Day 6 - The Road to Da Lat

After the goodbyes with the children, we all went back to the hotel to pack up and make our way to Da Lat, only 100 km away but we knew it would take us about 5 hours.

On the way out of town we stopped for a brief visit to a Hindu temple. Here's a snippet from their brochure: "Crowning a hilltop above the Song Cai River the four surviving Cham towers of Po Nagar, the Lady of the City, command views of orange-blossomed flamboyant trees, massed fishing fleets, scattered islets and huddled squatter villages of rusting iron. The towers, built some time between the 7th and 12th centuries, are still a place of worship. Nha Trang was first settled by the Cham people and only in the 17th century did the Kinh, the people the world knows as Vietnamese, impose their rule."

We then headed to another Nha Trang specialty - hot mud baths. The Thap Ba Hot Spring Center was a treat for many of us. Some chose to enjoy a mud bath in hot mud the consistency of melted chocolate, others opted for the 1 hour long massage and mineral bath. The mud and nearby pools and showers were hot - around 30-38'C, that's almost 90'F! Definitely great for the skin after you soak, then bake then rinse, and then take a dip in to the hot mineral pools and get a massage from sitting under the watefalls. The ones that had an hour long massage couldn't stop raving about these little women who made their tired bones "snap, crackle and pop". Definitely, something for the scrapbook!

We had a wonderful seafood luncheon right across the street from another beach and then promptly took our Dramamine for our trip to Da Lat. The road is bumpy and narrows, the last hour is spent going straight up 5000+ ft. that looks like it shouldn't have a big tour bus on it. It is full of sharp curves and blind corners. We used the horn a lot and looked out instead of looking down. Once we finaly reach the top the view is breathtaking! Da Lat does not look like the rest of Vietnam, it is not as hot and not humid at all (there were people wearing winter jackets!). It is full of huge trees and the valleys are filled with coffee and tea plants as well as rice fields. But there are stil many cows and water buffaloes on are on the road!

When we made it in to Da Lat (also know as Little Paris - the most romantic city in Vietnam) we checked in at the Novotel - wow! A french colonial building right across from the post office that has the "Eiffel Tower" as their landmark! We go to Da Loi school tomorrow morning for a full day of work!

Enjoy all the pictures until then!
Peace,
Caroline