Part 5. What can a day be like if it starts in a lunatic asylum?
Start here:
1. Preface to the story of how I went to Vietnam
2. Morning in the middle of the night or Hello Comrade Beijing!
3. Ho Chi Minh City is delicious.
4. Part 4. Ho Chi Minh City-Dalat.
Day three, crazy, December 7.2015
This day started in a special way. It started at 5:40, with very unusual smells and sounds. Imagine - it's dark, almost night, I wake up from the smell of paint, open the window and hear the singing of a pioneer horn. . .
-tut-tutt-tuttu-tuttuuuu
. . . and all this happens in a real madhouse. No, not like that) In the Crazy House! At the Crazy House.
Well, let's go, I'll show you this circus)
I wake up completely. I once heard that the Vietnamese get up at 5 am. I don’t know how anyone, but I’m gradually turning into a Vietnamese)
My room is called "Bamboo" Bamboo is the fireplace. The bed is framed in the form of a "berlozhka", behind the curtains. It's cozy there. And a mirror on the ceiling) It was damp in the evening, but the fireplace was flooded and everything immediately became warm and dry) At night it got cold again and I wrapped myself over the blanket with a blanket
Perhaps because of the fireplace, an unpleasant smell began to stand out. The other members of our team did not complain and they did not heat the fireplace.
The flowers are real!
I'm going to wash my face. It's still dark outside. I really like the mosaic in the bathroom.
Pretty cool. While it's dark, there's nothing to do but drink tea).
Dawn in Vietnam quickly. However, as it gets dark) I go out on a photo hunt and immediately get lost in the many stairs and passages
More stairs.
Oh! And where does this lead? ))
Oh. Came to the construction site. Crazy House is constantly being built, constantly expanding. There is enough space, but probably just the hostess cannot stop. She's rushing! ) And I'll tell you, I'm a pearl there too! ))
From here, beautiful Dalat is in full view
Looking down.
I've seen photographs that really reflect all the splendor, but I somehow got too fragmented. Must watch live. Dedicated to everyone who has read Alice in Wonderland.
Or Russian fairy tales)
There, on unknown paths, traces of unseen animals. . .
It's still only 7.30, but the sun is already too bright and hits the lens wherever you turn.
Wow! Bee house) Honeymoon room.
Going deep into the jungle again
All I see is. . . narcotic) That's why it's worth spending the night in Crazy Houses - you're one on one with a fairy tale. Through the Looking Glass)
Again I go to the highest point. But in a different place.
I feel like I'm on top of the world)
I got lost in all this splendor) I rested in the belly of a giraffe.
Among the painted concrete, I found a ray of life.
The yard of the mistress of this madness. The owner's name is Madame Nga, she is an architect, she studied in Moscow. Throughout the Crazy House you can feel the motifs of Russian folk tales. So you are waiting for Baba Yaga to appear because of the next turn)
Morning in full swing. It's time to go to the center, have breakfast. The reception calls us a taxi. Two minutes and a taxi pulls up. Cafe Bicycle looks like a branch of Crazy House) A careful look will notice that yesterday we dined here.
Today we are going deeper. Mmm.... Unusual. . . It is proposed to have breakfast right among this rubbish.
I'm still not hungry especially after seeing the toilet. I’ve been thinking for a long time what I should order. . . Bohemia (that is, me)) has a cake for breakfast) The head of an alien increases appetite) We ate better cakes, I’ll tell you.
But coffee! Coffee in Vietnam is very special. Through this device, coffee drips into a cup in which condensed milk is already poured to the bottom. We wait until it digs out completely and drink an incomparable drink. The most delicious on the planet!
We return to Crazy House for our things. We won’t survive the second night there) There are a lot of people in the yard. From 8.30 the hotel is open as a museum. There are always many visitors here. It takes a lot of effort to photograph something without people. But I'm not lazy))
We go to our rooms to pick up our suitcases. I open the door, hear Russian speech and invite these people to come in and see the room. For about 10 minutes, different people come and go to me, asking how we decided to spend the night here) One couple can’t understand how we ourselves flew to Vietnam.
- How? - they ask - you are without a travel agent? All by yourself?
We're all on our own)
We can buy air tickets, book hotels, arrange insurance and obtain visas ourselves.
During the checkout, it turns out that there is not enough hangers in my room. Clothes hangers on which clothes hang in the closet.
