Dalat family hostel & Ho Chi Min madness, Vietnam.

We woke up to a cloudy day in delat as the bus pulled up to the side of a road and let us out. With our familiar friends Ash and Owen we walked a few minutes following a screen shot of google maps and found the hostel in the shy drizzle. We took off our shoes and slid the door open to find our warm and expected welcome!!! ‘Muma’ sang a welcome song clapping and cheering and greeting us all with big warm hugs! Her daughters followed and the other guests clapped along smiling and cheering! They were famous for doing such, opening up their hearts and home to you; hence the ‘family guest’ house. 

They were quick to take off our bags and usher us to a giant and delicious feast! We were served up an absolute spread of delicious home cooked Vietnamese food and it was just what we needed! We bonded with two other newcomers, also Irish, and an American, so the 7 of us set off to the ‘crazy house’ for an afternoon outing! All of us crammed inside a taxi on route to hire scooters.. Only in doing so it began to poor so we persisted with the ‘squish’ ride and asked him to take us the whole 10 minute drive. 

‘The crazy house’ was renown as an eccentric feat of twisted architecture, playing hotel for those brave enough to stay in a tourist attraction. The different rooms were themed and decked out appropriately for tourists to pass by and view hence why you wouldn’t stay here! It was aesthetically flirty captivating the imagination and an embracing an enchanted fairytale garden land but in my opinion fell dshort of the impressive masterpiece of Helgas Folly in Sri Lanka. A big downfall soon scooped us back up in to cabs and we headed back for the hostel. 

We arrived ‘home’ to a cold beer as muma not long later served us up another giant family feast to a massive table of about 30. The beers became plentiful, drinking games became drunk and the Sean dominated the karaoke before we called it a night in the late hours of the eve. Dragging ourselves upstairs to our 16 person dorm room we slept surprisingly soundly. 

We rose slowly and picked at a fruit salad complete with yoghurt and.. Avocado! (He didn’t belong there!!) A horribly sweet coffee oozing with condensed milk picked us up and sent us off with the group to go cannoning. It was about $30 U.S. for the day outing and very much worth it. 

A mini van picked us up and drove us a few kilometres out of town. We then tracked through a gorgeous rainforest, slipping down muddy tracks and stepping over large logs. We finally heard the trickling of water and came to a clearing, Instructed to lie down in the water and let it take you like a slide down a drop of about a metre.. It was funner than it sounds! 

We then climbed further, soaking wet and fully clothed we came to a massive waterfall. With brief instructions we all took to the ropes and abseiling down the heavy stream of plunging water, until we came to a bend in the rock where they yelled for us to ‘let go and drop’. I did so and hit the bed of water with force winding me for moments as I caught my breath and swam to the edge to join the others. 

Next was cliff jumping optioning for just the 7m one whilst Sean threw himself from 13m hitting the water with force and finding the river bed.

Further on we found another cascading crevice to which we would abseil down. The waterfall plummeted over the edge squeezing between two rocks which we wedged ourselves down holding on to the ropes.. Until again instructed to drop. I nervously let go, afraid of hitting the rocks but miraculously splashed between them pushed under by the stream and spat out in a clearing. 

Then for a 20 minute steep incline huffing, puffing and panting to the top to be driven to an unimpressive included lunch of rice and fatty meat. Returning back home just shy of 5 it wasn’t long until our next feast was spread across the table! Muma is a feeder to put it politely and it was definitely welcomed! A food coma and my sore throat/headache sent us to bed early to read until our eyes became heavy, only to be woken at 1am to drunken friends trying to crawl into each other’s beds. 

The next morning packed us off early, jumping on a 7:30 bus to Ho Chi Min. The drive was around 7 hours and dropped us off around 3:30 to a busy, dusty and polluted city. We made tracks to our guesthouse, ‘Saigon central’ and treated ourselves to a private hotel like room for a decent price! 

Eager to get fixed and feel well again I finally decided on a doctor after a week of agonising headaches and a sore throat. We found one around the corner, ‘Saigon international hospital’ signed me up promptly with a joining fee of $30.. (I even have a photo ID card!) the doctor stuck a camera up my nose and sure enough there was oozing mucus dripping down into my head.. Damn sinus infection, and tonsillitis was also confirmed. 

He sent me off with a bunch of different pills; antibiotics, mucus softener, anti inflammatory, antihistamine and a nasal spray.. Enough to sedate 3 of me, but I was eager to rid myself of the sickness! Only to be taken after meals we found ourselves a rooftop restaurant for dinner to be joined by Ash and Eoin (our new Irish friends who caught a later bus down)! Dinner was a tasty selection of western food.. But I was surprised by the also western prices! After a big day of travels and full of food we all headed home to bed.

The next morning we rose around 8, and walked to the War remnants museum. Walking through the city it was chaotic, the streets jam packed with bikes disobeying road sign and stop lights making simple things like crossing a road a gamble! Tiny stray kittens too young  to be from their mother, and scruffy dogs roam the streets as the locals kick them inhumanly.. It was heart breaking. And if that didn’t upset us enough we then arrived to the museum to see graphic photos of torture, read horrible tales of treatment and understand just what Agent orange did and still does to people! It was brutal, confronting and sickening to learn that the Americans sprayed agent orange over fields and villages knowing this poison would disform and effect offspring from those effected for generations. 

The four of us left, saddened and heavy with empathy knowing no one can undo what has already stolen the lives of so many. Needing some time to digest and get away from the noisy streets we agreed on a coffee at a near by cafe. Completely contrasting the morning we then scouted out a sports bar to drown our sorrows with beer and watch the Bulldogs exciting win a spot into the preliminary finals. 

When it finished the rain started.. Bucketing down, soaking the streets and splashing people. We found a near by Burger joint ‘Chucks’ which served up a tasty feed and sent us home with snacks for a movie night in! 

Waking up late and hungry we decided on a brekky/brunch place nearby we had read rave reviews about; L’uisine. As soon as we walked into the rustic cafe it looked very ‘melbourne’, complete with good service and prices to match. It didn’t disappoint by any means; my eggs bennidict were scrumptious and Sean’s brekky burger was generous, tasty and served with a stack of bacon! We ordered coffees.. And my oh my how I have missed a fabulous flat white.. Soft on top, strong body and that buzz!!! 5/5 and 100% best breakfast on our South East Asia trip!!! Feeling fuelled we then we then hit up the Ben tenh markets, and ordered mess of junk really, between overpriced fakes claiming ‘quality’ to all your hardware needs.. Needless to say we spent little time browsing and headed home to chill! 

After packing up our bags ready for an early start the next morning we set off to find Ash and Eoin at a bar boasting cheep beers! It wasn’t long until we see hungry again so we found a nice enough restaurant; Huong Viet, attracted to a lady behind her pho card we were excited to see her in action! Sure enough she smiled as soon as our order came in and cooked us up a mean, flavoursome pho! Stoked that our last Vietnamese feed was an authentic one, we finished the night off with a few more beers then bed! 

We were all packed up and at breakfast by 8am awaiting our bus to Cambodia! We farewelled our new Irish friends in the hope that we would see them down under soon!