Day 10 June 12, 2012: -Overland to Da Lat -Tour of Da Lat -Home-Hosted Dinner
Today was a <travel day to Da Lat>, nicknamed the "City of Eternal Spring," admiring the rice paddies, vegetable patches, and gently sloping hills that we pass along the way. We stopped for a cultural lesson at a <Vietnamese cemetery> where we learned about the symbolism. The graves look they are placed haphazardly. Each grave is placed in a position after the family consults with the village shaman. <Continuing Travel to Da Lat > Prized by Vietnamese for its mild climate, Da Lat is in the mountains. It was the summer residence of Viet Nam’s last emperor, Bao Dai. Dalat and is surrounded by misty valleys that often obscure its picturesque lake, numerous flower farms, tea and coffee plantations, pine forests and French colonial architecture. We arrived in Da Lat around noon. After lunch we had a <Da Lat city tour> We visited the Da Lat local market and after lunch we rode the cable car to the hilltop Truc Lam Pagoda. I love roaming the local markets <Da Lat Market>. The people are so accommodating. They always give me things to try and eagerly await my response. I am always game to try new things as long as they look okay. If an item looks “ugly” I will politely refuse but most times I have enjoyed the experience. Dalat’s Central Market is one of the largest in the country and surrounded by cafés and shops selling wine and candied fruit. The second floor is devoted to food stalls. The ground floor contains the diversity of produce grown in the: tomatoes, avocados, asparagus, strawberries and just about any fruit you can think of and of course flowers. <Da Lat Cable Car to Cap Treo> The cable-car ride extends over 1¼ miles and offers panoramas of villages and mountain forests, all the way to the Thien Vien Truc Lam (Bamboo Forest Meditation Center). The Zen-style Buddhist monastery was built in 1993 and has about 100 monks and 80 nuns in residence. The temple is said to benefit from perfect feng-shui placement, with Nui Pin Haat (Pin Hat Mountain) behind and Quang Trung Reservoir below. The artificial lake was created in 1980 and is a recreational area with rowing-boats and canoes.
<Trúc Lâm Temple> is a Zen Buddhist temple located on 60 acres of pine-covered Phượng Hoàng Hill. Of the 60 acres, there are just five acres that are occupied by buildings. The five acres are divided between the domestic and public areas. The domestic area contain quarters for monks and nuns. Each of the domestic quarters contains meeting rooms for sangha (assembly), a meditation hall, a kitchen and dining room. There are approximately 50 monks and 50 nuns in religious practice at the temple. The statue in the main ceremonial hall is of Gautama Buddha seated on a lotus, joined on either side by bodhisattvas Văn Thù Sư Lợi and Phổ Hiền, known for their wisdom and dedication. The adjacent hall is used on the 14th and 29th day of each lunar month (eve of the full moon and new moon,) when the abbot holds a discussion session on meditation with students and lay Buddhists.
After getting back to our hotel I set out on my own Da Lat tour. During our city tour and lunch I saw a CD music store and I thought I could find it. No way - but I did have a business card from the lunch restaurant. I found a MotoMan. He took me to the CD store and then back to the hotel. He asked me for $1. I wish you could have seen his face when I gave him $2.
One of the activities on all Grand Circle/Oversea Adventure Travel itineraries is a <Home Hosted Dinner>. This evening we experienced local culture over dinner with a local family in their home in Da Lat. This was another chance to meet with a typical Vietnamese family and learn about their daily lives and share our lives with them.
Crazy House
The Hang Nga Guesthouse is also known as the Crazy House. It is an unconventional building designed and constructed by Vietnamese woman architect Đặng Việt Nga in Đà Lạt, Vietnam. Hang Nga guesthouse was originally a personal project by Nga who received a PhD in architecture from the University of Moscow. The building’s overall design resembles a giant banyan tree, incorporating sculptured design elements representing natural forms such as animals, mushrooms, spider webs and caves. Its expressionist architecture comprises complex, organic, non-rectilinear shapes. In her design philosophy Nga was inspired by architect Antoni Gaudí. Visitors to
Crazy House” draw parallels with the works of Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney. Since its opening in 1990, the building has gained recognition for its unique architecture, and has been highlighted in numerous travel guidebooks. Frommer's Vietnam, calls the guesthouse "an interesting, evolving piece of pop art,"and "a fun visit." In 2009, the building was listed by the Chinese People’s Daily as one of the world’s ten most “bizarre” buildings. Rather than using standard architectural plans as blueprints, Nga produced paintings, and hired non-professional local craftsmen to transform her ideas into structural elements. There are very few right angles in the building, instead there is a complex organic structure echoing natural forms. The building’s exterior resembles a five-story-high banyan tree. Stairways and hallways inside the building are designed to resemble tunnels and caves. The guesthouse has ten animal themed guest rooms: tiger room, eagle room, ant room, kangaroo room, each with decorations matching the theme. The walls of the tiger room, for instance, feature a large tiger with glowing red eyes; the kangaroo room incorporates a sculpted kangaroo with a fireplace in its belly; the fireplace in the eagle room is in the form of a giant eagle’s egg.
<Crazy House Photos 1> <Crazy House Photos 2> <Crazy House Photos 3>
Viet Nam Photos Page 6