June 4, 2014
We got up early for breakfast and got ready for our half day tour. Went down to the
office near our hotel entrance and was met by our tour guide at exactly 5 minutes to 8
then started the ride to our first destination. We met an American couple who were very
friendly and chatted a bit with them. We were with a Hanoain family and a Korean guy too.
We started with a visit to Bao Dai palace which we learned was the residence of the last
Vietnamese Royal family when they visited Dalat and where the last crown prince spent
a lot of his time during his childhood. The place was crowded with many tourists and we
were instructed to use some cover for our shoes before entering the palace. I think it's a
good idea since removing the shoes is a bit unhygienic and has more chances of losing your
shoes. It's also good to save cost in cleaning and to preserve the palace. Inside showed the
private rooms of the royal family. Apparently the king and the queen dines separately with the
crown prince from the youngest prince and the three princesses. The crown prince has his
own room with yellow theme, the princesses used baby blue and pink in their rooms. There
was a sitting room where the king and queen sits on a big couch, the princes have their chairs
close to the king and queen and the princesses have lower chairs facing the king and queen.
And of course the king and the queen had their own private rooms too. I just can imagine
have prim and proper they must have been during that time. If by chance
I will time travel and end up in that household, I'll probably end up being punished most of the
time. We also tried using the royalty's clothes and tried sitting on a throne. We paid 60,000
VND for renting the clothes and posing on the thrones for a minute or two. There were a lot of
photographers who are willing to take a good photo of you for a price and yes we asked one
guy to take our pictures too. It was a unique experience and I recommend to try and be a royalty
for a few minutes at least.
We then proceeded to a church which they describe as chicken church and when we arrived I saw the wind vane is a chicken, so it was named as chicken Church. As a Catholic, it wasn't new since the Philippines is basically dotted with churches but In Vietnam, a church is a rare sight. We stayed for a few minutes then we went to the top of the hill that has a good view of the city. Of course, as a resident of Baguio, the view is like that of being on top of Aurora Hill. I did enjoy the cable car ride. It was nice riding high above the pine trees and looking at the lake. If only they can make that from Santo Tomas to Poblacion, Tuba. It would be a nice tourist attraction. We ended up at the monastery and went around admiring the flowers. What caught our attention though is the Buddha. We saw a lot of Buddhas in our travels which all look the same but by far, the ones that really gave a different impression was the bamboo Buddha that we saw in the museum in Nyaung Shwe. It was really beautiful and the second is the Buddha inside Thien Vuong Pagoda. It was a happy Buddha and it looks very pleasant. Finally we went down to Datanla Falls. There were a lot of people on the first two falls but on the third one with the elevator, only a handful actually dare to venture since it's a bit far. It is accessible by cable car or by walking. My experience was a bit tough though because when I went ahead of the group, I asked the guy giving tickets for the elevator for the price and I saw him scowling at me. I think, he was thinking I'm Chinese but when the American couple arrived with my sis. His attitude took a 180 degrees turn. He was probably thinking of what country I'm from. The best thing in this falls though was the cable car ride up hill. We had to queue for 30 minutes and screamed all the way up. It was a bit dangerous but fun...We were late though so the Hanoian family were again throwing dagger looks at us. Huh! it was fun but seriously, some people are no fun. We were mistaken most of the time as Chinese and the fact that what little Hanoian Vietnamese I know cannot be understood by the people in the South is even worse. The South is totally different from the North.
In the afternoon, we opted to explore Dalat Mảrket and got some stuff to bring back to Hanoi and in the evening, we joined a tour to watch traditional dance but what we got was a modern dance while wearing traditional clothes. It wasn't what we expected. It was like the eve before a wedding where relatives get to know each other and play matchmakers to young people from both clans hoping for another wedding. It was fun for some but I think, they should change the tour description. It was okay but am not recommending it.
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| Shoe cover before going inside the palace. |
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| Dressing up as a royalty |
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| A royalty's bedroom |
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| The palace gảrden |
We then proceeded to a church which they describe as chicken church and when we arrived I saw the wind vane is a chicken, so it was named as chicken Church. As a Catholic, it wasn't new since the Philippines is basically dotted with churches but In Vietnam, a church is a rare sight. We stayed for a few minutes then we went to the top of the hill that has a good view of the city. Of course, as a resident of Baguio, the view is like that of being on top of Aurora Hill. I did enjoy the cable car ride. It was nice riding high above the pine trees and looking at the lake. If only they can make that from Santo Tomas to Poblacion, Tuba. It would be a nice tourist attraction. We ended up at the monastery and went around admiring the flowers. What caught our attention though is the Buddha. We saw a lot of Buddhas in our travels which all look the same but by far, the ones that really gave a different impression was the bamboo Buddha that we saw in the museum in Nyaung Shwe. It was really beautiful and the second is the Buddha inside Thien Vuong Pagoda. It was a happy Buddha and it looks very pleasant. Finally we went down to Datanla Falls. There were a lot of people on the first two falls but on the third one with the elevator, only a handful actually dare to venture since it's a bit far. It is accessible by cable car or by walking. My experience was a bit tough though because when I went ahead of the group, I asked the guy giving tickets for the elevator for the price and I saw him scowling at me. I think, he was thinking I'm Chinese but when the American couple arrived with my sis. His attitude took a 180 degrees turn. He was probably thinking of what country I'm from. The best thing in this falls though was the cable car ride up hill. We had to queue for 30 minutes and screamed all the way up. It was a bit dangerous but fun...We were late though so the Hanoian family were again throwing dagger looks at us. Huh! it was fun but seriously, some people are no fun. We were mistaken most of the time as Chinese and the fact that what little Hanoian Vietnamese I know cannot be understood by the people in the South is even worse. The South is totally different from the North.
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| The chicken chủrch |
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| Panorama shot at the top |
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| The fun fun cable car ride |
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| The monastery |
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| Inside the temple is the happy Buddha |
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| Amazing falls |
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| The crazy ride uphill |
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| Dalat Market at night |
In the afternoon, we opted to explore Dalat Mảrket and got some stuff to bring back to Hanoi and in the evening, we joined a tour to watch traditional dance but what we got was a modern dance while wearing traditional clothes. It wasn't what we expected. It was like the eve before a wedding where relatives get to know each other and play matchmakers to young people from both clans hoping for another wedding. It was fun for some but I think, they should change the tour description. It was okay but am not recommending it.
