Vietnam sojourn #2 HCMC to Dalat

Day 5 7/10 -
Today was a long day. We woke at 4 to finish our packing before being picked up by taxi at 7. The bus didn't leave until 9 but such is the rush hour traffic in HCMC that we needed over an hour to get into the city. Then there was time to have breakfast over the road from the bus stop. We'd been there before so the MSG message was well and truly rammed home - again! You meet all sorts of interesting people when travelling. There were 2 Vietnamese sisters aged about 50 who had left Vietnam for the USA with their families when they were 10 - 40 years ago. That would have been about 1975 when the north overran the south. Anyway, one lives in Texas and the other in Florida. They were here to meet some family and to see where they had come from in Vung Tau Province.
The seats on these long distance buses are intriguing indeed. They are semi reclining. One's feet go horizontally into a kind of semi covered pod which isn't long enough for our western bodies! The rest of you leans back on an adjustable back rest. They were ok for the day time but would be diabolical if you were trying to sleep at night. We managed to fit reasonably but they are narrow too. There are some on the bottom deck and some overhead but as it is not a true double decker, the access to the top tier was via the bottom and very small short ladders. We were advised to be on the bottom and good advice it was too. Entering and exiting from a reclining position was not easy and even when standing up the passages were too narrow for us so we had to go sideways. Fortunately we were at the front so didn't have far to go to get out - and we had a good view.
The first part of the trip leaving HCMC was very slow. For the most part there were 2 lanes in each direction but jampacked with trucks and all ambling along. One thing we noticed was that businesses of certain types tended to congregate together so at one point there was a collection of statue makers. The Bhuddha, Jesus and the Virgin Mary were all well represented and in many sizes. No doubt if you could afford it you could have the biggest available and impress the neighbours!! It seems that Christianity (mostly of the Catholic variety) is well represented in this part of Vietnam - obviously a legacy of the French. There were some very grandiose churches in most of the towns we passed through.
Once we were clear of the city and its environs the pace picked up but still not particularly fast which is just as well given the hair raising driving we witnessed. No wonder the road toll here is so high. There are 6 million motorcycles in HCMC alone and 9 million people. Buses generally ignore them and honk their horns and expect them to get out of the way, but if they don't..........
Once we started climbing into the Highlands the scenery became very pretty and the roads steep which again slowed our progress considerably. We stopped for lunch at a large road stop place and with trepidation ordered some things off the menu - once more emphasising NO MSG. However, in spite of their assurances Jean could taste it in hers and refused to eat it. Jim's wasn't great either. 35,000 Dong for each dish and we refused point blank to pay for Jean's. Caused a bit of a furore but when they realised we meant it, they backed down. Only the equivalent of NZD2.40 but it was the principle as if she had eaten all of it she would have been extremely sick and that would not have been good at all - especially on a bus. They obviously tell you the first thing that comes into their heads just so that you'll go away. We are getting more and more concerned because MSG is so prevalent in Vietnam it's almost impossible to avoid 100%. We have discussed more than once aborting the trip and returning to Thailand. We don't want to do this because we came here to see the country but we also can't afford the results of continually ingesting MSG. Much more and Jean would be totally immobilised and very sick and miserable and that would be ridiculous. We'll persevere but very carefully. This is very sad because Vietnam has such delicious food and they absolutely do not need the so-called flavour enhancement of MSG, but as we were subsequently told, if a restaurant here in Vietnam did not put MSG in its food it would be out of business very quickly. So we just have to grin and bear it and try to manage the situation.
Dalat is at 1500 metres (4,500 feet) and so has a very pleasant cooler climate. Usually daytime temperatures in the low to mid 20's C.
Day 6 8/10 -
First job this morning was to try to organise acceptable transport to our next destination, a small beach hotel (Life's a Beach) 10 kms south of Quy Nhon. This is approximately 8 hours (again!) by bus from here and we were also told that the only bus per day left here at 1600. This would have meant an ETA of around midnight to 1300 the next morning and we were definitely very concerned about that. However, this morning it transpired that another bus leaves at 1400 and so we should arrive around 2200 - much more civilised.
