Long Post from Da Lat - no pictures

Originally titled: Brief Post from Da Lat. I know, who was I kidding? Me? Brief? The two don't compute.

The day started out great. Our driver came to pick us up in a silver Mercedes Benz van that would have easily fit another family in it. The side of the van said “Special” and we felt it. The scenery on the way up was gorgeous – once we got out of the city it became plush and green and Doug commented that this is how he had always thought Vietnam would look like. Da Lat is in the Central and Western Highlands region of Vietnam. The road we travelled on was narrow – one lane on each side (not that anyone bothers with lanes here anyway), the road windy (as in snake-like, not hair blowing), and the ride BuMpY. It reminded me a little of driving through the Rockies with big drop-offs right beside the road. Except the mountains aren’t rocky, they’re plush and green. The kids were great – Luke cat napped and Norah had a small nap (so did Audrey – we had to insist as she can get so grumpy without her siesta).

Our first rest stop was interesting. It was quite a nice place, but you had to take your shoes off before going in. And there were many pairs of identical white flip flops that you put on to go into the bathroom, which didn’t have an outside door – the overall bathroom, I mean – the stalls had doors. There were two men whose job was to point people to take off their shoes and put on the flip flops (this stop is frequented mostly by foreigners, so it seemed). Then, once you were in, one of the men would turn your shoes around so that when you came out of the bathroom you could slide them right on. What service! This made for a very clean bathroom. Also unusual was that there was one roll of toilet paper that was at the top of a wall when you walked into the bathroom. Not the most intuitive spot to me, but once you know, you don’t forget.

The area is known for tea and coffee plantations. We passed many and stopped in a tea and coffee shop that had beautiful grounds, including a shrub trimmed to look like a giant tea pot. The whole drive took about 7.5 hours as we stopped several times. Our driver pointed out several things to us and stopped a few times so we could take pictures. It felt so good to be out of the noisy, crowded city.

When we reached our hotel, the idyllic picture changed a little. Maybe the storm clouds and torrential rain that led us into Da Lat should have been our warning. We pulled up to a motel and our rooms were on the ground floor. We’re talking right behind the front desk, which is right in the motel restaurant. Like if I spoke loudly right now while typing in my single bed the people could probably hear me. And I wouldn’t have to yell. Well, at least it was convenient for getting our bags in. The rooms seem to be the only two on the main floor, but they’re not beside one another. Each one is on either side of the front desk. We knew we’d have two rooms. We didn’t know the beds would be single beds, two per room. Now here’s the best part. When I asked at the front desk if they had a “baby cot” (what they call cribs here) they said, “No. If you want one of those stay in a 4 or 5 star hotel – they have them there.” Alrighty then. Clearly this place isn’t looking to win any service awards! And there’s another best part – the water isn’t working here. So, no running water. It was supposed to be back on at 10:00 PM (please let this mean that it would be FIXED at 10:00, not that it’s always off until 10:00 – that’s not even possible, is it?) but it’s 11:00 PM now and still no water. Oh, and one last thing about the rooms – the bathroom is one big shower! There’s a spout up on the wall and a tile floor and a drain on the floor, but no curtain, no divider between the shower and the toilet. Once big free-for-all shower. Too bad we may not get to try it out. I’m curious how the toilet paper says dry.

On to sleeping arrangements: After briefly entertaining the idea of bunking with Auntie Aud, Norah decided that wasn’t going to work. So Audrey and I are with Luke in one room, Doug and Norah in the other. It made the most sense since Audrey, Luke, and I all go to bed later than Doug anyway! When actually going to bed, Norah begged me to sleep in her room. Now, after the Hand that Rocks the Cradle post (no comments on this BTW, did it creep people out? Audrey, Doug, and I have a shared strange – we think, good – sense of humor, so we were amused by it), there was no way I was going to report that Audrey, Doug, and Luke stayed in one room with Norah and I in the other! And sleeping with Norah in a singe bed is not an option. It’s not an option in a queen bed, she’s so restless. We fashioned a bed for Luke between the two single beds putting down the cushions that were on the chairs in both rooms and lodging them down by tucking the pillows that were on the beds under the beds. So far, so good. He’s sleeping right beside me, and Audrey beside him in the other bed. MacGyver would be proud of us!

We did manage to find a tasty restaurant for dinner and met a couple originally from Manitoba who has lived in Vietnam for years, which was cool. We bribed Norah to eat supper with the promise of ice cream and then couldn’t find anywhere that sold it. We hypothesized that it’s because it’s much cooler here than in HCMC. It’s about 20 degrees Celsius but people say it’s cold here. All the kids are wearing puffy winter coats and hats. All except mine, that is. My daughter wore a fancy dress to ride in the van all day. Upon arriving, she decided that she wanted to wear her pajamas, which are pants with a matching top. So we marched her all around Da Lat and ate in the first restaurant in weeks that had four walls while she was in PJs. And Luke, Sweatmeister that he is, still managed to be sweaty despite wearing short sleeves and shorts. It much have been the socks we put on him. We got chastised by the front desk people, who told us that he was cold. I said, “Oh, he’s not cold” (and I would know, having had him strapped to me for most of evening) and let them feel his arms. No argument from them – at least not in English anyway.

The plan is to tour Da Lat tomorrow and play it by ear with the hotel. If the water doesn’t come on, we’ll try to find alternate arrangements for tomorrow night. Did I mention that we already paid for the whole trip? In retrospect, booking with a company that caters to backpackers probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do! Clearly the money we spent went mostly to the van. At least we ride in style! And hey, free Internet. No water, but online access. Interesting trade-off.