Hello Dalat

We left on our tour of the Dalat countryside around 9 am, Oded on the back of Mr. Bin's bike and me on the back of Hung's. We made many stops throughout the day including a pagoda on the way out of town--it was amazing and kind of like a circus--full of color and oversized elephants and buddhas and lotuses--really beautiful.

We worked our way further into the countryside through winding roads, open skies and cool weather. Our next stop was to look at some local farming--strawberries and lettuce. The terraces stretched across the countyside and seeing it up close helped define what we saw from afar. We also saw a flower farm, chili plants, passion fruit, mushrooms, the process of making rice wine and silk. We also climbed down into an amazing waterfall before we made our way back to Dalat to stop at a guest house dubbed Crazy House.

Imagine walking into Alice in Wonderland in Vietnam--a toursit attraction and a place to stay all in one--rooms are carved out of trees, bridges cross miniature streams, spiral staircases climb to the sky. Each room is decorated with a bed, a small table, chairs all made from an amazing wood and decorated in color and imagination. Each room is themed--the kangaroo room complete with lifesize kangaroo with glowing red eyes; the Honeymoon Room of course has a mirror on the ceiling; and one room is devoted to Alice and her companions.

After one day with Hung and Mr. Bin, we were hooked. The combination of safe driving and a crazy sense of humor motivated us to sign up for another day on the back of their bikes. This time we were decided to go for a trek through the mountains outside of Dalat.

Before we headed into the mountains, we stopped at a beautiful meditation temple to start the day off--the place itself was really lovely and peaceful. Rows of trees, little temples and places to sit made meditating seem a natural practice. The entire place was set on a lake and across from a range of mountains. I really loved this place because all the pine trees made it smell exactly like Chase Pond in New Hampshire--nothing smells better than Chase Pond.

We left, parked the bikes at a little road side stand and walked about 20 minutes on the main road until we reached an entrance to a mountain. The trek up was steep and the hiking was hard but the views were beyond worth it--the lake and the rest of the mountain range stretched out below us and the whole scene made the sweating, mud, slipping, and bugs all fall away. We reached the top in under an hour and were not looking forward to climbing down the slippery path we had followed up. No fears--Hung had another plan for us.

Little did we know, we had graduated from anonymous tourists to a new status--one in which an hour trek through the jungle was not off limits. The trek up was slippery but had followed a clearly cut path. The route down was not clearly cut--indeed it was the opposite. Hung told us we would be trekking down in the jungle--I thought this was a friendly term for some bamboo trees and banana leafs. Nope. We plunged into an hour of darkness, unknown terrain and two laughing guides. This was the closest I will ever get to starring in Lost.

We were literally in a jungle--climbing through fallen bamboo trees, using our hands and feet and whatever else we could, and fighting off bugs at every turn. The climb down was by far more steep than the way up, more treacherous and almost entirely without sun. A constant stream of expletives came from me or Oded the entire hour down which only lead to more laughing from our guides. I found not one but two leeches attached to my right ankle. No worries--Hung broke off half his cigarette and pressed the tobacco into my bleeding leg. Awesome. Perhaps not the remedy I would have opted for but it worked all the same and the bleeding ceased.

We came away from the trek covered in scratches, bites, bruises and I still have two rashes. All in all, it was again totally worth it. The views and and adventure are really why I am here... but I would be happy never to find another leech on my body.

To see photos of Dalat, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/abbey.greenberg/Dalat##