Highlands and Sand Dunes

From Saigon we headed northeast to the beach town of Mui Ne. This place is famous for its sand dunes. We hired a couple moto drivers to take us around to the many sights including the local fishing village as well as a trip to the dunes. The dunes were beautiful and we even tried sand sledding. The sledding wasn’t too thrilling compared to home town tobogganing in the snow, but it was still good fun. From Mui Ne we took an incredibly scenic yet bumpy ride to Vietnam’s central highlands. We arrived in the gorgeous lakeside town of Dalat and immediately knew we would be in no rush to leave. The city is small enough to walk everywhere yet big enough that it has everything needed. The people here are incredibly friendly and there is a distinct laid back vibe throughout the city. You could mistake this place for a picturesque village in the French Alps. We paired up with a couple drivers from a popular tour organization called the Easy Riders. These guys are more like “traditional bikers” who offer a range of short and long tours. We arranged to head outside the city on their one day “special tour”. We visited coffee plantations, we saw silk worms busy at work building their cocoons, and we also toured the silk processing factory. We stopped at a hilltribe village where we viewed their traditional methods of weaving and we picked up some intricate hand made silk goods. We made a stop at Elephant Falls which are spectacular, and then we grabbed some lunch at a nearby eatery. Our guides entertained us with an impressive spread. We tried two kinds of chicken, sweet and sour pork, dried fish, pickled bamboo, pumpkin leaf, field leaf beef rolls, spring rolls, and some fresh fruit for dessert. Lunch was great and feeling stuffed to the brim we hopped back on the bikes to see more of the countryside. Our tour ended with a stop in the city at the famous Hang Nga Crazy House. This is a guest house art installation combining Dalat’s Bohemianism and a touch of classic Asian kitsch. We felt like we were travelling through Alice’s Wonderland in this place. It was like climbing through an eerie funhouse and was certainly a one-of-a-kind experience. The following day we laid low, toured the market and picked up some different souvenirs and goods. We were more than happy to rid ourselves of the extra 16 kilos which we had been slugging around, finally shipping them home to Canada. Another good time in Dalat, we enjoyed a night out, drinking and socializing with some other backpackers. We also toured the gorgeous flower gardens as well as spent an afternoon sightseeing around the town lake. With a little resistance we had to move on (we could have stayed here for weeks) so we boarded the bus onwards to Nha Trang.