“Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley)

From Nha Trang we headed inland to the slightly strange city of Dalat. While the population of 130,000 in the Lonely Planet should have given some indication, it was still a surprise to most of us that it was such a large place. Our hotel was lovely, with an amazing Jacuzzi bath, however it took us a bit of time to adapt to a place that was clearly not used to many western tourists, after the very westernised towns of Hue, Hoi An and Nha Trang that we had just visited. Two of the highlights of Dalat are the Crazy House and the cable car. The Crazy House is a hotel that has been designed by a woman with a PhD in architecture and, I would suggest, a sense of humour and a slightly unusual imagination. Maura, Michael S, Jo, C, Carolyn and myself walked around the various themed rooms that she has created including the Kangaroo Room (dominated by a rather demonic looking red-eyed kangaroo), and the Land Eagle Room (again dominated by its namesake, and with a very nice little table around which we sat for a while until interrupted by some very apologetic American tourists!) Michael S, Carolyn & Maura at the Crazy House:

The Aussies, Jo and myself, with the demonic kangaroo:

Michael S has Gone Fishin':

From the Crazy House Jo, Michael and myself headed back to the hotel and then into a taxi to get to the cable car. The base station at one end is dominated by a café and a souvenir shop, and a carpark. We met Tim and Cheryl there and all headed to the cable car. The 2.3km journey took us across pine forests and gave us a chance to admire the mountains that surround Dalat. The other end of the cable car was also dominated by a café, souvenir shop (complete with a Buddha in a cowboy hat) and a car park and did lead a couple of us to ask what the point of the cable car actually was. However after pausing to contemplate over an ice-cream we decided to wander up the hill, and it was an excellent decision as it led us through a complex of pagodas and monastery related buildings, some hilarious topiary and down a hill to the reservoir. Unfortunately the anticipated motorcycle taxis were not waiting for us at the bottom, so it was people power back up to the top and on to the cable car for the return journey.

On the cable car with Jo: When we had first driven into Dalat, a couple of us had become very excited by the pedalos on the lake that were in the shape of swans. So, after the cable car we headed off to meet up with some of the others for a stint of “swanning”. We soon discovered that pedalos are (a) not romantic (thanks to Tim & Cheryl for that information) and (b) hard work (thanks to everyone for that information). We also discovered that you can’t really play dodgems with them very effectively as you don’t exactly generate enough speed. But you have to give us credit for continuing to try anyway!