The secret garden - Da Lat, Vietnam [Day 5-6]

After my stay in Saigon it is finally time to head to Da Lat. Saigon didn't really impress me. It's a big city, it's not really my style of travel. But now I made it to Da Lat and it is gorgeous. It's a city in the mountains and it has amazing views. I arrived here by bus. It was a 7-hour bus ride, but I did not mind this at all. This bus was very comfortable, for once.

Usually I struggle a lot with legroom but this bus is a sleeping bus. Even tho I took it during daytime. Every seat is very comfortable. I took this time to chill out, listen to music, call friends from home and get some writing done.

I eventually arrive in Da Lat. I had seen the scenery through the window of the bus and it is absolutely gorgeous. I am so glad to be away from Ho Chi Minh City. Now I wonder why I stayed so long in that place.

I'm staying in Mooka's Home. This place is so nice. The staff is friendly, the people staying here are very social. The hostel is clean, we get 1 free beer each night. It's just nice.

Exploring by motorbike

The next day, I get a motorbike to go and explore the area. My plan? Trying to get in the mountain area for a nice view. I'm driving around in random streets trying to get view. And I managed to get some too! The area here is just so nice. First I stopped near the "hồ xuân hương" lake. It's a big lake in the middle of the city. There's a small island here with a garden and a restaurant. I managed to get this picture here.

Next I finally make it into the more mountain area. I get some amazing views here.

It's hard to get good pictures of the views. They are so much better in real life than in the picture. I also had to stop for some "bánh mì".

I keep driving around and find myself near the "hồ tuyền lâm" lake. It's a huge and calm lake in Da Lat. A lot of Vietnamese people were here to take pictures. They even dressed up to get a good picture 😂. I guess Instagram is really popular here too!

The secret garden

I took my time to drive around this lake. Suddenly I pass a sign that said "secret garden". So I decided to follow it to check it out. Why not? It's probably very nice.

The road to this place is very sketchy. It's an unpaved road with steep hills. I'm thinking to myself. Is this worth it? Should I continue? I don't want to get stuck here. I was about to turn around, but then I noticed that quite a lot of people are going this direction, so it must be worth it. So I continue this path and I am glad I did.

The place is calm. It really is a secret garden. Well it's not that secret because it's on the map. But it is tucked away. Actually there are a lot of people here for those Instagram pictures. They specifically dressed up for this.

Lunch with a view

On the way back I stop by a small restaurant by the side of the road. They have an amazing view too and there were only a few locals eating here. This place looks very cozy I just can't help myself to get some food here.

But the language barrier kicks in. A lot of people in Vietnam do not know any English at all. This makes it extremely hard to communicate. I manage to order a meal by pointing at it on the menu. But I did not manage to order a drink and I am very thirsty.

There was a couple sitting a bit to the right of me that had drinks. It seemed like some iced chocolate milk and it just looks like heaven to me. So I want the same drink. When they brought my food I asked for a drink. So I said to the guy "drink" and I did the hand gesture of drinking. But he did not understand. He showed me the bottle of chili sauce. I'm like "No, drink" and I point at the other's drink and then he goes to that table and points at the drink and I'm like "Yes".

The food itself was really local. I had "Bún bò giò". I didn't really like it that much and that was for 1 reason. It had a big blob of boiled blood in it, eww. I do not like this at all. I didn't touch this but it was floating around in my bowl. The noodles and vegetables were good, but when I would take a sip of the soup I could taste the blood. So I wasn't able to finish my meal.

The positive side of this is that the view was amazing! It's a really nice area and I was surrounded by locals.

Evening BBQ

In the evening there's a rooftop BBQ in the hostel. This is so nice. We all got together around the big tables on the rooftop and grilled our food. There's nothing that brings people more together than food. We all get talking, share stories and experiences. It's just wonderful. I make some more friends and I managed to meet up with someone to go hiking to the Liangbiang Peak tomorrow. It's the highest point of Dalat.

The BBQ itself was really great. The food was delicious. There were 3 types of meat, spring rolls, bread, mashed potatoes (OMG have I missed potatoes, LOL), vegetables and fruit. The total price of this was only 100,000 VND (€3.80). There was so much food we weren't able to finish it.

After the food, we end up chilling at the rooftop until it's time for me to hit the bed. Tomorrow will be a big day as I will hike to the highest point of Dalat!

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