Dalat, Vietnam

It has been a long 48 hours. Yesterday at 6 pm we boarded a bus in Hoi An bound for Nha Trang, where we would transfer to another bus to Dalat. We'd have loved to see Nha Trang but we are really running out of time! We have to be in Saigon on the 9th for our flight (still not sure why we booked our tickets so early, but its a good lesson). 12 hours later we reached Dalat. Throughout the night, we were treated with excessive honking, loud conversations among the drivers, the air conditioning being turned off for a while, and a nice stop around 1 am to fix....something. I awoke to loud noises like an air pump or generator and pounding and grinding. I looked outside to see an autoshop and guys down below doing something to our bus. Still not sure what happened, but this Australian guy stepped out after about 20 minutes of this and tried to find out what was happening and get them to turn on the air conditioning at least since this bus's windows could not be opened and we were all dripping sweat by then. A couple minutes later, everyone was back on the bus and we were moving. I am so often confused here, but I am mostly used to not really knowing what is going on. It also seemed that we took a few detours down very bumpy dirt roads. I'm not sure whether that was the road or the driver's short cut.

We arrived in Nha Trang at about 6:30 am and the bus dropped those people staying in Nha Trang at a hostel, along with Kylie and I's bags. As we pulled away, we saw them and Kylie ran up to tell the driver, frantically motioning and telling him to stop. He does not stop and says it will be okay and pulls off around the corner. We continue trying to get an explanation or get him to go back, when we arrive at the traveler bus station. We all get off and of course our bags aren't there to be unloaded. SO they give us directions on how to walk back to the hostel and get our bags. Kindly, they call the hostel to tell them to hold on to them for us. After our amazing nights sleep, this is awesome. So we go get our bags and leave them with other luggage at the bus area and asked 2 girls at the desk if we had time to go grab some coffee and baguettes before our bus to Dalat came. They said yes, just be back by 7:30 and you'll be fine. So we went and came back at about 7:25 and sat down with the group of people who were also waiting. About an hour goes by, and a few other people are asking when the bus will finally arrive, so it seems like we've all got the same idea. So the bus finally arrives at 8:50 and we go to get on and they look at our ticket and tell us this is the bus to Saigon and we missed our bus. We are VERY frustrated by this and are sent to the booking desk where they proceed to tell us how we should have checked in with them and we should have been on our bus and that now we have to wait for the next bus tomorrow night. We tried to explain what had happened, but they were not wanting to deal with us, so we got directions to the bus station and caught a couple motorbike taxis there, where we were promptly loaded onto a van which already had about 20 people on it. Then, they crammed some more people in. It was a large van, like the kind schools have for sports teams or field trips, but they squeezed about 30 people in and there was no air-conditioning. We departed on 5 hour trip and met Tom, who speaks English. We had a nice time talking with him as he asked us all sorts of questions about california, such as how much bigger the buses are and the roads are in california. He did not believe that they were about the same size. He was also surprised that California has mountains. We met another woman on the bus who is Vietnamese but lives in Florida and was visiting friends and family. The trip got better as we gained elevation and the weather cooled off. We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant where Tom bought some kind of fruit and shared it with us, we ate some pho bo, or vietnamese beef noodle soup, and chatted with some people. Soon after lunch, we drove past another restaurant where all the tour busses were stopped for lunch, and I thought to myself that this van ride was my favorite experience in Vietnam so far, and also one of our only experience off the Vietnam tour track. We had really gotten lazy about going the easy route and had really not been enjoying ourselves. So actually, missing our bus to Dalat had been a blessing in disguise.

As we climbed through the mountains to Dalat, speeding around corners, everyone laughing and pointing out the best views to us, I was reminded of why I love traveling. Its not about seeing the monuments and taking beautiful pictures, its about meeting real people and making real connections. You need to get away from the guesthouses and standard tours to do that.

Tonight we checked out the central Market in Dalat and were thrilled and surprised to find strawberries, artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower and persimmons. We had not seen any of these in markets in this part of the world yet, but the wonderful cool climate up here allows it. Walking around, it feels a little like San Francisco. Its a very hilly little city, with bright colored vertical buildings squeezed together and cool overcast weather.

Tomorrow morning, we will go exploring the area around Dalat with "Easy Riders". They are guides who will take you on a personalized tour on motorbike. They have a great reputation for being very knowledgeable and taking you places not a lot of people go. I am very much hoping that it is great and not like the tours I have grown to dread. We met a couple students from Dalat University tonight who work with a program through the Foreign Languages departments to do similar local motorbike travel or tours. We talked to them for a while and they said they do drives from Dalat to Saigon, with an overnight in Bai Loc. We had been planning on taking a bus, but I am much more interested in the motorbike at this point. I think it would be a much greater adventure and I could experience Vietnam in a way I will totally miss with bus travel. My only concerns are of course, safety, rain, and carrying all my baggage. Right now we're planning on seeing how the motorbike trip goes to tomorrow and then we will contact the students if we are interested in going to Saigon with them, and we will discuss the details.

Alright, I am off to bed! I hope you are enjoying all these long posts! We have been taking some early nights in, so we can get up early, which means I have some time to update.

Only 10 more nights in southeast Asia, and then Chico!!!

Much love,
Katie