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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2009 19:34:03 GMT
Dalat is quite an unusual place in Vietnam, because it has a completely temperate climate with an average of only 18°. The temperature rarely exceeds 25°C even at the hottest of times. It is located at an altitude of 1500m in the central highlands and was developed by the French colonizers as an antidote to sweltering, muggy Saigon. It attracts thousands of Vietnamese honeymooners due to its lakes and pine forests, but one thing that attracted me was its unusual agriculture. Since it doesn't get as hot as the rest of the country, the French were able to grow items that don't grow anywhere else in Vietnam, and this has created some strange anomalies over the years -- such as being the only city where artichokes are grown and appreciated. Peas, radishes, strawberries and peaches are also found in abundance. And apples are even called bom in Dalat, after the French word pomme. In any case, the agricultural fields are lovely. (to be continued)
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 8, 2009 20:22:53 GMT
What beautiful pictures! The soil is red? Is that from clay content?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2009 20:38:54 GMT
I got enough of it caked on my shoes to confirm that it is clay.
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Post by imec on Jun 8, 2009 20:40:44 GMT
I think it's iron content isn't it?
Looks like a magical place!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2009 20:41:54 GMT
Amazing, I've never seen gardens like these before! And so colorful.
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Post by Jazz on Jun 9, 2009 1:04:00 GMT
Beautiful. The first is like a painting. The rich burnt sienna of the earth is like, sienna. This is a clay found around Siena, Italy, the most notable Renaissance location of the day. It is rich in iron and was one of the first pigments to be used by humans and is found in many cave paintings.
There is so much care taken to sculpture these lovely terraces.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2009 5:10:23 GMT
The whole area was dotted with old French colonial houses in variable states of disrepair. My favorite didn't look like a French relic, but definitely a relic. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese don't really like these old houses, and most of them have been torn down now. The newly affluent classes prefer their houses to look like this. One old thing that has been carefully preserved is the Dalat train station. There was a train line that went to Saigon, but it was bombed during the most recent war and never repaired. The only train that uses the station now just goes eight kilometers. Anybody who has been to Normandy in France should be able to recognize this station. It is an (almost) exact replica of the Trouville-Deauville train station. During the war of the 1960's and 70's, Dalat was preserved from attack through a tacit agreement between the warring parties. The South Vietnamese ruling class was still allowed to relax here without worrying, and the town surrendered peacefully on April 3rd, 1975. It is lucky not to have any minefields around it or unexploded devices, unlike many other parts of Vietnam. The woods are completely safe. There is therefore no reason to wonder if the local roadsigns are made by disabled veterans. (to be continued) (thanks, everybody, for your nice comments) |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2009 5:14:34 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Jun 9, 2009 7:12:23 GMT
The photos are fascinating - especially because I recognised 2 flowers which grow prolifically here in South Africa.
First one is the "Golden Shower" over the entrance to the double-story house with a bit of washing on the line.
Second, the pink flowers in the garden of the little iron house are "Cosmos" - they grown alongside the highways and nearer Gauteng (Transvaal) grow in huge fields. Besides pink they come in white & red, and a deep fuschia colour.
Thanks Kerouac! I wonder if they have the same name?
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Post by hwinpp on Jun 9, 2009 10:03:23 GMT
Dalat is the vegetable capital of VN, now starting to branch into organic vegetables! Most of the organic stuff offered in Cambodian hotels comes from Dalat.
It's also the honeymoon capital of VN.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2009 16:47:22 GMT
Yes, Dalat is indeed the garden of Vietnam. I could almost (not quite) become vegetarian there. The vegetables served in the restaurants are absolutely eye-popping.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 9, 2009 16:48:33 GMT
Oh ~~ good eyesight, Tod2! I couldn't discern what the vine was over that entryway. I love cosmos -- are they native to S.Africa, as are so many beautiful and useful plants? Come on over to Putting Down Roots and hang out with the gardeners!  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2009 17:31:38 GMT
What attracts Vietnamese tourists to Dalat (besides the food) is not the crumbling colonial charm or looking at agricultural fields that they can see all over the country. What really fascinates them are the pine forests and the lakes, things which I find quite ordinary, but which are highly exotic to them. |
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Post by imec on Jun 10, 2009 18:39:43 GMT
Truly fascinating - few of these pictures depict what I would have expected to find there - you never know...
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2009 19:00:57 GMT
On my first trip to Dalat, I found myself irresistably drawn to the idea of staying at the infamous Hang Nga Guesthouse. It is the creation of the rather eccentric daughter of a former president of Vietnam. It would not be allowed to exist otherwise, because it totally goes against the grain of everything that the Vietnamese consider to be artistic or suitable. Hang Nga is a very strange woman, and the guidebooks said that she was to be avoided on her bad days. However, she was quite charming with me, even though I found her a little scary. When I stayed there, she had some more, uh, trees (?) under construction. God knows what the place looks like now. Each room had a different theme. I recall staying in the honeybee room (or was it the bear room?) which had fake logs, fake bears, fake bees in a sort of rounded nest. The original house with the reception desk was the only semi normal area. My room was somewhere in this thing. This was the view. Dalat is a truly interesting city! |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 10, 2009 19:05:16 GMT
You have finally proved once and for all that a picture is worth a thousand words! There is no way to describe those buildings. Dumb question: is that a real spider's web in the 3rd picture?
And that giraffe! Talk about "organic architecture"!
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Post by imec on Jun 10, 2009 19:06:11 GMT
Holy ...!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2009 19:07:03 GMT
No, those spiderwebs are made of metal.
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Post by imec on Jun 10, 2009 19:13:29 GMT
In an odd way, I see hints of Gaudi in this mess.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2009 19:16:13 GMT
I found a few more pictures of it on the web including -- yay! -- the room I had. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2016 6:52:52 GMT
As the cold weather continues to annoy my in Paris, I took refuge in this thread.
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