We took an early morning flight from HCMC to Dalat, a town in the central mountains only 200km away. After checking in we took one of the area attractions – a 2.5 km cable car to a picturesque lake in the mountains. Dalat is a honeymoon town and there were several young couples strolling the grounds. We then went to the Datanla waterfalls a little deeper in the woods. Unfortunately we’re Canadian and the falls were not just unimpressive - they were downright ugly. There were concrete bridges over the stream, vendors selling ice cream and souvenirs, roller coaster rides through the woods surrounding the falls, and cowboys, whose pictures you can take for a fee. The nicest thing about the place was the smell of pine trees – a very pleasant aroma after 3 days in HCMC. In the afternoon we visited a nice pagoda and on the way back we took an alleyway back to the hotel. The alleyway was narrow, maybe 10 feet wide and wound down a steep hill for 500meters. We were amazed by the world behind the street. Small narrow houses at every angle, larger richer houses, patios with a view, and the constant motorcycles, going up impossible inclines. (Note: Vietnam is one of the safest countries in the world to travel in. Joan and I have no hesitation taking back alley or narrow streets during the daylight.)
Wednesday we took in the plant garden in Dalat and then we tried the special train to Trai Mat. This is an old narrow gauge railroad that runs a tourist train 4 times per day. We showed up for the 10 am train and when we told them we wanted tickets they sold them to us. Then they sold tickets to the other 4 people that were waiting. We made up the magic number of 6 passengers required for the train to run.
The train runs 8 km through the vegetable gardens that surround Dalat. The rails are on a ridge and we got alternating views of the valleys on both sides. The valleys are tiered and the fields varied with hundreds of greenhouses spread everywhere. Like every moving vehicle we have been on in Vietnam, the horn is the first thing the operator learns to use. The world knew we were coming. The train went through level crossings, house driveways, front yards, back yards and even separated the café/bar from the road. (I know it’s a bar because the motorcycle driver I hired the next day was drunk). The only crossing gate I saw was a manual one right in Trai Mat. After a 15 min ride we stopped in Trai Mat. The main attraction in Trai Mat is supposed to be the Chua Linh Dhuoc Pagoda, but I think the growing fields are nicer. But we only had a 30-minute stop, so back we went with the conductor tooting the whistle at all his friends again.
Thursday: The brief train ride to Trai Mat had whetted our appetite, so Thursday we got up early and by 7:30 we were on the local bus to Trai Mat. This was another example of Vietnamese thoroughness. The hotel clerk told the taxi driver where we were going. The taxi driver drove right into the bus yard and stopped beside our bus and said something to the conductor. The conductor sold us the right tickets and told us where to get off. The train ride had cost us $5.00 return. The bus cost us $ .50 return. The bus has better entertainment value too. I get a kick out of watching the conductor haul the passengers aboard. The bus doesn’t do a complete stop even for the little old ladies. I think bus passengers wear long sleeves so the bruises don’t show.
We visited the Pagoda and then we took a long walk in the fields. The fields are on the hills and each field is carved out from the hill. Somehow the farmers get irrigation to each field and grow veggies or flowers. There are paths through the fields but they twist, drop and rise with the hill and often dead-end into a field. Whenever Joan and I hit a dead end some farmer would wave at us and point which direction to go. There are some houses in the fields but they are rare. The land is for farming and the Vietnamese do a good job.
A Cao Dai temple dominates the whole valley. In order to get up to it we got 2 motorcycle taxis. This is when I got my drunken taxi driver. I negotiated with the first driver and he understood where we were going. I think he was going to take the 2 of us on one motorcycle but Joan wouldn’t agree. So he called his drunken friend to take me. Joan was long gone before I was sitting on the back of his friend’s bike. Off we went and he went right by the temple cut-off road and headed for a town called Cao Lat. I tried to stop him but he convinced me his friend was right ahead of us. One kilometre later I insisted he turn around and when the temple came into view I kept pointing at it. When we got there Joan was sitting in the shade.
We toured the temple, which wasn’t finished yet and then walked back to town for lunch and tea. After tea I asked the waitress where to find a taxi. She made a call and her friend showed up. It was the first female taxi driver we met in Vietnam. The driver didn’t speak English so the waitress translated the destination and off we went. The driver got lost and stopped for directions. When she discovered she had to backtrack, she seemed anything but happy. We covered 5KM on a terrible dirt road down a steep hillside and arrived at Tiger falls. All the way there the driver never said a word to us. We visited the falls and they were nice - clean, pristine and no vendors.
We came back to the taxi quite happy. At this point Joan tried to communicate with the driver about stopping on the way back to take pictures as we had passed beautiful vistas of tiered gardens on the hillsides. Whatever Joan said - it worked. Not only did she stop, she got involved in selecting the right viewpoints and she smiled a lot. We were all quite happy when we got back to town.
PS from Joan-this was really a perfect day- experiencing public transport, having all the time we wanted to explore Trai Mat, having the very helpful café waitress organize our trip to the falls and enjoying the input of our taxi driver on the way back as she started to choose our best viewpoints. She not only chose where to stop but walked the hillsides and pointed when she had discovered a better view. She smiled so much when she realised how much we appreciated her help.
The only glitch to the day was wondering where the heck Tim was when he should have been right behind me at the temple. After waiting about 10 minutes with my driver, I paid him and indicated that I wanted him to go back down the hill to find Tim. Did not see my driver again, but Tim showed up after 20 minutes, much to my relief.
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