Anyway, after witnessing this hardship for the travelers behind us I decided I would save my complaints for this blog. We actually talked to them a little bit and ended up spending some time with them in Dalat sharing a $4 two-six of Vodka. prepairing for our long hike the next day.

In Dalat we arrived midday and were dropped at a hotel where we enjoyed our most spacious room yet for $10USD/night. This room was amazing, you could have fit an entire family into it, there was 1 twin bed and 2 double beds....all for just Katie and I!!! The price even included breakfast. After relaxing and some small foot tours the first day of our arrival we got ready for a long hike up one of the mountains near Dalat. The name escapes me right now, but it was 2169M above sea level. It was a decent little hike. We rented scooters and joined up with a couple from Holland for the journey to the top, taking us about 4.5 hours there and back. The last kilometer was serious hiking with all of us keeping at least 3 points of body contact on solid ground at all times. The feeling of accomplishment and breathtaking views from the top definitely made up for the difficult and tense climb going up. We were very fortunate on this day because soon after we were out of the difficult part of the descent down, it started raining. Shortly after it started raining a torrential tropical downpour began. It was probably the most intense rain I have ever seen and definitely the worst rain I have ever hiked in. A river had literally formed following the traveled way back down the road and everything was soaked. If i had shampoo and soap I could have had a full on shower. It was warm though and we were on our way down, so our spirits never faltered (at least mine didn't...). Upon arrival at the bottom we had to ride our scooter back with soaked clothes and the rain pelting into my cold wet skin like drops of hail.....only somewhat enjoyable....still better than a mountain bike as some of our co-travelers had opted to use for transportation that day.

My hands were completely numb by the time we reached our hotel and we spent the rest of that day in long clothes eating hot soup, hot coffee and baked treats from a local bakery. We cuddled up and watched a couple of 90's movies that night - All of the hotels in Vietnam have HBO and Star Movies channels and they show the same set of 90's movies over and over, but this was early enough in the trip that we hadn't seen all of them yet. ;)

The next day we opted for a motorbike again. Motorbikes, or Scooters as we call them are a great way to get around the smaller cities, especially if you already have some experience form back home. You can really see the country side, you save money on tours, and you have nobody's schedule but your own. If i ever do this trip again, I will bring a much smaller backpack so that I can motorbike all the way from Saigon to Hanoi (or vice versa).....

Anyway, the next day in Dalat we toured around on the bike and visited waterfalls, lakes, temples and monuments in and out of the city limits. I even had the chance to feed a domestic elephant some oranges I had bought the day before. It was really neat to see such a gigantic creature acting so calm and well behaved. We didn't ride it this day, but we are hoping we can maybe ride one in Laos as it used to be known as the land of 1000 elephants./...my bus is here, I have to go, sorry for the abrupt ending...