February 8 Dalat

We began the tour this morning with a visit to a so called "minority village".  As best I can determine the people here are what we would usually refer to as a tribe.  They have there own language and customs and were among the first inhabitants of Vietnam.  There are I believe 59 such groups in the country.  Most of the people are very poor so many children do not attend school.  Those who do do not have much in the way of materials from which to learn.

This is a community where families with girl children are severely disadvantaged.  If a girl finds a boy she would like to marry her parents must go and talk to him and his family.  If he agrees to the union the girl's parents must pay for the ceremony and also pay a dowry of twenty hand woven sarongs and five water buffalo.  The woman who was our guide in the village comes from a poor family of eight girls so has no hope of every marrying.

They do some excellent weaving in the village and we were encouraged by Vu to purchase something to help the community.  I think that most everyone did.

From there we went to the "Elephant Waterfalls".  Not at all impressive probably because it is the dry season.

Then it was off to the steam railway station.  Also not particularly impressive.  I skipped lunch and sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the serene railway station.

After lunch we went to the cable cars for a ride down from high in the hills to the village.  The view was ok but there were better 'photo ops' from the station above.  The ride on the cable cars outside of Cairns, Queensland was much more interesting.

Off to another pagoda which I skipped.  Then to a "crazy house" which is a hotel of sorts still under construction but all of the stairways and rooms are twisted, cockeyed and just plain weird.  You definitely would not want to return there after a night on the town and attempt to locate your room.

Finally we stopped at the house of the "Crazy Monk"  but he wasn't there so we proceeded to an embroidery shop and dropped a few people off before returning to the hotel.

Breakfast this morning wasn't as sumptuous as most have been.  I was looking forward to the soup but after one taste I had to put it aside as it contained far too much coriander for me to cope with so early in the morning.  In the end I had a few fried noodles, a bit of fried rice and some pieces of baguette.  Coffee was good - much like espresso and served in a small water glass.  When I sat down for breakfast I chose an empty table as I usually do so that I could have a cigarette after.  even though I was smoking at the table people kept coming and by the time I left there were seven people there.  So much for my being careful and considerate.

Had a very good dinner tonight - seafood soup (though the only sign of seafood was a few miniature shrimp and a few microscopic bits of squid) and a main course of fried (no batter) cuttlefish in a spicy tomato sauce.  Although the sauce left a burning sensation it wasn't one of those that blow the top of your head off so I enjoyed it.  Of course, klutz that I am, I dropped a piece of fish back into the sauce from my chopsticks and slopped on both my shirt and the clean white tablecloth - not once but twice.  Good grief.

Another long bus ride to Nha Trang tomorrow.  We were told that we have to hurry because we are scheduled for a mud bath when we get there.  News to me but I can't decide if it is good or bad news....