The tenth week

Day 64-70

12/12/23

The path from Bảo Lộc to Đà Lạt was beautiful again! We drove through quiet passes through the central mountains of Vietnam. The roads wound up the mountains and we zoomed over them on our scooters. We saw a lot of coffee plantations and learned that Vietnam is supposedly the second largest coffee exporting country. And most coffee is grown in the central mountains.

In between we stopped for coffee and noodle soup at a café at the top of a pass with a wonderful view of the valley below us.

Luckily, an ice cream seller drove onto the street in front of us in a village. We stopped straight away because it had good coconut ice cream!

When we arrived in Da Lat we stayed in “Mr. Peace Backpackers House”. In the evening there was a family dinner which we attended. Food should be served at 7 p.m. As is always the case in a family, at 7 p.m. the stairwell shouted "Food is ready!!! People come! Food!!!!" roared.

At dinner we met nice people from Italy, Great Britain and the USA. After dinner we played beer pong and pool. Around 10 p.m. we all went to the Maze Bar. Maze means Labyrinth in German and this bar was really a labyrinth! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures but I'll try to put it into words. You enter this bar through a door, of course. There is a bar at the entrance and then there are paths up or down. That was already the simple and clear part. This bar spans an entire building. There are various levels, many different staircases (normal steps up to holes in the ceiling with steep ladders), caves, niches and artistically designed sculptures. You lost your bearings very quickly! A guy who was there with us said he had been looking for a toilet for 20 minutes.

There was a bar upstairs and a large table for us. Only backpackers seemed to come to this bar. In between, a few people were playing hide-and-seek. The girl who had to hide won.

The bar closed at midnight. At around 12pm an employee came by and said there was an after party with a special offer. In my infinite naivety, I asked what the offer was. The people at the table were already laughing a bit. I was thinking cocktails or something. But the employee said “Mushrooms, LSD and so on”. Aja, thanks but no thanks!

Many still went to the party. We went back to the accommodation with the Italian Elisa. We were later told that the party was in a run-down house.

The next day we cured a slight headache and then walked around Da Lat.

Our destination was the “Crazy House”. The architect created a really crazy house: lots of stairs where you didn't know where they lead, small niches, seating in the shape of a flower, paths that led over the gable of a roof and everything was very artfully designed. This architect also designed the Maze Bar.

On December 14th Ivar got really sick. He stayed in bed with his cold and logged on to Netflix. With his Vietnamese cell phone number. It actually only costs €4/month!

I drove to Hồ Tuyền Lâm Lake. I drank a coffee there. There is a mountain nearby and it is forbidden to go up there. However, I also read that secret paths also lead up.

One of these paths is next to a cafe. I put my scooter there.

I was a little undecided. There was a security guard... Well, he can't do more than say no! So I went to the man and asked if I could go up the mountain. He put on his slippers and showed me the trail! Hahaha!

The path took me onto an asphalt road and this road went up to the summit. The view from the top was absolutely beautiful! There was a great view of the lake and Da Lat.

I also saw a few monkeys on the way down!

Back at the accommodation we ate soup and then watched Netflix together. My throat hurts.

That was the start of my cold. On December 15th I stayed in bed. With Netflix.

Ivar walked around the city a bit and came back to me in the evening to pick me up for soup.

We extended our stay at the property because we were not feeling well. We spent the next few days feeling limp in bed or going for a little walk.

On Sunday, December 18th, we wanted to go to a café. This venture was not successful because we overestimated our strength. So we went back to the accommodation.

In the afternoon we went out into town again. We ate some strawberries which were okay. Not only coffee is grown around Da Lat, but also strawberries.

In the evening we sat at the family diner again. We came together as super interesting people! This time we didn't go to the Maze Bar. We stayed seated and talked. The other people had enough exciting stories in store!