If I have to use one word to describe the mountain city of Dalat in southern Vietnam, it would be delectable. With budget travel accessible these days, my buddy and I took a side trip to Dalat during our short dental trip to Ho Chi Minh City. For S$59 return fare, Vietnam Air didn't disappoint.
Ironically, my first reason for going to Dalat to see the famous flower markets was quickly overtaken by all that my eyes could hardly take in. "The City of Eternal Spring" lives up to its name. Taking a S$5 per pax steamboat dinner in the open mountain air was a rare treat for a traveller who hails from a warm climate.
My travel mate, Gene's brilliant idea of going on an Easy Rider exploration of the countryside scored a ten from me. My S$5 hooded windbreaker bought from the Dalat Market came in handy for a cool, drizzly motorbike pillion ride into oblivion... oops, not really, but into places that big coaches may not be able to enter. From hopping into sunflower fields to a local villager's home, to a coffee plantation, a silk factory, waterfalls, artistic cafes, a lake hemming the night market, Dalat is much more than a nice cool retreat destination. Its mountain roads where hotel shuttle buses ply are as formidable as the French who built them.
If life could be expressed as a bed of roses (minus the thorns), Dalat would be it. Especially so because I got to stay in La Vie En Rose, a rose-themed hotel sitting on an elevation from the ground. I was welcomed by a floor-to-ceiling mural of a rose garden. I saw roses bloom in the smiling faces of the hotel staff; I smelled the fragrance of roses in the garden; I felt I was sleeping on a bed of roses in the spacious family room (with two queen beds) I shared with my friend.
Though the bathtub was a little deep for me, I'd rate the hotel more than four stars for the price of S$80 for two. The cool night air ventilated the room well and provided a few good nights of respite, far from the madding crowd of city life. The breakfast dining room overlooking the rose garden, was the real starter to the day, without mentioning the generous buffet spread of food, ranging from local to continental, with an a la carte menu thrown in. Yes, breakfast is included in the hotel price. And no, I wasn't paid to do this write-up for them.
My short three days of photography are inadequate to depict Dalat all in this space. Just go try delectable Dalat! You get the best of both worlds, a taste of east and west, old and new, at a fraction of the price for a Europe trip, with the bonus of not having to sweat it out to scout around. And yes, I shall return to explore the French heritage (apart from the Dalat Palace where I had already sipped Earl Grey tea in the clear mountain air), and the range of local cuisine that is very likely to please my oriental palate.