To Dalat- a tale of two halves

before leaving Ho Chi Minh City we spent an hour at the Reunification Palace, formerly the Presidential Palace, built in 1966 after the previous building was damaged and pulled down. It is full of lacquerwork, porcelain, silks and kitch G plan furniture but actually is surprisingly impressive.

Off in our mini-bus, heading for Dalat, 340km away, via the Dambri Waterfall. A long slow journey over badly potholed roads, even the main Highway 1 isn't in great condition and the traffic is just as bad as in the city. On the way we noticed lots and lots of newly built churches - and a few just being constructed - we think we saw about 50 of them, some only half a mile apart. Many of them would not look out of place in a Disney theme park! Hai, our guide, told us that American investment is responsible, but that is no doubt not the whole story. Vietnam is the biggest Catholic community in South East Asia after the Phillipines, so the guide book says.

The detour to see the Dambri waterfall took a total of about 3 hours as it is one way in, one way out, so this had to be the blip for today. The tower at the side is for a lift to the bottom of the main waterfall, but it was closed. Back to the approaching darkness and more potholes, passing tea and coffee plantations, then suddenly about 40km from Dalat we were on a perfectly smooth dual carriageway, almost deserted, like another world. it was a short toll road, and soon we arrived in Dalat - a hill town 1500m above sea level with a fresh climate and - as we hope to see tomorrow - lots of flowers and lakes.

our hotel is the 4 star Dalat Resort, very posh, our room is twice the size of most hotel rooms and it is blissfully quiet. A good dinner with - a bottle of local white wine for the princely sum of $5!! And now to bed, but we have a long lie tomorrow - we don't leave till 9!

it rained today while we were driving
my chopstick technique is improving
our driver Quang is very good!