Dalat, A Mountain Retreat

Looking like a quaint village in the alps, Dalat is a "hill station" in the south central highlands and a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the coast. It's easy to understand why young couples flock to this peaceful mountaintop to get married or spend their honeymoons. For us, the "City of Love" with its Lake of Sighs and Love Valley was a perfect place to celebrate Valentine's Day. The air is fresh, lakes are everywhere, flowers are vibrant and abundant. The soil is a deep, rich red, and all the green, growing things seem to love it. Nurseries surrounding the area grow flowers which are shipped throughout Asia. All kinds of vegetables are grown as well, the most popular being artichokes. (Castroville, watch out!) We couldn't wait to taste artichoke tea, a local favorite, and buy some for home. Unfortunately, it turned out to be not our cup of tea. But the strawberries, another local speciality, were a delicious alternative. (Head's up, Watsonville!)

There are quite a few farmers who've done well and live in beautiful homes amongst the nurseries and fields. Even the cemeteries are spectacular. We stopped to take pictures of this extensive and vividly painted Buddhist cemetary surrounding some of the greenhouses (the white buildings on the right). It was here that Lam and we had one of our humorous exchanges of misinformation. Lam, excitedly: "Look, a water tomb!" Sylvia, puzzled: "A water tomb?!" Lam: "No, no. WHAT a tomb!" Oh.

If this photo looks a bit crazy, that's because it is. The Crazy House is a Dalat attraction built by a woman architect whose creativity manages to make the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose seem ordinary. Filled with twisting staircases, mirrors on the ceilings, rooms featuring a bear, an eagle, tiger and even ants, it looks as if it were decorated by Dr. Seuss. Rooms can be rented, but it might be a problem finding the bathroom at night (or even during the day).

For many of us the home-hosted dinner in Dalat was a highlight of our trip. Six of us went to the home of Quyen Di, her parents, Tuan and Lien, and her cousin, Tony. Quyen (pronounced "Winn") presented the women with long-stemmed red roses for Valentine's Day. Tuan and Lien are retired from the restaurant business but get income from the billiards tables in front of their house where students from the nearby university can relax and have fun for a small price. They prepared a delicious meal with a show-stopping dessert - banana, pineapple and strawberry flambé which they cooked in front of us. Tony, a nineteen-year-old university student in Saigon, amazed us with his facility for English - with a British accent, no less! He listens to the BBC. He in turn was amazed by Elaine's resemblance to Princess Diana.

While we were waiting for the taxi to pick us up after dinner, Quyen asked if anyone would like a ride on her motorbike. Jerry leaped at the chance, put on a helmet and zoomed off with Quyen before his spouse could stop him. He said that Quyen was a very good driver, and someone in our group said, "Yes, but what about OTHER drivers?"




The next morning we took a cable car ride over the pine forest to a hilltop monastery where we basked in the peaceful surroundings with hundreds of Vietnamese tourists.

The beautiful views, lush gardens and monks in their orange robes generated a tranquility that was almost medicinal. We could have stayed there all afternoon.
















These young women posing in the midst of the gardens are two reasons why Dalat is called, along with its other appellations, "Eternal Spring City."


The rooms where monks pray, live and eat were open to flower-scented breezes as well as the cameras of curious tourists. Lovely to be a monk in such surroundings.

























In the afternoon we were taken to the University of Dalat where we had an appointment with Professor Phan The Hung, PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and International Studies, who spent an hour with us, discussing education and answering our questions. (A sampling: there are 26,000 students at the university, both full and part-time; tuition is $250 per year, a low figure, it seems, until we learn that average income is $2,000 per year. Most parents can't afford to send children to college.) Then we each were paired with a student who gave us a tour of the campus, asking and answering questions. Limh, on the left, and Van Thi Than, on the right, were anxious to speak English with native speakers and impressed us with their knowledge. This is something OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) does so well --- connecting us with people in every walk of life. These are always our richest experiences.

In the evening we visited one of the thirty hill villages near Dalat, this one home of the K'ho people. They've kept traditions alive, sharing through dances their stories of harvesting rice, village life and marriage customs. Here and throughout Viet Nam, it is a matriarchal society with women conducting the business of the household (keeping track of the money---just like in America, right?) Seriously, in this village - and probably many - the man's family is offered a dowry of one, two or more water buffalos. After the marriage, the man lives with his wife's family. (Our host claimed he was worth six buffalos - followed by much laughter. Who knows?)