5 january: dalat

started the day with a wake-up call at 4:15am for our 6:30am flight to dalat. unpleasant typically, but since we're still off on time zones it wasn't all bad. our first inter-country flight on vietnam air portended good things for the 7 that remain: efficient check-in, on-time departure, and (relatively) comfortable seats. as an added bonus the flight only took 15 minutes, so we were on the ground in no time.

what a difference 300km makes! unlike saigon, which was hot, crowded, and often times unsightly, dalat was a veritable paradise. in many ways it looks like a developed version of lake tahoe, and with a similar climate. also, we thought our tour guide in saigon was pretty great, but we were greeted by - as kim would describe - "the most adorable vietnamese man ever" who turned out to be even better. more on tinh, our tour guide, tomorrow.

dalat has even more of a french influence than elsewhere in vietnam, and it was untouched by the war, so our drive in looked more like the french countryside than an indochina city: beautiful and clean european architecture, a variety of colors, less pollution and significantly quieter streets than saigon (if you call motor bike/truck honking every 30 seconds instead of every 10 quiet).

even better was our hotel situation. dalat's most famous hotel is the uber-expensive sofitel palace, which is a beautiful colonial-style mansion that was converted into a hotel by sofitel. we're cheap so we're not staying there. however, we are staying at the sister hotel located across the street, which provides access to the palace's amenities at ~1/3 the price. andrew couldn't be happier. our hotel also has free internet access and computers in the lobby, which is a surprisingly huge benefit. only challenge is fighting the european teenagers for seat time - we've learned to be aggressive.

after dropping our stuff off at the hotel and (kim) getting caffeinated on some amazingly delicious vietnamese coffee, we spent the day strolling around dalat's city center. the major highlight was our trip through the central market, which unlike saigon's retail bent is focused on produce and other foodstuffs. we actually stumbled into the market from a back alley, which afforded us a view of some truly incredible sights. notably a)approximately 40 chickens in a basket the size of small coffee table and b) buckets with live frogs literally piled on top of each other in an aggravated attempt to break free, which they would have done if not for the thin fishing nets keeping them in place. weird. we also saw, in no particular order: eels, skinned ducks, chicken heads (and feets), countless varieties of live (and dead) fish, as well as numerous unidentifiable "delicacies." needless to say we didn't buy anything.

that evening we discovered a true gem: larry's bar. larry turns out to be the founder of dhl and the owner of the dalat palace and our hotel. he also appears to own half of the real estate in dalat at large. we are big fans of larry and his bar, which is a cross between an english pub and a wine cellar. plus they have happy hour with buy one get one free drinks. note to future travelers: saigon brand beer is not only the best tasting local beer in our humble opinion, but it also provides the best value (the bottles are huge!).

from larry's we went to dinner at a highly recommended restaurant in town. it was literally recommended by every source we have access to: frommer's, our tour guide in saigon, and our tour guide in dalat. and we actually found it this time, so that was a plus. the restaurant lived up to its billing; the only negative of the night was our initial beverage choices. both the dalat wine, which may as well have been manischewitz, and strawberry wine, despite kim's fondness for the same-named song by deana carter, both left something to be desired. we're a far way from napa valley, so beer it is. and no ron/judy/joe/karen, we don't only drink on vacation.

next up: sight-seeing in dalat