Easy Riding in Da Lat

Da Lat is a typically Asian, quaint, countryside, bustling metropolis. As soon as someone tells you a town in a Communist country is "quaint", know that this is a very subjective term. I think this is because Communism forced large numbers of people into the countryside, to areas they wouldn't usually have settled. But, thats certainly not to say this place isn't cool anyway.

Da Lat is situated about 6hrs inland from Nha Trang, in the southern half of Vietnam. I wasn't planning on being here so soon but even after a very rough 14hr bus ride from Hoi An, Nha Trang didn't appeal to me at all. I thus linked up with Larissa and Noll in heading straight on to Da Lat.

One thing that Da Lat has become famous for is the Easy Riders biker club. These outgoing biker locals offer cheap tours of the area and also trips to more remote spots. A number of them can speak English, French or German. Which is cool since Larissa is German and Noll is French. I'm also known to understand the odd bit of English every now and then.

The three of us thus signed up for a trip today and had a wonderful time. The guys are so passionate about their home area, and love taking you to more out of the way spots. We visited many local craft places - but not at all touristy - these are small businesses run by the locals out of their backyards. Wevisited a coffee farm, silk worm farm, fruit farm, silk factory, rose farm (add that to the French cafes mum!), basket weavers and even a distillery that doubles as a pig farm! (Apparently the rice that is used to brew the local "happy water" is then fed to the pigs after fermentation. The residual alcohol causes the pigs to sleep and then wake up hungry again - don't we all know that feeling?)

Some "Easy Riding".

The girls and Easy Riders inspect some persimmon trees on the roadside.

Work in the terraced vegetable gardens around Da Lat. I like this photo.

I thought I was back in Guatemala for a second! She's apparently from a Vietnamese ethnic minority group, largely squeezed out of the area when the Communists started settling people here.

One of our guides explains the intricacies of silk worm cultivation.

Larissa and Noll sample some passion fruit (granadilla!)

He even looks a bit drunk... One of the pigs at the distillery/pig farm.

We're meeting up with the guides for a few beers tonight, then tomorrow I'm heading back to the coast at Mui Ne. Apparently there is some cool sandboarding there.