The bus from Mui Ne to Da Lat (5hrs) was not pleasant. We were packed in like sardines and the windy road was nauseating. As soon as we got close to Da Lat though all was forgotten as the landscape is just beautiful. There are hills of strawberry farms and winelands which lead into the dense pine forest around a lake right near Da Lat. We caught a taxi to our hostel (Alan Hostel) and were immediately welcomed by a free family-style dinner. This hostel is so cheap for what you get ($12 private room with bathroom, breakfast and dinner included!). We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here as the family-style dinner really allows for you to make friends and socialise. A group of us from the hostel booked a canyoning tour ($29pp incl. lunch) for the next day.
We were collected at the hostel at 10am and drove the 15mins to the beginning of the hike into the forest. We walked for about five minutes before we were given a safety briefing and were shown how to actually abseil. We then walked a further 25mins where we slid down rocks into a big rock pool. Another 10mins walk and we reached our first waterfall to abseil down. This waterfall is 25m high and we abseiled straight through the waterfall. If this isn’t terrifying enough, about 8m from the bottom you have to jump off the rock and let go of the rope to fall into the water below! We were both pumped full of adrenaline afterwards! After that obstacle we were basically up for anything. We jumped off a 7m rock together and Chris dared to do the 11m run-and-jump. I was too scared! The last waterfall we did was called the “Washing Machine” as you abseil half way down the rockface and then hang while you are tumbled through a waterfall till you reach the water below. All in all we loved the day out and thoroughly enjoyed the company. That night we enjoyed the hostel’s dinner again and $1 cocktails before we headed to bed.
The next day we took the 1pm bus to Nha Trang (4hrs). We were expecting to be packed into a shuttle bus again, but this time we were only five people on the whole bus. It was great! We arrived in Nha Trang just before 5pm and checked into our hostel. That night we walked to the nearby beach and had a couple of beers before deciding what to have for dinner. Deciding what to eat was quite funny as many restaurants display their weird and wonderful ingredients out in front of their restaurant. After seeing frogs, snakes, eels and a skinned crocodile we decided on Indian curry! We are not that adventurous! The following day it was pouring with rain as it is the rainy season now in Vietnam. So we stayed in for a while before heading out to Thap Ba Hot Springs. We were picked up from our hostel (VND60,000pp return) and taken to the spa where you can choose if you want a communal or personal mud bath. We opted for the cheaper option and partook in the commmunal mud bath (VND150,000pp). After the rather runny 15min mud bath we had a shower and then relaxed in their hotspring bath. We then headed over to their heated swimming pool where we enjoyed some beers. The outing was weird and we wouldn’t recommend it unless you really have nothing else to do (or it is a rainy day as in our case)!
That night we decided to give the famous Nha TrangV nightlife a go. We first enjoyed some beers while getting a 45min foot massage. We then headed across the road to a corner bar where we sat on the sidewalk enjoying VND35,000 rum and pineapple buckets. We bumped into people we met at the hostel in Da Lat and I made a new New Zealander best friend! Needless to say we woke up with our heads exploding the next day. The lesson we learnt is that if the drink is cheap it has probably been made with very cheap Vietnamese alcohol! We did nothing the whole day except for popping out for some food. To make matters worse it was a gloriously sunny day, but we could not pull ourselves together to do anything!
The next day we had to check out early but our bus wasn’t until 7:30pm. So we bought tickets to Vinpearl (VND600,000pp) from our hostel and headed to the Theme Park island for the day. The ticket includes the cable car to the island, which is the longest cable car built over the sea. It also includes all the rides. We did all the slides at the waterpark before we headed over to do the rollercoasters and more thrilling rides. We also visited the aquarium and saw a 4D 15min film. We had a great day. We loved that we could do all the rides as many times as we wanted and that the only time we waited in a queue was for the cable car ride there which was only a 30min wait anyway.
That night we took the overnight bus to Hoi An (12hrs). The bus ride was comfortable enough with sleeper chairs. We are now in this beautiful, historic city enjoying some of the amazing local dishes on offer.
Chris and Ro go... 