Our next stop after Buon Ma Thuot was Da Lat. I have been to Da Lat before, and I have to say it is still one of my favorite places, especially in the summer. Da Lat is the capital city of Lam Dong Province, located in the Southern Central Highlands of Vietnam. Da Lat reminds me of Fort Collins (Colorado, U.S) in many ways. First of all, the city is on the mountain, and surrounded by hills and pines and flowers and waterfalls. The weather is cool in the summer and gets pretty cold in the winter. We sometimes refer to Da Lat as the city with four seasons in one day, because it can literally switch from beautiful sunshine to raining cats and dogs in 5 minutes (kind like Fort Collins). I guess this is one of the reason why I like Da Lat a lot, ’cause I have been missing Fort Collins too much lately.
1. Stay
We stayed in Thong Do Hotel (2 stars). It was ok, and seems suitable for backpackers and anyone who want to avoid the struggles of body language, since there’s grammatically correct English everywhere (and yes, their pronunciation is correct, too), so I am guessing staffs there do know English. I forgot to take a photo of the room, but it was pretty basic with almost everything you can think of in a cheap hotel room, except for air conditioning for obvious reason (it’s Da Lat, it’s cool). We had a 2-bed room for four people at 500,000 VND ($25)/night. They also have motorbike for rent, and there’s a yard in front of the hotel with flowers and white swings and white coffee table. The hotel was also very close to Da Lat Central Market, Ho Xuan Huong Lake, and Da Lat walking street.
The best part of the hotel, I think, is that it’s next to a coffee house and a music lounge. I spent a lazy, rainy afternoon there, drinking Saigonese hot coffee with condensed milk – bạc xỉu (in case you’re wondering, it’s like normal Vietnamese coffee but with a lot of condensed milk), and reading my book. I am not a huge fan of sweet coffee or condensed milk, but there’s something about Da Lat rain and the weather that makes this drink taste exceptionally good.
Drinking bac xiu and reading my book
The hotel is also next to a music lounge, where there’s live music from 8pm-10:30pm every night. It is ran by the lead singer – My Hanh, and the audience can request any song they want, or come up to the stage and sing. The fee is included in drinks’ price, and if you don’t buy anything it costs 80,000 VND ($4) for the night. My Hanh is a pretty darn good singer, I and my family absolutely enjoyed it.
Address: Thong Do Hotel – 10 Pasteur Street
2. Visit
Da Lat Su Quan – XQ ( Traditional Hand Embroidery Art)
This is one of the most fascinating places I found in Da Lat. XQ is where Vietnamese embroidery art was developed and improved to become popular to not only Vietnamese but also foreigners. They have thousands of embroidery designs, all hand-made, and there are some that cost hundred millions VND. I was fascinated by the way color is mixed and designed so that the picture becomes so lively. However, taking photo was not allowed, so I would just direct you to the website of Da Lat XQ, and you can take a look at those by yourself.
Da Lat Su Quan – XQ official website.
Thung Lung Tinh Yeu – The Love Valley.
Right next to XQ is the Love Valley. Its name possibly comes from the beautiful of the valley, with lots of flowers, hills and lake. It is a good place to wander around and taking photo, but there’re not a lot of activities to do there per say.
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Hang Nga Crazy House
Probably the most famous place in Da Lat, the “crazy house” is definitely a tourist attraction, with English tour guide and English signs. The house is built by Hang Nga, the daughter of Truong Chinh – Ho Chi Minh’s successor and the second president of Vietnam. The house is designed to look like a big tree, and each room is connected to the other by the “branches” – super slim bridges that go all the way up to the top of the house, where you can take a whole view of Da Lat. Rooms are named after animals, so there are Bear Grand Room, Ant Room, and more. It is a maze where you can easily get lost, and it’s a part of the fun. The house is built as a reminder of the importance of nature and trees to our lives. Only one thing, it is definitely not safe for small kids.
Address: 3D Huynh Thuc Khang
Ticket price: 40,000 VND ($2)
More information about the house
Tips:
– The rainy and cool weather of Da Lat gives a lovely boost to grilled stuffs. And in Vietnam, grilled food is the best at street vendors. So sit down on those little stools on the pavement and try grilled corn, sweet potatoes, hot soy milk, or some Banh Trang Nuong.
– Da Lat Central Market has a lot of handmade wool stuffs: from clothes, scraves, to cute woolen hat and more, with decent price.
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