Dalat -a undoubtedly beautiful tourist town

Dalat is undoubtedly a beautiful tourist town. The vast majority of visitors are both domestic and foreign tourists on short package tours, drawn by the scenery, vivid blue skies, fresh air, flower-filled parks, and local edible treatment.

Da Lat is extremely famous for mild weather. Thanks to the advantage of height and enclosing pine jungle, the town is featured with temperate climate, with an average temperature of 18oC – 21°C, highest as 30oC and lowest as 5°C.

What is more, Da Lat has two distinct seasons, the rainy and the sunny ones. The former is from May to October, and the former from November to April. Tourists should be prepared for sudden rains in sunny season, sometimes rocky ones.  Never in Da Lat could we ever catch a storm, which make it favorable for tourists to take any daytime leisure walk.

This pure land of romance was discovered by the French during their invasion in southern Vietnam. Before 1893, Lang Biang highlands, an extremely cool and fresh aired area, was the accommodation of the Viet highlanders. Yet there came the day the French would like to settle a convalescent zone in a European weather-like land in 1899. Of course, they could not miss Lang Biang Highlands then. Ever since the significant choice, Da Lat was later on built with all required French-style houses, villas, treatment places, and temperate flowers & plants, etc. This has step by step formulated today’s romantic and glamorous Da Lat, a clear mountainous air zone for escaping the heat and humidity of the coast and Saigon, or the today’s Hochiminh City.

It’s no easy at all for travellers to choose the initial visiting place in Da Lat for its widespread covering beauty. On a whole, Da Lat looks like a cross between Vietnam and the French Alps. As mentioned, most of its hotels and houses were built in French style. The town spreads across a series of pine-covered hills, with a small lake in the center, while surrounded by high peaks, creating a lovely scenery quite different from the rest of Vietnam. Temperatures are pleasantly warm by day, and quite cool at night, down to perhaps 10oC.

Today, Dalat is undoubtedly a beautiful tourist town. The vast majority of visitors are both domestic and foreign tourists on short package tours, drawn by the scenery, vivid blue skies, fresh air, flower-filled parks, and local edible treatment. Dalat is a favorite destination for company weekend outings, family get-aways, and most of all, honeymoons. For overseas visitors, it offers a chance to cool down, view a bit of the French legacy, and enjoy the atmosphere. Also, Da Lat is surrounded by some of the best mountain biking, hiking and canyoning opportunities in Vietnam. Da Lat’s high altitude of 1,500-2,000m and fertile landscape make it one among Vietnam’s premium agricultural areas, producing a variety of fruits, vegetables and flowers that do not grow in the lowlands. In markets as far north as Hanoi, vegetables and flower vendors will tout their “made in Da Lat” produce.
Whoever has come to Da Lat could never forget Xuan Huong Lake (H? Xuân Huong), which is located in center of town. Xuan Huong lake is now one of the main draws of Da Lat, and also where we can see honeymooners and locals strolling its banks. Side by side Xuan Huong Lake is Top-peg Hill (Ð?i Cù), where has grown up a vast golf ground. If you are fond of fresh flowers, Da lat Flower Park is your accurate choice. The park, around 7,000 sq.m2, is situated on top of the Top-peg Hill, northern bank of Xuan Huong lake, and full of species of beautiful colored flowers to be extremely well-fed by planters. Tourists are all interested in the Da Lat’s flower festival, bringing them to a flowerfully fresh heaven!

For couples, Valley of Love (Thung Lung Tình Yêu) is the premium place to go. Its special name derived from its romantic view of silence, grace and green. The other choice is Lake of Sorrow or Lake of Sighs (H? Than th?), whose name came from a tale of two lovers, one of whom committed suicide after the other was called up to serve in the army. The romantic and beautiful Tuyen Lam Lake (H? Tuy?n Lâm) (the lake where rivers, springs and forests meet), Prenn Falls, or Pongour are also worth visiting for their beauty and fun.

On the other hand, Da Lat is popular for French-style architecture. Examples are King Bao Dai’s Palace, Ngo Dinh Diem and Nguyen Cao Ky’s villas, Hang Nga villas, and so forth. All of those should really be visited since they demonstrate the deeply special beauty and somehow culture of the old French.

Da Lat’s night market

When the sun goes down, Da Lat city in Lam Dong province is lit up by the bright lights of shops, restaurants and hotels. In the cool night air, you should dress warmly to wander around the small streets exploring the local cuisine.

In the daytime, Da Lat charms visitors with its colorful flowers, green pine forests, beautiful lakes and fresh highlands air. Tourists often make side trips to outlying areas to see flower villages, mountains and magnificent waterfalls. When the sun sets, it’s time to relax and warm up with local food, perhaps the favorite attraction of this highlands city.

Justin Colebrissi, a tourist from the US says: “I love Da Lat compared to Sai Gon, a beautiful city and people are much more friendly. I think the overall atmosphere and the weather are nicer. We’ve been doing a little bit at night market. We eat food and buy new things to take home. It’s good. It’s one of interesting things and prices are much better, too. Tomorrow, I think of a plan to do a little sight seeing and may be go to rent a car to the waterfall, take in a little bit of culture and then drink”.