With that out of the way we wanted to do a half day tour around Dalat but this hotel (the Pink House) only offered full day tours. So we wandered down the road to an upmarket backpacker who arranged a car and driver/guide for us. We has breakfast there while we waited. Our man (Bay) duly arrived and we set off first to the ATM to get some much needed Dong. 5 million in fact (NZD344!!). Then we headed off to the Dalat Railway station built by the French in the 1920's in the Art Deco style. It is no longer part of the Vietnamese rail network due to war damage to the track but that is slowly being addressed and one day it will be a great tourist attraction. Then we visited a collection of villas built by the French as part of the development of Dalat as a summer hill retreat. Interesting architecture and it was obviously a great life for the top level French in those years. Then the piece de la resistance - the Bao Dai's summer palace. He was Vietnam's last king and lived for the most part in the old imperial capital of Hue. However, the summer palace here in Dalat (also built very much in the Art Deco style) was his summer retreat. He had 6 wives and married at least 2 of them while still married to his queen. He had 5 children to his 1st. wife and some to his subsequent wives and liaisons. Some are still living and the eldest still alive carries the title of head of the Nugyen Dynasty, although that title is largely meaningless. The children who are all still alive live in exile in France. Bao Dai himself died in France in 1997. An interesting aside is that during his time in exile in France he also lived periodically in Monaco and at one time owned the largest yacht in Monaco! So the family must have been fairly well healed. During the Japanese occupation the Japanese allowed the French to continue to rule south Vietnam as they had declared allegiance to the French Vichy regime (an ally of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan) in France. Bao Dai continued as Emperor of Annam as a puppet of the Japanese. When Japan surrendered in 1945 Ho Chi Minh (the founder of present day Vietnam) persuaded him to abdicate - given his collaboration and association with the Japanese occupation. This enhanced Ho's and the Viet Minh's standing with the Vietnamese people more than any other event and laid the foundation for France's ousting by the Viet Minh from Vietnam in 1954. When Japan surrendered in 1945 the surrender was received by the British Army as proxy for France as France had virtually no military capacity at the time. Britain's Winston Churchill was determined that Indochina would be restored to French rule and the British were largely instrumental in ensuring that outcome. A deeply flawed policy - obviously.
The summer palace here in Dalat is impressive in scale and as a largely original example of Art Deco architecture. In Bao Dai's bedroom the furniture all designed for the room is still there although badly in need of restoration. And throughout the palace the furniture and fittings are all still there and original. His office is all original and his huge desk with all the items he used during his time there are all still on the desk.
It was quite a surreal experience seeing all the personal rooms where the royal family of Vietnam lived. Nothing particularly flash about it - just the bare bones of what must have been a very privileged life.
Then we went to the Crazy House. This is a concrete house very cleverly designed much like a Hobbit film set and still a work in progress. The owner is a Vietnamese woman who has a Phd. in Architecture from Moscow. Her father was Truong Chinh who was Ho Chi Minh's successor as President of Vietnam from 1981 until his death in 1988. To plagiarise the Lonely Planet - "The Crazy House defies definition. Joyously designed, outrageously artistic, this private home is a monument to the creative potential of concrete, with sculptured rooms connected by super slim bridges and an excess of cascading lava-flow like shapes. Think Gaudi on acid!" It was an enthralling visit and we have many photos which will find their way onto the website soon. One of the problems with pictures is that these blogs are posted via Sailmail and Sailmail does not allow attachments so they have to be placed separately through our Gmail address.
Jean was absolutely gobsmacked by the house and said she wants one!! It would be great for the grandchildren (they would never want to leave) and she could become the old woman matriarch leaning on a knobbly wooden stick!! She'll kill me when she reads this!
Then it was back to the Pink House and out again to do some exploration of the CBD on foot. Dalat is hilly and is an ordered eclectic collection of shops, restaurants, service industries like motor garages in the most unlikely juxtaposition with other businesses and accommodation businesses - of which there are a few since Dalat is a tourist centre. But all pleasantly laid out and clean with good tiled footpaths. Spoilt a bit by the hundreds of motorcycles parked on them!
We went back to our favourite restaurant (Long Hoa) where they do NOT use MSG and they serve delicious Vietnamese food alongside western dishes. After an early meal and several glasses of homemade strawberry wine (wonderful) we made our way down the hill and then up another back to the Pink House. Jim's knees are giving some grief after all this walking (it was definitely NOT the strawberry wine!) but we made it back and now typing this blog. We leave tomorrow early afternoon for Quy Nhon where we are staying right on the beach - at sea level once more and no doubt a total contrast to this recent experience at Dalat.
More to come that's for sure..........
Lotsaluv from us and hoping this finds you all in the pink.
Cheers,
Jim and Jean
Dalat
Vietnam.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com