Recently, I went to what might be my favorite place in Vietnam. Đà Lạt is a city north of Ho Chi Minh City by roughly 300 kilometers. The city boomed during French colonization as a vacation spot because, due to it’s elevation, it has a fairly mild climate compared to the other cities in Vietnam.
Đà Lạt is in what is called the “Central Highlands” of Vietnam. The region, as implied by the name, occupy the inner provinces of Vietnam that border Cambodia and Laos. It is also up in the mountains and offers a very different view than one might typically see in Ho Chi Minh City. Rolling hills and french architecture dominant the scape and everything is beautiful.
There are many, many reasons why I loved Đà Lạt and my time there.
To start, the French were right—the temperature is so nice. While there, it was between 70 to 80 which is a treat considering that a normal day in Ho Chi Minh is in the low 90s. There was a slight breeze at all times coming from the lake in the center of town. And, once the sun came down, it dipped into the 60s. It was a TREAT.
Also, Đà Lạt is a major coffee growing region. As I have mentioned before, coffee is my vice. I drink it regularly in Ho Chi Minh City and it is something that is a mandatory item of consumption in the US. I can’t walk through the doors of Gelman without some type of coffee. Well, the coffee in Đà Lạt was amazing as assumed. There was a place near our hostel called, “Maybe Blue.” It was a really nice interior—the “quaint coffee shop” look that Vietnam has perfected—and it overlooked the city. They served a delicious cinnamon coffee (cà phê sữa đá + cinnamon) and that simple spice added so much to the drink. However, I had the two best cups of coffee I’ve ever had (in Vietnam) at the Mê Linh Coffee Garden and La Viet.
The latter, La Viet, is a cafe/coffee roasting warehouse of sorts. Basically, it is this large, sheet-metal coated building, and you walk in and are smacked in the face by the smell of coffee roasting. I got an absolutely amazing cold brew with a very frothy/creamy milk. It was so good that I got a second. Then, the next day, I went back. That time I just got black coffee so I could really enjoy it. I ended up bringing back a bag that’ll cherish once I’m back in America. The other, Mê Linh, was outside the city. We (Erica and I) visited it on an Easy Rider tour (will discuss later). The view was stunning. Absolutely amazing. While drinking your coffee, you’d look out over the plants, a lake, and the city in the distance. But, the coffee only made the view that much better. Erica and I splurged for the weasel coffee.
What’s weasel coffee?
Well, weasel coffee is delivered from coffee beans that have passed through a weasel.
What?
Farmers feed weasels the coffee cherry—husk and all—and their digestive process breaks down the husk, but not the bean. Despite the unorthodox means of obtainment, the coffee was very rich and smooth.
Fecal beverages aside, I previously mentioned an easy rider tour. Basically, say rider tours have popped up in Đà Lạt and they are just a tour done by riding on someones motorbike. It caters to small groups and are, for the most part, independently organized. For me, I had heard of them and asked a woman at a cafe how to book one. She gave me the number of her friend and the following Monday, her friend and one of his friends picked us up and spent the day showing us around. It was such a great tour and we saw SO MUCH. We saw sights that we never would’ve even known existed. We saw: an industrial flower garden, a silk factory (where I ate a silk worm), a rice wine factory (where I ate a cricket), a petting zoo, a mushroom farm, a produce shop, an authentic pho restaurant, a pagoda (Linh An), a noodle factory, an ethnic minority village, a coffee garden, and—most importantly—Elephant Waterfall! This tour, most surprisingly, was nearly 9 hours and cost the equivalent of $25.00. All of the sights were stunning, but the best was the waterfall. It was a treacherous path around and involved climbing on rocks, sometimes unassisted, but was such a phenomenal chance to really see the nature in Vietnam. I have never seen a waterfall in person, so this was the perfect opportunity to see one!
But, aside from the tour, we also went around the city and saw the massive night market, the Đà Lạt “Crazy House”, the old railroad station, the Flower Park, rode on cable cars to the Trúc Lâm Temple, and walked around the central lake. We also ate Kem trái cây, Bánh Mì Bò Kho, Korean BBQ, and durian ice cream! And, we made friends with a local strawberry farmer who let us practice our Vietnamese!
It is also worth noting just how friendly everyone in Đà Lạt was to me. So many people were willing to help me if I looked lost and some people just came up to talk to me and ask me where I was from and what brought me to Đà Lạt.
This weekend trip showed me just how much there is left for me to see in Vietnam. It solidified that I will be coming back at some point and that I will have to spend a lot more time in Đà Lạt. My time in Vietnam is coming to a close and it was so refreshing to see something so new and be able to confidently say that I made the right choice in choosing Vietnam. I can’t imagine spending 4 months anywhere else.