Đà Lạt – 2013

a honey bee – in the flower park of the city

That was quite an interesting trip I had taken to Dalat .The city is well-known with many beautiful names such as the city of mist and pine trees, the city of flowers, the city of Mimosa , the city of romance…for me , it’s just Dalat – “the town I love so well” ^ – ^

DAY 1- NIGHT:

-Zzz 

DAY 2:

-5:10 am: hotel: freezing , clap clap clap <– my teeth were hitting each others

-6:00 am: took the very first ride aroud the center of this lovely city.

-The Xuan Huong lake: located in the center of Dalat, with a beautiful cresent moon shape and pines on the shore, the  Xuan Huong lake truly made that morning of mine!

are you lonesome … today ?

–Dalat Cathedral : or The Chicken Church (I love to call it this way ^ – ^ ) – which had been built in 11 years since 1931

what can you see on the top of the church ? no,not the cross , I mean the little tiny chicken on the cross ^ – ^  

There is a pretty country road behind the church > V < !

– Dalat railway station ( since 1938 – is said to be one of the most antique stations of VN) – from this spot you can take a short trip on the train to Linh Phước pagoda ( it takes abt 30mintutes for that 7km )

The general view of the station

a very antique inside!

the touch of time !

 -Domaine de Marie (1943): located on the Wild Himalayan Cherry (prunus cerasoides) hill (đồi mai anh)- that’s the reason why domaine de marie is also known as the wild Himalayan Cherry church (nhà thờ Mai anh in Vietnamese) -I love the flower garden behind the church , found so peaceful sitting there!

The front view !

Then the church appeared!

 a door behind the church – is that where Alice found her wonderland ^ – ^ ?

I think I found mine,too ^ v ^

a cute succulent plant in the graden 🙂

-Night market: (sat and sun’s night- walking area-no vehicles): ^ – ^ when the night falls,numerous rivers of people flow to the sea named Dalat market (since 1958)– I took time doing some shopping, trying local street foods and joining the lively festival-atmosphere – it was truly a great night to spent!

Grilled chicken,beef,fish balls, shrimp balls, sausage,eggs…yum!

DAY 3:

– Dalat flower park: located on the “Cù hill”- the north of Xuan Huong lake – the park has diverse species of plants (abt 300 different kinds of flowers )

Pansy – after a morning rain

^ – ^ Bird of Paradise 

Mealy cup sage –  love this badly

pink roses ^ – ^

when the rain falls, a little spider may lost her home!

he wasn’t happy , was he ?

a golden field – yellow cosmos !

-An unknown pagoda : I drove without the help of map, then I found myself get lost to the peak of a small silent hill – really couldn’t manage to read the name cause I had stopped there only for 3,4 minutes. It seemed that this place is not really open for tourist then I decided to leave > – <

1..2..3..click and run !

-The strawberries garden: even it’s quite a long time since the last day that I paid this garden a visit , it was so happy that the owner still remembered me ^ – ^ and as a way to say welcome back, he gave me a little cup of home brewed strawberry wine which was SUPER delicious !

love this little pretty road – on my way to the strawberries garden!

Fun tips (collected from the internet) ^ – ^ : 

-Select plump, firm, fully red berries. The small berries are often most flavorful.

-Unripe berries will not ripen once picked.

-Berries to be used immediately may be picked any time, but if you plan to hold the fruit for a few days, try to pick in the early morning or on cool, cloudy days.

Yum!

–DON’T wash the berries until you are ready to use them.  Washing makes them more prone to spoiling

-You can easily freeze berries that you can not use right away – just wash, cut the hulls off and pop them into a ziplock bag, removing as much air as possible. The berries will keep for many months frozen without air.

what I could do in 15 minutes 😛 yay me !

strawberries wine

-The golden valley : it may take abt 40 minutes driving from the center of Dalat to this valley .Even this is quite a new travel spot ,we can find  a big amount of tourists here – since they have been attracted to its beautiful scenery.

(However, for me , I enjoyed the long long winding road which leads to the valley even much more than the travel spot itself  ^ – ^ )

All I wanted to do was to sit down and take a deep breath

as free as a bird 🙂

Fairy tale ? No – it’s life – the original one!

-Linh sơn pagoda (since 1940)

the sunset came peacefully !

-Dinner : bánh căn – round rice cake with eggs and meat balls.

hot cakes in a cold night – perfect!

-Night market : kept fighting, yah yah! Can not image how could this crowded market used to be a muddy land that people planted creson.

DAY 4: 

-Breakfast: bánh mì tương ớt gà xé – bread with chicken and chili sauce

Take a bite ^ – ^ Then you may want to turn back the bike and buy 10 more 

-Dalat telpher (since 2003) : located on the Robbin hill, standing on the peak of this hill,you will have a view which is even more than gorgeous – blue sky, white clouds, green valleys, foggy mountains, singing pines forest, winding floral roads – they are all here — > v <

the stairway to heaven..ah, I mean, to the telpher station ^ – ^

“Once there were green fields kissed by the sun.. Once there were valleys where rivers used to run..”

-Trúc lâm(forest of bamboo) temple: located on the Phoenix hill , Trúc Lâm temple is said to be one of the biggest temples in Lâm Đồng province .

a garden of roses in the temple

The new nice friend I have met there ^ – ^ Tony – a Thai tour guide.

just another lovable corner

My little robot found his peace in this clover forest!

Then where is mine ? does my peace fall somewhere in this field of flowers…?

Behind the temple , there is a green green pines forest ,take a walk through this wonder land then you will reach the Tuyền Lâm Lake.

a way head to the pines forest

gifts from the pines forest

There you go – The Tuyen Lam Lake !

Amazing nature

-Lunch : Dalat telpher’s canteen

a lunch set for vegetarian – extremely yummy > v <

soda with milk and egg <– the uncooked one

-Thiên Vương Cổ Sát pagoda (or also be called as the Chinese Pagoda by local people) since 1958– located on The Dragon hill (the road to reach the peak of this hill is truly not an easy game to play, I found myself tearing the wind as if  I was sitting on a roller coaster while driving up and down on this road) .Behind the pagoda , there is a 10 meters high – statue of Sakyamuni Buddha sitting on a lotus.

a very tradional pagoda

I took my chance to visit the “spin-able table” which is said to be magical, when s.one (or a group of people) put hands on it, with eyes closed and think (don’t have to speak out loud) of a spell like: plz spin to the right/to the left (if you are in a group,remember to have the same request), it may happen exactly the way you want it to – automatically (but it may not work for several people)!

the magical table – they said

– The Biological Institute of Dalat: a huge collection of orchids and plants they have there ^ – ^ (I don’t like the animals part – with dead bodies that are preserved with formaldehyde , I know that is a biological job from which we may get many knowledge , but I just couldn’t stand watching them)

the main building – or “Valley of the kings” I should call -full of animal mummies –AHHHH > – <

Yup, this place is much more better, phew!!!

-Dinner :

grilled rice cake , there are many fillings for you to choose

filling for me? I picked cheese ^ – ^

DAY 5:

– 8:30 am : took the last walk in the center area of the city, bought some (more) souvenirs then was totally in a deep red =)) !

Bye ,Xuan Huong Lake 🙂

– 12:pm : coming home 

it was abt 6:30PM

Hope you enjoy the trip, as I really did ^ – ^