Many tourists agree that no tour of Da Lat is complete without exploring the local night market and its street food stalls. While tourists in Sai Gon and Hanoi usually go to a restaurant to sample the local cuisine, in Da Lat, it’s the open food stalls in the central market where visitors find something hot to eat to warm up while they observe the street activity.

The food stalls in the central market are tiny with just a couple small tables and chairs, but that doesn’t bother the customers. Ms. Loan, who has been selling soy milk in Da Lat’s central market for 10 years, says: “A variety of food is offered in the Da Lat market. Tourists usually come to the market between 5 and 10 pm to enjoy soy milk and Banh trang nuong or grilled rice papers. Soy milk is a Da Lat specialty. The milk is mixed with sugar, coconut milk and ginger. This is a favorite treat of Da Lat tourists. They drink it hot to warm themselves against the cold Da Lat night air”.

Bánh tráng nướng is the most popular dish with Da Lat tourists- large sheets of rice paper grilled over smoldering coals and topped with some contributions of egg, pork, beef, scallions, chili, pounded shrimp, mayo, or cheese.

Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, who sells Bánh tráng nướng (Grilled rice papers) at the market says: “This dish was created by Da Lat people. I sell from 3 in the afternoon until 11 at night. My shop is the most crowded from 8 to 10. Most of the customers are tourists. Local people visit my shop only on the weekend. This dish is easy to eat and very popular among tourists. Some people call it Vietnamese pizza. Different cooks have different ways of cooking this dish”.

Barbecue shops are another place Da Lat visitors shouldn’t miss. Each shop owner has his own special grilled dish recipe but they are all tasty. Food prices at the night market are quite reasonable. A piece of grilled rice paper is only 30 cents and a glass of soy milk is just 25 cents. So there you have it. The tasty and affordable street food in Da Lat should keep you busy through many cold evenings.

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Conquering the peak of Hon Ba Mountain

Hon Ba Mountain is considered “Da Lat of the Beach City” when endowed by nature with a cool climate all year round. After a long trek on the winding and misty path, tourists reach the peak of the mountain at an altitude of 1,500m where they have a panoramic view of the magnificent and imposing scenery of the region.

Hon Ba Mountain is located in Cam Lam District, Khanh Hoa Province, 60km north of Nha Trang. The area has a temperate climate and boasts primitive forests hundreds of years old so it is an ideal place for those who want to discover wild, natural beauty. Allured by the charm of the area, we decided to make a trip to Hon Ba Mountain.

 Hon Ba Mountain is like a  sleeping fairy in the forest.
Da Giang Stream is located near the road leading to Hon Ba Mountain.
The wild beauty on the mountain.
The road to Hon Ba Mountain.
The abundant eco-system on Hon Ba Mountain.
The diversified eco-system on Hon Ba Moutain. 
A panoramic view of Nha Trang Bay seen from the peak of Hon Ba Mountain.

At 6:30a.m, we started our trip to the peak of the mountain. On the way, we stopped at Suoi Nguon Tourist Area at a height of 300m where we had a delicious meal of grilled chicken, while listening to the murmur of streams running through banana and durian forests and looking at the view of Nha Trang in the distance. We all experienced an interesting feeling when we sometimes walked through floating clouds during our trip. We also visited Hon Ba Nature Reserve. According to statistics, the reserve boasts 529 varieties of vascular plants (tracheophyta) under 401 branches and 120 families, including 43 precious and rare varieties listed in the Red Book, such as Krempt’s Pine (Pinus Krempfii), Fokienia and Rhodoleia Championii. At present, a nursery is being built in the reserve with the aim of breeding and preserving rare plants which are then planted in a 70ha garden.

At 10:30a.m, we were at the middle of the mountain at a height of 900m. Below was the scenery of the land of Cam Lam and above were dense primitive forests with thousands of old trees in clouds, creating a romantic picture.

At 12p.m., we finally reached the peak of the mountain at an altitude of 1,500m. All of us felt very excited and discovered the place where there stands a wooden house of the famous French doctor, Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943) who opened the path to the peak of the mountain 100 years ago. The doctor spent his youth discovering Da Lat, conducting scientific research, establishing monitoring stations and finding many rare varieties of herbal plants.

The house of doctor Alexandre Yersin at the peak of Hon Ba Mountain.
Inside the house of Doctor A.Yersin.
The bedroom of Doctor A.Yersin.
Doctor Alexandre Yersin's nursery tray.
The scenery from Doctor A.Yersin’s house.

The two-floor wooden house covering a total area of 100m2 was restored in 2004. Now it is a library with many objects of great historical value, such as a stone table, chair and bed. However, we were mostly impressed by the garden of medicinal herbs with two hundred-year-old green tea trees (camellia sinensis).
At 1p.m., we left the peak of the mountain during a sudden rain and all of us will surely never forget the memories of this beautiful place.

Source: VNP