Dalat has been one of the drivers for me to actually go to Vietnam. During my trip to India a year back, one of my fellow travelers was constantly comparing Ooty with Dalat (“it is so Dalat”) – so I got curious … and wanted to see Dalat and get a picture on myself – to actually experience myself how Ooty Dalat is.

To answer the obvious question straightaway … I can see, where she was coming from, there a number of parallels between Ooty and Dalat … tea gardens, landscape, the “lushness” of nature and so on – so … yes, I think, it is a fair comparison.

Today was dedicated to explore Dalat and its surroundings. We kicked off in the morning with a visit to the “crazy house” (I decided against posting photos of that one – I took plenty, but they just don’t come along crazy enough, they just look surreal and that’s it). From here we continued to Bao Dai’s summer palace – after a tour around the palace and garden, we got back to the bus to head for the train station and then on to the cable car station to make our way to Truc Lam Pagoda. After an extensive visit to the pagoda (which in this case pagoda translates to a monastery) – partially thanks to a misunderstanding (pond vs. lake) – we were back to the bus and on our way to a waterfall (reached by a bobsled ride). Coming back from the waterfall we were hungry (it was already half past one), so it was time for lunch and another pagoda thereafter. And this time a pagoda, that actually looked like one 😉 – Linh Phuoc Pagoda.

We made it back to Dalat in the late afternoon. In the evening we headed into town – in time for a visit to a night market and for dinner in an interesting restaurant, that served an artist along with dessert. All in all a busy day … – and it’s so Ooty!