Thankfully I woke up in time for the bus. I checked out of the hotel, leaving my rather chewed umbrella with the two gorgeous puppies. On the bright side, it loses a bit of weight in my rucksack!
The Open Bus arrived; snoopy curtains included! It was very comfortable; a/c, plenty of space, free water! It took absolutely ages to get out of the city, it felt like we were travelling extremely slowly, which we probably were! We passed an opticians named 'Joy'; previously I'd seen a bottle of water with the same name too which was quite cool!
A while into the journey we passed a very posh pagoda, with chinese-dragons snaking up the steps towards the entrance. There was also a model of two giant tusks, with lots of small elephants around them with trunks and tusks up into the air.
There was a Red Bull production plant, and shortly after, a lush green forest. There were many lychee trees and durian trees too, and of course further down the road they were being sold.
The bus had a loose window, unfortunatly it happened to be the one beside me! It rattled like anything and was incredibly noisey! Thankfully it didn't fall out!
The driver missed the junction where it was supposed to let two passengers out, but instead of turning around, or getting them to walk the 1km or so, he reversed back!! He was pretty good at reversing, but it seemed a little silly at the time!! Then further on, he did the exact same! I was a bit worried he was going to eventually miss Da Lat, but thankfully that was where we were to terminate!
It was noticably cooler outside, as we were up into the hills and mountains which were looking beautiful.
There were enormous rounded rocks around; as big as a UK house. I have no idea how they got there; people had used them as part of their wall, building their house right up next to it!
We passed through Chin Chi and various other towns. They seem to be mostly nucleated towns, built just straight along the main road. There were a few fast flowing rivers, and being sold on the side were weaved baskets, made from local bamboo.
We were travelling along a very narrow road on the edge of a tall hill, made even narrower by the roadworks going on. Unfortunatly we seemed not have priority when meeting oncoming traffic, so as not just one, but about 40 very slow moving buses, trucks and goodness knows what else, passed us, we were perched on the side, hoping our bus wouldn't topple down the cliff. Of course, we were fine, but it was nerve wracking all the same!
We stopped shortly after 1pm for 3/4 of an hour for lunch, which I found strange, as we were supposed to be arriving at Da Lat at 2! Little had I known that we were still 4 hours driving away from the place! Thankfully I enjoyed a delicious lunch of noodles and veg!
The ground is very red here, and there are lots of houses, which look truly peaceful; they are made up of branches and plastic tarpaulin. I'd quite happily live in one; even if they do look like they'd collapse as soon as you stepped on them, and would definetly not survive any kind of natural disaster!
Crawling along the winding road, eventually we reached some better roads, but despite the lack of traffic, we seemed to be going even slower than on the trecherous roads! We let people off in various villages, which seemed to be never ending! Every time I looked up, we were in the same village; so much for 'only one more village to go'!
We finally arrived in Da Lat; full of bright lights and internet cafes! I was eyeing up accomodation, but handily we stopped outside one hotel which had lots of random people begging us to stay there.
Eventually I succomed, and at $8 a night I agreed to stay. I'd planned on staying there for a couple of nights at the very least, and 3 at most. Da Lat was a lot cooler than anywhere I'd been previously and I thought it would be a nice break.
The man who'd showed me the very plush room, happened to be an 'Easy Rider' - a group of motorbike riders who you can hire for a day, or a series of days, and travel to wherever you want to go, or part of a planned tour. I'd been tempted to do one, but hadn't really known where I would find an Easy Rider.
I met the man, named Hue (pronounced Hugh), up in the reception area, where we discussed possible things to do. I'd told him I'd planned to go to Hoi An and then work my way up to Hanoi. He said he could offer my a 5 day trip up to Hoi An, including accomodation and entrance fees, and all the driving/tour guiding from him etc, for quite a reasonable price. It was slightly excessive from my original budget, but as long as I eat nothing when I'm in Cambodia and have a few nights on the streets I'll be fine! (kidding!)
He asked if I was hungry, and obviously having not eaten since lunch, I was. I had to jump onto the motorbike as you would a horse; which has never been a strong point of mine; and nearly ended up toppling the bike! Whoops! Eventually, I managed it, and we set off. I was a bit nervous at first; I say a little bit; I was clawing onto the sides for dear life!! He was a lot faster than the 'motos' I'd been on in Ho Chi Minh City, although this motorcycle was much more comfortable, and looked less likely to fall apart! I was smiling like a loony, and my breathing was a bit funny as I was extremely excited about the following 5 days! We arrived at a very quiet restaurant, that seemed rather posh; especially as I was waved at for trying to open my own can of juice!! I enjoyed a delicious pasta and tomato sauce dish. As we left, me sporting my rather funky, pink helmet, a tour bus arrived full of OAPs!
I popped to the ATM, to pay Hue. I was slightly scared of him getting (a proportion) of the money, and then zooming off into the distance never to be seen again! Thankfully he didn't, yet!
We zoomed around town for a bit, and saw the Crazy House in the dark, and then sped around the lake, which was really pretty! I had originally planned on hiring a bicycle to do it, but a motorbike was just as good! We passed lots of other motorcyclists and cyclists; it seems to be a lot of locals exercise track!
I arrived back at the hotel, and made use of the plush room and very comfortable bed!
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