February 7 Saigon to Dalat

An exhausting day.  No matter how many positions I tried to sit in the bus to get comfortable and/or to sleep it proved impossible.  The drive seemed never ending even though we had a few stops.  Childlike, I often felt like screaming, "Are we there yet?"  There wasn't a good deal to see save the endless line of open fronted shops, shops and more shops.  Sometimes it feels as if there are more shops than people.  We were wondering last night how any of them manage to make  a profit because there are so many the same.  I suppose in this economy one must eke out a living one dong at a time.  An example:  I bought a can of beer from (ok, ok, several cans LOL) one of the small shops for 8,000 dong.  I don't know how much the shop owner paid for it.  The same thing in the restaurant cost 12,000 dong so the restaurant made a profit of 4,000 or about $0.25.  Good percentage profit but the trouble is the shop is owned and run by one person or family while the restaurant has much more overhead and staff over which it must spread the 4,000.  Doesn't leave much margin.

I had noticed before but kept forgetting to record that the homes here don't waste time, energy or money on useless things like lawns.  Surrounding each house is hard pan dirt or gardens or storage or whatever weeds happen to sprout there.  Often cattle graze on whatever sustenance they can find there.

As we climbed the hills into the Dalat region it became much cooler.  We are now about 1,500 meters above sea level and tonight it is between fifteen and twenty degrees I would guess.  People are wearing jackets as heavy as the one I wear at home all winter and looking at me as if I am nuts in short sleeves and shorts.  Some of the hills/mountains are much higher than we are, probably twice as high.

One of the places we stopped was a tea and coffee plantation but it is out of season for coffee so we didn't see anything other than the coffee trees and the tea bushes form which they harvest the tender new leaves once a month.  The fields are huge and the back breaking work of picking leaves one at a time makes me tired just imagining it.  One of the other stops was at a lacquer factory.  Since I had seen the process earlier I didn't go through it.  One of the group bought a large piece and arranged to have it shipped home (she hopes).  The piece cost her $190.00 and the shipping cost $130.00.  Sorry, I didn't see it so cannot describe it.

We arrived at the hotel around 6:30 and arranged to meet to go to dinner at 7:45.  It was all I could do to remain awake until then.  My room is so small that the only places I can open my suitcase are  on the floor or the bed.  The only place I can plug in my laptop is the bathroom.  Luckily my cord is long enough to reach the small desk.  Others say that they have large rooms.

At lunch I was thrilled to see porcupine on the menu as i have wanted to taste that for years.  Sadly, they didn't have any in stock.  Ditto for the chicken and asparagus soup I wanted.  I settled for mushroom soup unlike any I have ever had before.  There was something hard and crunchy in it  but I have no idea what it was.  The mushrooms appeared to be shavings from dried mushrooms and the broth was clear.  Supper was yet another set menu with an excellent pureed vegetable soup, tempura type shrimp with a great coating, fresh make them yourself spring rolls and a hot pot with shrimp, beef, pork, tofu and lots of vegetables.  After dinner the group walked back to the hotel but I was given a ride on the back of a motorcycle.

Like others in both groups before me I have now developed a full blown cold or bronchitis and don't feel all that great.   I managed to find a one day supply of Dristan in my suitcase but that is now gone.   Knowing me and colds I expect this will remain with me for the rest of the journey unless I find an exotic oriental cure...

It is now 10:30 and I am exhausted so will head off to bed.