Da Lat countryside tour

The showers in Dreams Hotel have many heads which spray you from all angles, very different to what we are used to, just in case anyone was wondering.
Breakfast is served in the basement kitchen, around one big communal table. Very good way to chat with your fellow travellers, but this morning there was only one, a young woman from Scotland who is here on a break between doing volunteer work in Saigon and Hanoi.
Hieb is our guide today, a 25 year old fellow, married with a 6 week old baby, so he is not interested in any of our breasts. We have a great day, visiting a flower farm, local village where women rule, coffee plantations, a rice whiskey still/coffee processor who process weasel coffee, you've heard of it I'm sure..... the weasel eats the coffee 'fruit' poops out the coffee beans and someone goes through the poop and collects the beans which are cleaned and made into coffee. $100USD per kg. Their rice whiskey comes in 3 strengths - 65%, 35% and 15%. What they sell to the tourists is a blend of all 3. If only there was some green mango slices to go with it! A cute little boy wearing his father's big shoes 'shoots' Trevor with a pop rivet gun, It's a great game!

'weasel coffee'

We enjoy a break with a cup of Vietnamese coffee, just the standard issue, not the weasel.
The Elephant Falls are our next stop. A very substantial waterfall but we only walk down a little way because Hieb tells us he doesn't think it is safe for us to go to the bottom. It is slippery. We think he doesn't want to have to carry any of us back up! There are fabric weavers on-site. How convenient! She's a sweet lady and of course we fall for her and buy stuff. I get a scarf which she has draped over me when I walk in, Brenda buys the most amazing wall hanging, all hand made by the woman's aunt with embroidery and applique. I think the others buy something too.

her family will eat for a month!

A very happy weaver, with Brenda's wall hanging. After we are parted with our money, we visit a pagoda, that has lovely gardens, and a very big happy Buddha. This is Bob's favourite thing. 

Hieb asks us if we are hungry and if we'd prefer to have an 'authentic' lunch experience or go back to town. We opt for the 'authentic' experience, after all, that's what we're here for. We walk a short distance to a little place that overlooks a big fishpond (small lake) and sit down. In a repeat performance of last night's dinner, the plates of food just keep coming!! How can we eat all this?? We ask Hieb if he will help us eat it all and he says he is sitting out the front with the driver. 10 courses with rice we count and there is no way we can finish it, but we give it our best shot. With beer or a soft drink, it costs us 70 000VND each - not even $4.00!
Barely able to move we lumber back to the van and climb aboard. The cricket farm was to be our next stop, but they were closed for some reason. And yes,  it's a cricket farm in the same way we have pig farms or cattle or sheep! They maybe don't need as much room though.........
On our way back to town we stop in at a mechanical silk weaving factory where the girls earn $100 per month with no days off unless they work a bit harder to accumulate some extra cash and can afford to take a day off. Man, we have a good life! Another buying opportunity.......yawn...........

Hang Nga Crazy House back in town is our 2nd last stop and it's as crazy as I'd hoped it would be. You can also stay here overnight if you want. We all agree, the creator of this vision must have had access to some pretty good drugs!! You have to Google this place or better still come and see it to appreciate it.

Hang Nga Crazy House

more crazy

and more........

Last stop was the XQ silk hand embroidery 'shop' and while the weavings they make and all the other items on display were simply stunning, we were all a bit over by now and wanted to call it a day. Hieb kept leading us around, and finally out the door to the outside world. Hooray!! Home time! We had a really good day and saw so much. We ate alone at the Peace Cafe and had another top meal for very little dong. The others went to the Sunflower Cafe just up the road.
It's been drizzly rain and much cooler here which has been really nice. The sellers aren't pushy either, but that could just be the rain too.

I spoke to Janny, our guide for the temples in Siem Reap. He tells me that our hotel still 'has flood', so that's going to make an interesting angle for SR.