July 20th, 2018
Vietnam.
Hmmmmm! Not all Asian countries are created equal. I’m trying hard to go with the flow! Da Lat is busier than I expected. And colder…..
The honking just never stops! The view from our room is spectacular. I wish we had a balcony, but I will make do with opening the windows and pulling my chair over by it.
We got up and had breakfast and decided to head out to explore the area. It was kind of spotty rain (despite the weather app saying ‘cloudy’) but we decided to persevere and it promptly started to pour. So we ducked into a coffee shop and ordered up some white coffee (me) and white tea (Troy). No idea why the ‘white’ other than it uses sweetened condensed milk? My coffee was about the size of a shot glass worth of liquid but the caffeine of at least 2 typical xl coffees (maybe more?) that’s Vietnamese coffee for ya!
We headed out to walk around the lake that the city is built around. There seems to be a discrepancy online whether the loop around the lake is 5km or 7 km. Weather not withstanding it was a really nice walk and we enjoyed just walking, looking at flowers, and chatting.
They have ‘horse drawn carriages’ similar to NYC I suppose. But while some of the horses looked healthy and strong, others looked tired, thin and sad. I’m not sure what to make of this as I’ve never seen horses here before! It seems sad but maybe it’s not too bad? I guess they will take you around the lake. I did not see a single one being hired. So maybe the horses don’t have to work too hard. At least it’s not hot here 🤣🤣
We felt we had earned some food after the 2 hour walk so we stopped at a local restaurant. Not much English to say the least. About the first half of the menu had translated menu items. The rest-nope. Richie knew some words though and recommended an egg/rice dish that ended up being really good! Saving the photo so I can order again! Com trung chien thit, 50,000 dong ($2.10 usd)
