Da Lat, Veggie Capital of Vietnam

It's the beginning of August, marking my last full month of travel. Since arriving in Asia on June 14, I've seen many markets in Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Here's some proof that I'm still not sick of them.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Dalat's cooler climate means it is a vegetable haven. Things can grow here that can't grow in the rest of the (hot, humid) country.

Strawberries?!

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Here's where they've been keeping all the avocados. But don't touch them. Dana tried to buy one and the lady pulled out a banged-up, ugly black one, instead of these green beauties. Dana tried to pick up one of the green ones and the vendor slapped her hand away. We decided not to buy one after all.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

The next day we ordered guacamole at a local restaurant-it was delicious, albeit unique. It was mashed avocado with peppers, cucumber, tomato, and chili. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of it.


Selling Agriculture in the rain:

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

I almost died when I saw these. Blackberries? Mom, can we have blackberry cobbler when I get home? Please?

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

I'm hoping they compost this:

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Our Easy Rider tour with Stephane was interesting because we visited some farms and asked about pesticide use in Vietnam. I hadn't considered it until our tour, but Stephane told us that Vietnamese farmers use copious amounts of chemicals/pesticides. He's not a farming expert (plus there was a language barrier), so I'm not sure exactly which pesticides are commonly used here, but it makes sense that farmers have to use chemicals. Farmers here make little money, and they want to maximize the small income by ensuring their crops are as large and sturdy as possible. We were pleased to learn that crop rotation is a common practice, but I am a little scared about all the pesticides I've ingested from the plethora of vegetables I've consumed here. The highly corrupt Vietnamese government obviously isn't going to focus on limiting pesticides. Our own government doesn't do a good job of it, so I'm sure most other countries (besides the EU) have limited pesticide protection in place.

But I digress.

Dried fruits & nuts:

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Towards the end of the market, we also saw a restaurant selling some unique, fresh seafood.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

A Dalat specialty: Artichoke tea.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Finally, Dalat is the only place in Vietnam cool enough to grow grapes. Dalat wine is offered on menus in most restaurants throughout Vietnam. We tried a glass of red and it was young and brash, but it mellowed after sitting for about 15 minutes. Not the best wine, but for $1.50 per glass, it wasn't horrible.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Easy Riding in Dalat I

After the overnight bus, we arrived in the central highlands of Vietnam.
The cool climate was extremely refreshing and allowed us to recover from our long and crazy journey on the night bus (and the subsequent 4-hour bus from Nha Trang to Dalat with 16 Vietnamese people in a 12-person bus. but that's another story).

Dalat is the home of the "Easy Riders", a group of motorcyclist tour guides well-known throughout Vietnam.

Unfortunately, it's been raining on and off during our time here, so our guide suggested we take a car instead of a motorcycle.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Our tour started around 8:30 and we were picked up by "Stefan" and his driver. They basically drove us around the area north of Dalat and Stefan told us anecdotes about the history of the area and Vietnamese culture.

We visited a dragon pagoda with a cool Buddha statue. Although people in Vietnam practice a sort of "triple religion" incorporating Confucianism, Buddhism, and ancestor worship, most people will describe themselves as Buddhist.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

We visited a local farm and talked (via Stefan) with farmers growing roses and chili pepper plants.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

We also saw coffee plantations - Vietnam is the world's second largest exporter of coffee, tea, and rice.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Coffee:

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Another common sight, snake wine:

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Next, we tried some local coffee. This was so rich and thick that it rolled off the spoon like syrup. I was only able to handle a few tiny sips.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Dalat was beautiful despite the rain and it was good to have a tour guide who could tell us interesting stories about the area.

The Last Supper: The Overnight Bus in Vietnam

As our last day in Hoi An, Vietnam, drew to a close, Dana and I decided to seek out a nice dinner, knowing that we would be spending the forseeable future on an overnight bus.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

We found The Secret Garden, a cute restaurant tucked into a side alley off one of Hoi An's main tourist roads, Le Loi.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

We saw that there was live music every night and we decided to relax in a nice environment. There's nothing wrong with the super-cheap, casual places we normally visit, but it was nice to be in a different environment.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

After some delicious salad & fish, we looked around the restaurant, which really is outside in the middle of a garden.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Delicious grilled aubergine:

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Dana's fish:

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

The restaurant also offers cooking classes, which looked really fun.
The cooking class at a communal table behind the pond:

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

We returned to our hotel at 6:30, and the overnight bus was scheduled to pick us up sometime between 6:30 and 7. Somehow, we almost missed the bus and it was already picking people up down the road. We were shuttled a few blocks away with our backpacks and deposited into an enormous coach filled with reclined seats. I have never seen a "sleeper bus" before and it was very bizarre.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

After only a half hour, the lights turned off and people started drifting to sleep. I wanted to keep reading but the bus was pitch dark. I fiddled with a light near my head and it emitted a faint glow. Not exactly reading light material. After using a mini mag light for a while, we pulled into a rest stop around 11pm.

In typical Vietnam travel fashion, the bus unloaded into a cafe filled with Vietnamese people eating noodles, meat, and rice. Most of the tourists were very disoriented after sleeping on the bus for a few hours (I suspect some of them were also disoriented thanks to the cheap and ubiquitous Valium sold over the counter around SE Asia).

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Street Food in Da Lat

The market in Da Lat, Vietnam was quite a sight. But if you're a traveler with no kitchen, how can you enjoy the fresh fruits and vegetables?

Simple: sample some street food.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

After a long day of walking, we saw this woman cooking omelettes over a small grill. She placed a thin rice paper on the grill, dropped a spoonful of pepper and green onions on top, and cracked an egg over the rice paper.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

The cost: 6,000 Vietnamese dong ($0.35 USD).
Simple yet delicious:

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Also spied: grilled corn and yams. A very common sight around SE Asia.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Bespoke Clothing in Hoi An

Hoi An, a small tourist town in central Vietnam, is particularly well-known for one thing: custom tailors.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Despite the town's small size, there are over 500 custom tailor shops. You can't walk more than two steps without people calling out to you, hoping you'll stop in and request an entirely new wardrobe.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Since I'll be starting business school in September and my clothing collection could use some serious refreshment, I tried to pick some pieces that would be practical. Since the clothes are hand-made, it's a better idea to get items that you really need tailored to your body... this is not the place for t-shirts or pajamas.

If I were a man working at a job requiring business professional dress, I would be in heaven. A custom suit will run you between $50-200 depending on the quality of the fabric and tailor.

Like anything in Vietnam, it is difficult to sort the serious high-quality shops from the cheap and careless. I heard that the tailor business became so popular in Hoi An that anyone with an English-speaker in their family opened a shop, regardless of tailor experience or skill.

I ended up visiting five shops and having something made at each one. Some of my favorite things - custom linen pants for $11.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

And a custom dress

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

Regardless of whether these clothes hold up for a long time (most have to be hand-washed or dry-cleaned), they were a great value and it was fun to have something made exactly to my specifications! I was really skeptical about coming to Hoi An, I thought it would be packed and touristy.

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

It is touristy, but the town is small, laid-back, and absolutely beautiful. Definitely worth a stop for 2-3 days!

From K - Hoi An & Dalat

From K - Hoi An & Dalat