-It was fife, but it became frustrated, the girl from the reception is telling me.
I am looking for a hanger. I'm looking under the bed, on the closet, in the bathroom. . . I shake the blanket, I look under the pillow, behind the bed and even at the fireplace. . . I don't have a fifth! It's a pity that no one took pictures of us at that time)
- I don’t know, I say, where did this hanger and when they just managed to snatch it away , but let's decide something. If you want, check my luggage, I didn't take your hanger.
Dead end.
The girl needs a hanger.
I have to leave, I have big plans for the day.
We are standing.
She runs.
I'm angry.
WASHALK!
Her price is 3 kopecks on a market day.
Well, it would have been written on it that she was from Crazy House, one would have thought then that they were dragging Russo tourists for souvenirs) But this is just a hanger.
Finally, the girl runs up and says that we can go.
I am angry and dissatisfied. It's like I'm labeled as a hanger thief. I guess I'm waiting for an apology, or at least any attempt to make amends. But no. They call us a taxi. We're leaving in a couple of minutes. The spoons were found, in general, but the sediment remained.
We arrive at another hotel. It's still early, but the rooms are ready. We are making out. The hotel is called Melody. Clock in the form of notes)
Here we will also spend one night. Tomorrow we fly further north. The hotel is beautiful. After the phantasmagoria of Crazy House, it seems like a model of purity and harmony.
And the views!
Finally, we are free. We take a taxi, we go to the station.
Once the station in Dalat was a real station and there were many trains that carried goods and passengers through the mountains. But that was a long time ago, now it's more of a tourist attraction. Old Station. It is said to be the most beautiful in Indochina.
Engine)
From here, the train, which has been called the slowest train in the world, runs to the suburb of Dalat, where Linh Phuoc Pagoda is located.
It is to this pagoda that we are heading. There are several flights per day in the schedule, but in practice there are none. The next train, they tell us, is only at three o'clock in the afternoon. There is nothing to do, we go to the pagoda by taxi.
Linh Phuoc Pagoda is very beautiful. Although it also looks like Crazy House in places)
I understand that I can’t show you everything that I saw there, so I’ll show myself) Dalat is a mountainous city. There is a special climate here and in places it is noticeably cool.
The whole pagoda is lined with mosaics. Before the trip, I read that this is only a battle of cups and plates.
But there I also heard another version - there is a battle, and actually this is how this temple was started to be built, but now the main mosaic is made of special porcelain.
I love dragons, from this point of view Vietnam is my country. There are dragons everywhere.
Dragons are great!
The temple is active. There are many different halls and people are praying everywhere.
I wander around the temple for a long time, I don’t want to leave. But more interesting places are planned ahead. The taxi driver is waiting for us, apparently there are not many orders, it is more profitable to wait for those who will return to the city for sure than to look for new passengers. We got lost with this taxi driver) We asked to be taken to the cable car station and even showed us the place on the map. But for some reason he took us to the wrong place. The off-line map Maps me saved the situation, I highly recommend it! You can clearly see where you are going or going)
At the cable car station, we had lunch in a canteen with a gorgeous view.
All devices were dead and we began to charge everything right at the tables. There is a socket under every table. In this regard, there are no photos of lunch) We ate some kind of salad, rice and shrimp. I've become pretty good at using my chopsticks. The prices are quite modest, the food is quite tasty, the place is quite decent. But I don’t remember the name.
We go down to the lake and Chuk Lam monastery on the cable car. The views are mesmerizing. It's a short drive, but it's all very beautiful. And it doesn't look like Vietnam)
It's already about 3 o'clock and we, without entering the territory of the monastery (which I regretted later), are looking for a way to the waterfall.
We planned to spend the evening at the monastery and return the same way on the cable car, so we took tickets back and forth, but then the plans changed and as a result we didn’t see the monastery, and the return tickets disappeared. What is inconvenient in Vietnam is the short day in all significant places. The cable car operates from 07:30 to 11:30 and from 13:00 to 17:00. Well, at least until 19! ) Then we would all have time.
Now our goal is the Datanla waterfall. We take a taxi again. They say it’s not far (2 km) and on foot, but I didn’t find a direct way, and along the road that the taxi driver drove us, it’s clearly not close and there are no sidewalks. And we didn't have much time to walk. The waterfall is also up to 17)
We continue to look for the waterfall) This is the ticket office.
