Jarrod and Sara’s Site

After a few rainy days in Central Vietnam, we arrived in the mountainside town of Dalat, known to the Vietnamese people as a popular honeymoon spot.  With the gorgeous mountains, vegetable and flower farms, and coffee plantations, it soon earned our praise too.  It felt a little like an old ski town with lots of chalet houses sloping down the hilly streets.  The people seemed really happy, smiling readily and always entertaining cute little kids.  We really enjoyed our hotel which was quite a steal at $10 a night with hot water, TV, and free breakfast.  It was a real treat to have such luxury.

Our first afternoon there we strolled along Xuan Huong Lake passing many local people taking their daily exercise walks, always in pairs.  There was a nice paved path along the perimeter with nice landscaping and people watching.  That evening we headed to the central market to check out the goods and have dinner.  Jarrod found a great vegetarian buffet where we had a plate of veggies, tofu, and rice for about a dollar each.  I never knew tofu could be cooked in so many different ways and shapes, it was all really good.  The market  had great produce and also sugared candies (kind of like sour patch kids).  The mulberry was our instant favorite.

The next day we went on a trekking tour called the Thrill Seeker.  Our group was small with only one other couple and our guide, Lum (who was great by the way if he is reading this!).  We had great weather with blue skies and just the right temperature for hiking.  It is one of my favorite hikes of the trip because of the varied terrain; we went through pine forests, coffee plantations, and vegetable farms before finishing up at a waterfall.  There was one really tough uphill part, but the reward was fantastic views of the valley below with river running through it, and also a picnic lunch.  We ate baguettes (I never imagined how many baguettes I would eat on this trip, no chance of eating low carb here) filled with cucumbers, tomatoes, soft cheese, and pork pate.  Fruit for desert completed the meal perfectly.  Somehow, things just taste better when you eat them in a picnic.

Lum explained the life of the coffee bean to us from tree to mug.  First the coffee berries and picked from the bushes when the berry is red.  The outer shell is removed and the slimy inner bean washed then dried on tarps for three days in the sun.  The bean is naturally a white color, then turns brown after roasting.  We saw some of the farmers carrying 50kg bags of coffee beans on their shoulder across this really scary wooden planked wobbly suspension  bridge while holding onto the wire handrail with only one hand.  I was afraid for my life using two hands and a little backpack, what a wus.  In town there were some wholesale coffee shops where you could buy the beans and they roast them on site for you.  The delicious smell lured us in from the street, now if they only sold coffee to drink life would be perfect.

From there, on to Saigon…

Love you and miss you, Sara and Jarrod