We spent one more day in Saigon exchanging our books, making travel plans for the next week, and running other errands. We left Saigon early on a bus to Dalat, a small mountain town in Central Vietnam known for its bohemian character and proximity to beautiful countryside. We arrived in the late afternoon, found housing and headed out into the town. This was the first place where we rarely saw Westerners. It is a tourist town no doubt, but it attracts mainly Vietnamese tourists--800,000 Vietnamese visit the town each year. We spent the next day walking around the town's sizeable lake (7K), visiting markets and sampling the locally made wine (tasted like Manischevitz at its best).
Throughout Vietnam, a lucrative business of touring from the back of a moto bike exists. There is the institution (Easy Riders) and the rest--free agents. You don't have to look hard or at all--they find you and fast. They come equipped with set tours, prices and journals full of reviews from their past customers in every language possible. After a few hours of being courted by two free agents--Hung and Mr. Bin (pronounced Bean)--we committed to a one day tour of the countryside. Little did we know what we were in for...
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