The waterfall itself is not very remarkable. In the dry season, it differs little from the many waterfalls we have already seen. But the road to it is interesting. At first we rode the cable car. Then by taxi. We have 3 more modes of transport ahead of us.
Don't switch! )
Now we will go on the most unusual transport) This is a sleigh. Yes, it's called a sled. It rides on rails, manual control. That is, you slow down and pick up speed yourself.
Two minutes of fun and we get to the top of the waterfall.
I'm delighted! ) I love waterfalls. The rest of our team is much less impressed.
But I promised 2 more transports) Another cable car is waiting for us. Right above the next fragment of the waterfall. I'm riding in a cabin alone, I'm happy as a child)
And here is a rather unexpected type of transport - an elevator! ) There is a real elevator right in the middle of the forest.
The elevator door opens and "Guest from the Future" comes to mind:
-Alice, I have myelophone!
Going down to the last tier of the Datanla waterfall. There are no people at all. You and nature. Beautiful.
The day is drawing to a close. Literally half an hour later, the last cabin of the cable car takes us up. For a few more minutes, the sleigh, hooked on by a powerful cable, crawls uphill to the taxi stand. It's starting to rain. I put on a raincoat. Oh how hot! We confer for a few minutes whether to go to the monastery or not. The sky is overcast, dusk is coming. We are tired and we are hot - raincoats are steamed. We decide not to go. We take another taxi and go to the hotel. Now I regret very much that I did not go to the monastery. Literally after 20 minutes, the rain stopped and a beautiful sunset happened, which was hard to see from the hotel, where the terrace faces northeast. It's just a reflection of the sunset.
But then I was very, very tired and probably it was the only right choice. In addition, the evening quickly got colder.
We are resting at the hotel, waiting for the restaurant on the terrace to open. The restaurant doesn't want us. Maybe out of season? ) Already in the dark we go to the city center to have dinner.
Cafe Goc Ha. Who is going to Dalat - write down the name. Great food. Pleasant contingent. And they will teach you how to eat Vietnamese dishes.
I take rice paper, moisten it in water, put it on my plate. I put those little things on the paper - red and yellow, on top of a small little thing that looks like slices of radish, then greens and quickly wrap it in stuffed cabbage)
If you dig for a long time, the paper sticks to the plate and that's it - the roll did not work out. Start over. I spin the roll quickly, but the paper falls apart in places) I hold it in my hand, dip everything in the sauce - mmmmm, the food of the Gods! It was a warm up. The next dish is shrimp rice. Everything is simple here, but, nevertheless, we are still shown how it is. Put more rice on your plate, more shrimp on top. Well, pour the liquid with a spoon. More too! )
ALL food in Vietnam is very, very tasty. The only thing they didn't always manage to do was desserts.
But I must say that eating in Vietnam is not for the faint of heart) Food is often cooked on the sidewalks, among parked motorcycles and running rats. In addition, the Vietnamese do all their homework right there, on the sidewalks. We saw many pictures from the life of the Vietnamese. How they cut each other's hair, color, look for lice, cut nose hair, wash dishes, cook food, clean vegetables, eat, wash motorcycles and bicycles, just relax in half a nap... And all this on the sidewalks. And pedestrians either know how to jump over all this, or walk along the roadway.
After eating, we, already sleepy, are looking for a taxi to go to the hotel.
The boys are washing their bikes.
The day seems endless to me. Sleepy, pale with fatigue, I get to my bed. Frozen terribly. I'm wearing thermal underwear, jeans and a jacket) It's +15 outside. In fact, the day ended there. I warmed myself in the shower for a long time and fell asleep almost there) Tomorrow we get up at 4.30 and fly to the city of Da Nang. The life of a traveler is hard, but interesting! )
And in the next post, I will tell you about a gorgeous day - independent, how I walked alone, through the Marble Mountains in Da Nang and got to the hotel in another city myself.
Whole cycle:
1. Preface to the story of how I went to Vietnam
2. Morning in the middle of the night or Hello Comrade Beijing!
3. Ho Chi Minh City is delicious.
4. Part 4. Ho Chi Minh City-Dalat.
5. Part 5. What would a day be like if it started in a madhouse?
6. Part 6. Da Nang. Marble mountains.
7. Part 7. The soulful city of Hoi An.
8. Part 8. Why did they destroy Michonne?
9. Part 9. By air, by sea, by land.
10. Part 10. Must see. Halong bay.
