We took an early start because again we had a long road ahead of us. And a very nice road it was. After leaving the coffee and pepper farms behind we drove through deep green rice fields surrounded by green mountains. I love the smell of green rice when we drive along the young green rice fields.
After about 30 min. we made a first stop at Yang Tao Elephant Rock, a huge monolith rock that resembles a huge elephant lying down in the landscape. It is 200 m long and 30 m high and can be climbed, which we did not do since it was too hot! The entrance tickets costs 50000 dong and includes a free drink. At the entrance several minority longhouses are showcased surrounded by a flowery garden and two lotus ponds,
About another half hour later we passes Lak Lake, the largest freshwater lake of the Central Highlands and the second largest of Vietnam. We stopped every now and then to take pictures of the beautiful views. Halfway we stopped for a Pho Bo for lunch, a typical Vietnamese dish, noodle soup with beef and soy shoots and fresh herbs and salad. We then hit a part of a road with a lot of potholes where we had to drive more slowly,
Two hours before Da Lat we took a left onto a more quiet road with less trucks and busses. After an hour we made a stop at Linh An pagoda with its 71 m high Quan Am (also known as Guanyin or Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara) statue, the goddess of compassion. The statue is hollow and inside you can climb all the way up into its head via 250 steps. Next to the pagoda the elephant waterfalls fall down from 30 m high, and you can make beautiful pictures from within the Quan Yin statue. I think the temple is run by nuns and is known for its Zen Buddhism. We saw mainly Catholic Churches along the way, almost every smal village had one. The French missionaries were pretty successful converting the local population, mainly indigenous groups.
We drove the last three quarters of an hour to our hotel, the Ana Mandara Villas where we had booked two nights. We were so happy to get of the motorbike, we had left Dak Lak at 8:30 this morning and it was almost 5 PM when we arrived in Da Lat, we had driven 200 km today on winding mountainous roads.
The rooms are simply beautiful set in old French colonial houses. We put on our swimsuits and walked over to the heated swimming pool. It just started to rain but because the water was nice and warm we had a swim in the monsoon rain and a dinner at the Petit Restaurant.
We spent the next day just enjoying the beautiful place we were staying in, swimming in the pool, walking along the villas of the resorts and enjoying the complementary afternoon tea. We had a long leisurely breakfast and learned a bit about the history of of the hotel from the resort manager. It was originally the spot where a French army officer, Jean O’Neil, built his house, He added a restaurant for the many military guests who came to stay at his house. Later he donated parts of the land to friends who built their own villa, often in the typical architectural style of where they were from in France which explains the difference in style between some of the villas. We are staying in the Farmers’ villa and the woman who spent the first five years of her life life here in Da Lat came to look for her childhood house a few years back and found it here, the Farmers’ villa. She brought a picture of the villa from the time she lived there and it still looks the same! Each villa is named after the occupation or vocation of some of its former owners.
We went out for dinner to a beautiful vegetarian restaurant, Guru Chay, Chay meaning vegetarian, with again really good food. We chose the sticky rice with mango and coconut sauce as dessert, a Thai dessert, which was good but should really only be eaten in Thailand where it is a heavenly treat.
chefmaison 