ĐÀ LẠT. DAY TOUR PART 2

 17th - 18th Dec 2022

Yo Ho Ho! Merry Christmas?

So on with the tour. After lunch we set off to the north of the city and parked outside a large covered football pitch sized area growing cherry tomatoes and strawberries. This, apparently, was called the Japanese Market. We were handed plastic baskets and encouraged to forage. I got rather carried away and filled my basket up with strawberries. What I hadn't realised beforehand was that our baskets were to be taken and weighed and we had to pay for what we had collected! I had seriously overdone it and it was rather an expensive exercise. We boxed our pickings and I had far more strawberries than I could possibly eat. I later gave them to the nice girl at my hotel reception.

Then on to the Puppy Farm. My only previous experience, some years ago, of puppies in Vietnam, up in the north, was when they were served on a plate with two veg and a spicey sauce. I had no idea of what to expect here! I rather hoped we weren't expected to collect them and have them weighed as per the previous event.

As it happened, this was an experience primarily aimed at the children. They were encouraged to 'pet' them. The 'blurb' stated that these 'puppies' were a variety of different breeds (which they listed). 

I made several observations. Firstly, they were in no way 'puppies'. Secondly, they were certainly a 'variety' of breeds ie. mongrels. Thirdly, there were some very fat and bad-tempered Corgi-type creatures amongst them which I witnessed on one occasion snapping at a frightened child.

Left: This young lady seemed to be getting on OK with an overweight specimen. She was rather attractive, which is more than can be said of the dog.

I don't know how they were kennelled or looked after. There were some spartan looking cages in the background, but at least they appeared well fed. Possibly with cherry tomatoes and strawberries from the Japanese Market nearby?

Right: The next, and final, stop was at a church somewhere in town. I believe this was one of the 'stand-by' venues. It was called 'Domaine de Marie' and Richard explained the history which involved a wealthy French lady, sometime back in the 19th century, sponsoring it to be built. There was more to it, but I didn't take notes!

Left: A well constructed 'nativity' diorama outside.

Right: Inside the church. Much like any other I suppose, and well kept.

Left: Another 'crib' display inside. They are obviously keen on these.

Right: Richard, our charming, and patient, guide.

The next day, after walking to the main bus station to check on further travel timings and short of anything else to do, I decided to walk on up to and take a ride on the cable car, the terminus of which is close by. This travels over some hilly forested countryside to the Truc Lam monastery, a distance of about 2.5 kilometres. The 'cars' each seat 4 people. I shared mine on the way out with an amusing Serbian tourist. I wandered around the monastery (done previously with photos in Jan 2020), had a spot of lunch, and came back...solo in my own 'car' this time. It was very windy. I don't have a great head for heights in these contraptions and with it swinging around in the wind one's imagination begins wonder what might happen if anything snaps! I was concentrating too much on possible landing sites below.

In the 'home' terminus are a variety of restaurants and ranks of these electronic 'massage' chairs (right). Perhaps I should have tried one out, but didn't.

Left: St Nicholas Cathedral in the city centre. Again, all decked out with Christmas tree and Festive decorations. All these buildings were constructed by the French in the colonial days.

Right: In all Vietnamese cities are these ladies, always ladies, often quite elderly, who make a sparse living by clearing rubbish from the streets. They all wear the traditional Vietnamese conical hat (the 'nón lá').They collect 'recyclables' such as cardboard and plastic and manage to make some money from it. I doubt if this will catch on in UK! Our lot would all be on 'welfare'. (maybe they have 2nd more lucrative jobs at night and own  holiday homes in Gstaad, but  somehow I doubt it!).

I think that will do from Dalat. I am next off, by bus again, to the seaside city of Nha Trang...a 3.5 hour journey down the mountains to the north-east.