Tag 77: Great views between tea and coffee

Today we were supposed to reach the city of Da Lat. We drove on beautiful roads, where on both sides as far as the eye could see, there were coffee and tea plantations. When we were almost at the top of a pass, two backpackers on motorcycles wanted to overtake us. Due to the one in front trying to greet us, they came too close to each other and collided. I was in the front and in the rearview mirror I could only see two motorcycles sliding across the road. My heart sank because I knew Jan and Markus were behind me. I turned around and saw that they were okay, but the other motorcyclists were affected (it turned out later that they were from England). One of them seemed fine, but the second one was completely dazed and bleeding from the face, legs, and hands. A local stopped and took him to a 'doctor' who was about 500 meters away. We cleared the accident scene and then went to the doctor as well. There, we saw the injured person lying on a bed, completely out of it. Since his friend was taking care of him, I tried to explain to the local that this (a pharmacy with a bed) was not the right place and he needed to go to a hospital immediately. He said there was no ambulance here, but he could call a taxi. After a while, the taxi arrived and the two Englishmen went to the nearest hospital. We had no choice but to continue driving. After a short distance, we took a break and had some local coffee. The shock stayed with us until we arrived in Da Lat. The last 20 kilometers were all uphill until we finally reached the town located at an altitude of 1500 meters.

We checked into our hostel and then walked around the city. Primarily, we were looking for a place to repair my lens. In the third shop we visited, the seller said he could (possibly) repair it, but it would take 3 days. So, we rearranged our plans and decided to stay here for 3 nights instead of 2. We let the day sink in while enjoying an exceptionally delicious burger and a beer.